By Stan Cole '87
 
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Milestones provide us with opportunities to celebrate notable achievements. 
 
Significant wedding anniversaries are marked by silver (25) or golden (50) year markers.
 
In 1996, the NBA celebrated its 50th season by selecting the 50 greatest players in league history.
 
The United States celebrated the 200th and 250th anniversaries of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
 
For Campbell University, the 2026-27 season marks its 50th as a member of NCAA Division I – an affiliation that began (1977-78) just before the institution reached university status in 1979.
 
Even before I enrolled at Campbell as a freshman in the fall of 1983, I was familiar with the Fighting Camels during their early stages as a Division I member.  After moving to Raleigh with my family in the summer of 1979, I faithfully read the sports section from the Raleigh News and Observer and the old Raleigh Times. 
 
Reporters like A.J. Carr, Caulton Tudor, Joel Chaney and many others wrote about the Camels giving NC State all the Wolfpack wanted on the basketball court at Reynolds Coliseum, as well as the four seasons when Campbell called the old Raleigh Civic Center home for 4-5 men's hoops games from 1979-82.
 
N&O and Times reporters also wrote extensively every June about the Campbell Basketball School and the A-list of names from the college and professional ranks who spent time each year in Buies Creek.
 
Campbell's success in the old North State Summer Collegiate Baseball League was well documented across the region as well as Orville Peterson, CU's first-All-American on the Division I level who ranked among the world's best decathletes, and his journey to the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials.
 
After moving into Burkot Dorm in August 1983, I landed a work-study job in Carrie Rich Library.  My weekly shift from 1:00-5:00 p.m. on Fridays didn't offer a lot of interaction with students since many of those left campus on the weekends in those days.
 
I soon learned that I could shift my work study hours to working for the campus newspaper, so I began work as a sports reporter and my first assignment was to interview Coach Brant Tolsma about the cross country team.  That's where my association with an athletics program in its Division I infancy began.
 
Now – more than four decades later, we want to hear about your best memories from Campbell's DI era.  Shoot me an email at cole@campbell.edu with your memories, or ideas for a written feature story or a suggested Tales from the Creek guest.
 
We began this year-long celebration last week with a Tales from the Creek podcast episode with Frankie Delconte, who after guarding Michael Jordan in high school starred for the Fighting Camel tennis team from 1980-84.  Now, Frankie is a model and actor in Los Angeles.
 
Each month – starting in August, I will share a feature story on a different aspect from Campbell's D1 era – and at least one of our twice monthly Tales from the Creek podcasts will feature a guest from the last 50 years.
 
Over the course of the entire 2026-27 season, Campbell Athletics will celebrate its 50 seasons of NCAA Division I competition with even more podcasts, feature stories, photos and video, plus celebrating our championships and the many memories made along the way.
 
In the meantime, here's a sampling of previous Tales from the Creek podcasts where you can learn more about our five-decade history of competing at the top level of college athletics.
 
Denise Ford Shipman (May 15, 2026) – Women's Basketball '89
Martha Covington (Feb. 18, 2026) – Softball '99
Fred Whitfield (Dec. 25, 2025) – Men's Basketball '80
John Marshall (Aug. 21, 2025) – Men's Golf '84
Cory Satterfield (May 16, 2025) – Baseball '88
Bev Shepard Marley (Mar. 24, 2025) – Volleyball '91
Orville Peterson & Ernie White (Mar. 5, 2025) – Track & Field '83, '85
Jeremy Hill (Nov. 15, 2024) – Football '12
Phil Fusco (Oct. 4, 2024) – Wrestling '82
John Payne (Aug. 23, 2024) – Men's Soccer '91
Kylie Pratt (May 29, 2024) – Women's Golf '99
Tammie Pyle Yarter (Sept. 13, 2023) – Women's Soccer '97
 
All 62 Tales from the Creek episodes may be found at GoCamels.com/podcasts or search Camel Call podcasts on Apple and Spotify.
 
Thanks for listening, and we look forward to hearing from you!