Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division; the Pacers were first established in 1967 as a member of the American Basketball Association and became a member of the NBA in 1976 as a result of the ABA–NBA merger. They play their home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse; the team is named after Indiana's history with the Indianapolis 500's pace cars and with the harness racing industry. The Pacers have won three championships, all in the ABA; the Pacers were NBA Eastern Conference champions in 2000. The team has won nine division titles. Six Hall of Fame players – Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Alex English, Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, George McGinnis – played with the Pacers for multiple seasons. In early 1967, a group of six investors pooled their resources to purchase a franchise in the proposed American Basketball Association.
For their first seven years, they played in the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum. In 1974, they moved to the plush new Market Square Arena in downtown Indianapolis, where they played for 25 years. Early in the Pacers' second season, former Indiana Hoosiers standout Bob "Slick" Leonard became the team's head coach, replacing Larry Staverman. Leonard turned the Pacers into a juggernaut, his teams were buoyed by the great play of superstars such as Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Bob Netolicky, Rick Mount, Freddie Lewis and Roger Brown. The Pacers were – and ended – as the most successful team in ABA history, winning three ABA Championships in four years. In all, they appeared in the ABA Finals five times in the league's nine-year history, an ABA record; the Pacers were one of four ABA teams that joined the NBA in the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. For the 1976–77 season the Pacers were joined in the merged league by the Denver Nuggets, New York Nets, San Antonio Spurs; the league charged a $3.2 million entry fee for each former ABA team.
Since the NBA would only agree to accept four ABA teams in the ABA–NBA merger, the Pacers and the three other surviving ABA teams had to compensate the two remaining ABA franchises which were not a part of the merger, the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels; as a result of the merger, the four teams dealt with financial troubles. Additionally, the Pacers had some financial troubles which dated back to their waning days in the ABA; the new NBA teams were barred from sharing in national TV revenues for four years. The Pacers finished their inaugural NBA season with a record of 36–46. Billy Knight and Don Buse represented Indiana in the NBA All-Star Game. However, this was one of the few bright spots of the Pacers' first 13 years in the NBA. During this time, they had only two playoff appearances. A lack of continuity became the norm for most of the next decade, as they traded away Knight and Buse before the 1977–78 season started, they acquired Adrian Dantley in exchange for Knight, but Dantley was traded in December, while the Pacers' second-leading scorer, John Williamson, was dealt in January.
The early Pacers came out on the short end of two of the most one-sided trades in NBA history. In 1980, they traded Alex English to the Nuggets in order to reacquire former ABA star George McGinnis. McGinnis was long past his prime, contributed little during his two-year return. English, in contrast, went on to become one of the greatest scorers in NBA history; the next year, they traded a 1984 draft pick to the Portland Trail Blazers for center Tom Owens, who had played for the Pacers during their last ABA season. Owens played one year for the Pacers with little impact, was out of the league altogether a year later. In 1983–84, the Pacers finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference, which would have given the Pacers the second overall pick in the draft—the pick that the Blazers used to select Sam Bowie while Michael Jordan was still available; as a result of the Owens trade, they were left as bystanders in the midst of one of the deepest drafts in NBA history—including such future stars as Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Sam Perkins, Charles Barkley, John Stockton.
Clark Kellogg was drafted by the Pacers in the 1982 and finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting, but the Pacers finished the 1982–83 season with their all-time worst record of 20–62, won only 26 games the following season. After winning 22 games in 1984–85 and 26 games in 1985–86, Jack Ramsay replaced George Irvine as coach and led the Pacers to a 41–41 record in 1986–87 and their second playoff appearance as an NBA team. Chuck Person, nicknamed "The Rifleman" for his renowned long-range shooting, led the team in scoring as a rookie and won NBA Rookie of the Year honors, their first playoff win in NBA franchise history was earned in Game 3 of their first-round, best-of-five series against the Atlanta Hawks, but it was their only victory in that series, as the Hawks defeated them in four games. Reggie Miller from UCLA was drafted by the Pacers in 1987, beginning his career as a backup to John Long. Many fans at the time disagreed with Miller's selection over Indiana Hoosiers' standout Steve Alford.
The Pacers missed the playoffs in 1987–88, drafted Rik Smits in the 1988 NBA draft, suffered through a disastrous 1988–89 season in which coach Jack Ramsay stepped down following an 0–7 start. Mel Daniels and George Irvine filled in on an interim basis before Dick Versace took over the 6–23 team on the way to a 28
Paul Westphal
Paul Douglas Westphal is an American retired basketball player and a former head coach with several National Basketball Association and college teams. Westphal has had a storied career both as a player and as a coach; as a player, he won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in the 1974 NBA Finals. In addition to being a five-time All-Star selection, from 1977 to 1981, Westphal earned three All-NBA First Team selections and one Second Team honor, he returned to the Finals in 1993 as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. He was head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics and the Sacramento Kings, he returned to his home state of California when he was the men's basketball head coach at Pepperdine University from 2001 to 2006. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. Westphal was born in California, he went to Aviation High School and USC. He was the 10th overall pick in the 1972 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. After three seasons in Boston, including a championship in 1974, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns.
In 1976, Westphal helped the Suns reach their first-ever NBA Finals appearance, where they played against the Celtics. Game 5 of that series is called "the greatest game played" in NBA history. With time winding down in regulation and the Suns trailing 94–91, Westphal poked the ball away from Jo Jo White, took a long pass from Dennis Awtrey, hit a layup, he was fouled on the play and hit the free throw to tie it at 94–94. In the second overtime, with 15 seconds left and the Suns trailing 109–108 after just making a basket, Westphal stole the ball from John Havlicek after Havlicek received the inbounds pass; this began a chain of events that culminated with Curtis Perry hitting a jumper to give the Suns a 110–109 lead. After the Perry basket and a Celtics timeout, Havlicek got the ball with five seconds left and hit a shot to put the Celtics up 111–110; the buzzer sounded and Celtic fans poured on the floor, thinking the Celtics had won. However, referee Richie Powers ruled that Havlicek's shot went through the basket with two seconds left on the clock.
After one second was placed back on, sensing that the Suns could get a better shot off if the ball was inbounded at halfcourt, called a timeout that the Suns didn't have while preparing to inbound the ball from under the Celtics' basket. A technical foul was assessed; the resulting timeout call allowed Phoenix to inbound the ball at midcourt, rather than go the full length of the court. Garfield Heard made a shot for the Suns that sent the game into triple-overtime. With 20 seconds left in the third overtime and the Celtics in control at 128–122, Westphal scored two quick baskets to cut it to 128–126 and nearly made a steal at midcourt after the second, but failed and the Celtics ran out the clock to the victory. Westphal was 6th in the NBA in scoring average for the 1977–78 season at 25.2 ppg. In that season, he became the first NBA All-Star Weekend H-O-R-S-E Competition champion; the following 1978–79 season, he was 7th in scoring average with 24.0 points per game. After the 1979–80 season, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Dennis Johnson where he played one season before heading to the New York Knicks.
In 1983 he returned to Phoenix for his final NBA season. He had been only played in 59 of the 82 games of his final season. In his career Westphal scored a total of 12,809 NBA points for an average of 15.6 points per game, with 3,591 assists for an average of 4.4 assists per game. He had 1,580 rebounds, for an average of 1.9 per game. He was a 5-time All-Star and 3 times an All-NBA selection and one time a second team All-NBA selection, he is Phoenix's fifth all-time leading scorer, averaging 20.6 points and a member of Phoenix's Ring of Honor. Westphal's coaching career started in 1985 with Southwestern Baptist Bible College, located in Phoenix. After compiling a 21–9 record in his lone season there, he moved on to Grand Canyon College in Phoenix, after two seasons led them to the NAIA national title in 1988. In 1988, after three years in the college ranks, Westphal became an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns under head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, in 1992 he succeeded Fitzsimmons as head coach of the Suns.
With players such as Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, rookie Richard Dumas and the newly acquired Charles Barkley and Danny Ainge, the Suns made it to the NBA Finals in Westphal's first season as a coach, but lost to the Chicago Bulls in six games. Incidentally, Game 3 between the two teams went to triple-overtime and is considered one of the greatest games played. While the Suns made the playoffs during each of Westphal's seasons as coach, they did not return to the Finals, Westphal was let go during the 1995–96 season, he served as an assistant coach for a high school team in Arizona for two years before he returned to the NBA as a coach with the SuperSonics for the 1998–99 season. He coached in Seattle. Westphal returned to the college ranks in April 2001 at Pepperdine University. In his first season, Westphal led the Waves men's basketball team to a 22–9 record and tied nationally ranked Gonzaga for the WCC title; the team achieved an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament, but lost 83–74 to Wake Forest in the first round in a game played at ARCO Arena.
This was the only postseason berth during the rest of Westphal's five-year tenure and he finished with an overall record of 74–72. After a 7–20 season in 2005–06, Westphal was fired on March 15, 2006. Westphal has worke
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own hoop. A field goal is worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. After a foul, timed play stops and the player fouled or designated to shoot a technical foul is given one or more one-point free throws; the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but if regulation play expires with the score tied, an additional period of play is mandated. Players advance the ball by bouncing it while walking or running or by passing it to a teammate, both of which require considerable skill. On offense, players may use a variety of shots -- a dunk, it is a violation to lift or drag one's pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands resume dribbling.
The five players on each side at a time fall into five playing positions: the tallest player is the center, the tallest and strongest is the power forward, a shorter but more agile big man is the small forward, the shortest players or the best ball handlers are the shooting guard and the point guard, who implements the coach's game plan by managing the execution of offensive and defensive plays. Informally, players may play three-on-three, two-on-two, one-on-one. Invented in 1891 by Canadian-American gym teacher James Naismith in Springfield, United States, basketball has evolved to become one of the world's most popular and viewed sports; the National Basketball Association is the most significant professional basketball league in the world in terms of popularity, salaries and level of competition. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague and FIBA Americas League; the FIBA Basketball World Cup and Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament are the major international events of the sport and attract top national teams from around the world.
Each continent hosts regional competitions for national teams, like FIBA AmeriCup. The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament feature top national teams from continental championships; the main North American league is the WNBA, whereas strongest European clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women. In early December 1891, Canadian James Naismith, a physical education professor and instructor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School in Springfield, was trying to keep his gym class active on a rainy day, he sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored.
Basketball was played with a soccer ball. These round balls from "association football" were made, at the time, with a set of laces to close off the hole needed for inserting the inflatable bladder after the other sewn-together segments of the ball's cover had been flipped outside-in; these laces could dribbling to be unpredictable. A lace-free ball construction method was invented, this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith; the first balls made for basketball were brown, it was only in the late 1950s that Tony Hinkle, searching for a ball that would be more visible to players and spectators alike, introduced the orange ball, now in common use. Dribbling was not part of the original game except for the "bounce pass" to teammates. Passing the ball was the primary means of ball movement. Dribbling was introduced but limited by the asymmetric shape of early balls. Dribbling was common by 1896, with a rule against the double dribble by 1898; the peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were replaced by metal hoops with backboards.
A further change was soon made, so the ball passed through. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, his team would gain a point. Whichever team got; the baskets were nailed to the mezzanine balcony of the playing court, but this proved impractical when spectators in the balcony began to interfere with shots. The backboard was introduced to prevent this interference. Naismith's handwritten diaries, discovered by his granddaughter in early 2006, indicate that he was nervous about the new game he had invented, which incorporated rules from a children's game called duck on a rock, as many had failed before it. Frank Mahan, one of the players from the original
Ernie DiGregorio
Ernest DiGregorio known as "Ernie D.", is an American former National Basketball Association player. He was the 1973–74 NBA Rookie of the Year and holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25. Due to a severe knee injury suffered early in DiGregorio's professional career, he played only five NBA seasons. DiGregorio played on the 1968 Rhode Island champions at North Providence High School, he and Marvin Barnes led Coach Dave Gavitt's Providence team to a Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament in DiGregorio's senior season, where they lost to Memphis State, but only after Barnes sustained a knee injury that forced an early exit. After playing for the Providence College Friars, DiGregorio played on a college all-star team, along with Bill Walton, led the U. S. in defeating a Soviet team in an exhibition game, which helped heal the still-open wound of the United States' loss in the 1972 Summer Olympic finals. Ernie "D" was drafted by the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association but opted instead for the NBA.
He was selected 3rd overall by the Buffalo Braves in the 1973 NBA draft out of Providence College, won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 1973–74 after averaging 15.2 points and leading the league in both free throw percentage and assists per game. DiGregorio still holds the NBA rookie record for assists in a single game with 25, he would never again come close to that level of production, but managed to have a decent NBA career, most of which he spent with the Braves. During the 1976–77 season, DiGregorio led the league in free throw percentage a second time, with a then-NBA record 94.5%. In 1977, he joined fellow NBA stars Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Wilt Chamberlain, Pete Maravich, in endorsing Spalding's line of rubber basketballs, with a signature "Ernie D." ball making up part of the collection. Before the 1977–78 season, DiGregorio was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, played in a Lakers' uniform in only 25 games before being waived; the Boston Celtics signed him as a free agent but he played only sparingly for the rest of the season.
He would not play in the NBA again, although he did not formally retire until 1981. In 1999, he was elected to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game NBA career stats, basketball-reference.com NBA career stats, basketballreference.com
Jim Valvano
James Thomas Anthony Valvano, nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player and broadcaster. Valvano had an excellent coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Carolina State University. While the head coach at NC State, his team won the 1983 national title against improbable odds. Valvano is most remembered for his ecstatic celebration after winning the national championship against the heavily-favored Houston Cougars. After his career, Valvano gave an inspirational and memorable speech in 1993 at the ESPY Awards, while terminally ill with cancer, telling listeners to laugh and cry each day, saying "don’t give up. Don’t give up", he gave the speech less than two months before his death from adenocarcinoma, a type of many glandular cancers. The ESPY Awards now include the Jimmy V Award named in his honor; each year, a college basketball tournament called the Jimmy V Classic is held in his honor and in support of cancer victims and survivors. Valvano was the middle child of Rocco and Angelina Valvano, was born in Corona, New York.
Valvano was a three-sport athlete at Seaford High School in Seaford on Long Island and graduated in 1963. Football coach Vince Lombardi was Valvano's role model. Valvano told an ESPY audience, on March 3, 1993, that he took some of Lombardi's inspirational speeches out of the book Commitment to Excellence, used them with his team. Valvano discussed how he planned to use Lombardi's speech to the Green Bay Packers in front of his Rutgers freshman basketball team prior to his first game as their coach. Valvano was a point guard at Rutgers University in 1967, where he partnered with first-team All-American Bob Lloyd in the backcourt. Under the leadership of Valvano and Lloyd, Rutgers finished third in the 1967 National Invitation Tournament, the last basketball tournament held at the third Madison Square Garden, he was named Senior Athlete of the Year at Rutgers in 1967, graduated with a degree in English in 1967. Following graduation, Valvano began his coaching career at Rutgers as the freshman coach and assistant for the varsity.
His 19-year career as a head basketball coach began at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for a season. Following that, he was the head coach at Bucknell and North Carolina State. Following Norm Sloan's departure to Florida, Valvano was hired at NC State on March 27, 1980, made his debut on November 29, when the Wolfpack defeated UNC-Wilmington 83-59. During his ten seasons at NC State, Valvano's teams were the ACC's tournament champions in 1983 and 1987 and its regular season champions in 1985 and 1989; the Wolfpack won the NCAA championship in 1983, in addition to advancing to the NCAA Elite 8 in 1985 and 1986. "Coach V" was voted ACC Coach of the Year in 1989. Valvano became NC State's athletic director in 1986, his overall record at NC State was 209–114 and his career record as a head coach was 346–210. Valvano is most recognized for his reaction of running around on the court looking for somebody to hug in the moments after the Wolfpack victory came after the game-winning shot in the 1983 NCAA finals.
Dereck Whittenburg heaved a last-second desperation shot, caught short of the rim and dunked by Lorenzo Charles as time expired. In 1989, accusations of rules violations surfaced in the book Personal Fouls by Peter Golenbock; these accusations centered on high school All-American Chris Washburn, who managed only a 470 out of 1600 on his SAT. A 1989 NCAA investigation found that players sold shoes and game tickets; as a result, NC State placed its basketball program on probation for two years and was banned from participating in the 1990 NCAA tournament. The state-appointed Poole Commission issued a 32-page report that concluded that there were no major violations of NCAA regulations, that Valvano and his staff's inadequate oversight of players' academic progress violated "the spirit, not the letter of the law". After this report, Valvano was forced to resign as the school's athletic director in October 1989, he remained as basketball coach through the 1989–90 season. Under subsequent pressure from the school's faculty and new Chancellor, Valvano negotiated a settlement with NC State and resigned as basketball coach on April 7, 1990.
Six separate entities investigated Valvano and the NC State basketball program including the NC State Faculty Senate, the North Carolina Attorney General, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the NC State Board of Trustees, the NCAA. None of them found any evidence of recruiting violations or academic or financial impropriety on the part of Valvano or his staff. Dave Didion, the NCAA investigator handling Valvano's case, wrote a personal letter to Valvano, among other things, "If I had a son, I would feel comfortable with you as his coach and encourage him to learn from you." A school investigation did reveal that Valvano's student-athletes did not perform well in the classroom, as only 11 of the players that he coached prior to 1988 had maintained an average of C or better. Valvano's version of these events can be found in his 1991 autobiography, Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, Then They Declared Me Dead. After his coaching career, Valvano was a broadcaster for ESPN and ABC Sports, including a stint as a sideline reporter for the inaugural season of the World League of American Football.
In 1992, Valvano won a Cable ACE Award for Commentator/Analyst for NCAA basketball broadcasts. From time to time he was paired with basketball analyst Dick Vitale, dubbed the "Killer Vees", with similar voices and exuberan
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division; the team played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995. The franchise entered the league as an expansion team in 1970, has enjoyed a strong following: from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time, only since surpassed by the Boston Red Sox; the Trail Blazers have been the only NBA team based in the bi-national Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA championship once in 1977.
Their other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has qualified for the playoffs in 34 seasons of their 48-season existence, including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, tied for the second longest streak in NBA history; the Trail Blazers' 34 playoff appearances rank third in the NBA only behind the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs since the team's inception in 1970. Six Hall of Fame players have played for the Trail Blazers. Bill Walton is the franchise's most decorated player. Four Blazer rookies have won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Three players have earned the Most Improved Player award: Kevin Duckworth, Zach Randolph, CJ McCollum. Two Hall of Fame coaches, Lenny Wilkens and Jack Ramsay, have patrolled the sidelines for the Blazers, two others, Mike Schuler and Mike Dunleavy, have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award with the team. Sports promoter Harry Glickman sought a National Basketball Association franchise for Portland as far back as 1955 when he proposed two new expansion teams, the other to be located in Los Angeles.
When the Memorial Coliseum was opened in 1960 Glickman saw the potential it could serve as a professional basketball venue but it was not until February 6, 1970, that the NBA board of governors granted him the rights to a franchise in Portland. To raise the money for the $3.7 million admission tax, Glickman associated himself to real estate magnates Robert Schmertz of New Jersey, Larry Weinberg of Los Angeles and Herman Sarkowsky of Seattle. Two weeks on February 24, team management held a contest to select the team's name and received more than 10,000 entries; the most popular choice was "Pioneers", but that name was excluded from consideration as it was used by sports teams at Portland's Lewis & Clark College. The name "Trail Blazers" received 172 entries, was selected by the judging panel, being revealed on March 13 in the halftime of a SuperSonics game at the Memorial Coliseum. Derived from the trail blazing activity by explorers making paths through forests, Glickman considered it a name that could "reflect both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the start of a major league era in our state."
Despite initial mixed response, the Trail Blazers name shortened to just "Blazers", became popular in Oregon. Along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Buffalo Braves, the Trail Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team, under coach Rolland Todd. Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks led the team in its early years, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in its first six seasons of existence. During that span, the team had three head coaches; the team won the first pick in the NBA draft twice during that span. In 1972, the team drafted LaRue Martin with the number one pick. In 1974 the team selected Bill Walton from UCLA; the ABA–NBA merger of 1976 saw those two rival leagues join forces. Four ABA teams joined the NBA; the Trail Blazers selected Maurice Lucas in the dispersal draft. That summer, they hired Jack Ramsay as head coach; the two moves, coupled with the team's stellar play, led Portland to several firsts: winning record, playoff appearance, championship in 1977. Starting on April 5 of that year, the team began a sellout streak of 814 straight games—the longest in American major professional sports history—which did not end until 1995, after the team moved into a larger facility.
The team started the 1977–78 season with a 50–10 mark, some predicted a dynasty in Portland. However, Bill Walton suffered a foot injury that ended his season and would plague him over the remainder of his career, the team struggled to an 8–14 finish, going 58–24 overall. In the playoffs, Portland lost to the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1978 conference semifinals; that summer, Walton demanded to be traded to a team of his choice because he was unhappy with his medical treatment in Portland. Walton was never traded, he held out the entire 1978–79 season and left the team as a free agent thereafter; the team was further dismantled as Lucas left in 1980. During the 1980s, the team was a consistent presence in the NBA post-season, failing to qualify for the playoffs only in 1982. However, they never advanced past the conference semifinals duri
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is the second-largest city in the state, after Charlotte. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city; the city covers a land area of 142.8 square miles. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population as 479,332 as of July 1, 2018, it is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County. Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University and is part of Research Triangle Park, together with Durham and Chapel Hill; the "Triangle" nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake counties, among the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U. S. Census Bureau's Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 2,037,430 in 2013.
The Raleigh metropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013. Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a small portion extending into Durham County; the towns of Cary, Garner, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Wendell and Rolesville are some of Raleigh's primary nearby suburbs and satellite towns. Raleigh is an early example in the United States of a planned city. Following the American Revolutionary War when the US gained independence, this was chosen as the site of the state capital in 1788 and incorporated in 1792 as such; the city was laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. During the American Civil War, the city was spared from any significant battle, it fell to the Union in the closing days of the war, struggled with the economic hardships in the postwar period related to the reconstitution of labor markets, over-reliance on agriculture, the social unrest of the Reconstruction Era. Following the establishment of the Research Triangle Park in 1959, several tens of thousands of jobs were created in the fields of science and technology, it became one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States by the early 21st century.
Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina, was the first nominal capital of the colony from 1705 until 1722, when Edenton took over the role. The colony had no permanent institutions of government until the new capital New Bern was established in 1743. In December 1770, Joel Lane petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county. On January 5, 1771, the bill creating Wake County was passed in the General Assembly; the county was formed from portions of Cumberland and Johnston counties. The county was named for the wife of Governor William Tryon; the first county seat was Bloomsbury. New Bern, a port town on the Neuse River 35 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, was the largest city and the capital of North Carolina during the American Revolution; when the British Army laid siege to the city, that site could no longer be used. Raleigh was chosen as the site of the new capital in 1788, as its central location protected it from attacks from the coast, it was established in 1792 as both county seat and state capital.
The city was named for sponsor of Roanoke, the "lost colony" on Roanoke Island. The city's location was chosen, in part, for being within 11 mi of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, a popular tavern frequented by the state legislators. No known city or town existed on the chosen city site. Raleigh is one of the few cities in the United States, planned and built to serve as a state capital, its original boundaries were formed by the downtown streets of North, East and South. The plan, a grid with two main axes meeting at a central square and an additional square in each corner, was based on Thomas Holme's 1682 plan for Philadelphia; the North Carolina General Assembly first met in Raleigh in December 1794, granted the city a charter, with a board of seven appointed commissioners and an "Intendant of Police" to govern it. In 1799, the N. C. Minerva and Raleigh Advertiser was the first newspaper published in Raleigh. John Haywood was the first Intendant of Police. In 1808, Andrew Johnson, the nation's future 17th President, was born at Casso's Inn in Raleigh.
The city's first water supply network was completed in 1818, although due to system failures, the project was abandoned. In 1819 Raleigh's first volunteer fire company was founded, followed in 1821 by a full-time fire company. In 1817, the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina was headquartered in Raleigh. In 1831, a fire destroyed the North Carolina State House. Two years reconstruction began with quarried gneiss being delivered by the first railroad in the state. Raleigh celebrated the completions of the new State Capitol and new Raleigh & Gaston Railroad Company in 1840. In 1853, the first State Fair was held near Raleigh; the first institution of higher learning in Raleigh, Peace College, was established in 1857. Raleigh's Historic Oakwood contains many houses from the 19th century that are still in good condition. North Carolina seceded from the Union. After the Civil War began, Governor Zebulon Baird Vance ordered the construction of breastworks around the city as protection from
