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Hokies Star – Dell Curry
Curry was a four-year starter at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg along with contemporaries Bobby Beecher, Perry Young, Al Young, and Keith Colbert. The Hokies appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1983 and 1984, finishing third in the latter. Although the team qualified for at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 1985 and 1986, it lost in the first round on both occasions. In his senior season in 1986, Curry was named the player of the year in the Metro Conference. Prior to the 1986–87 season, NCAA basketball did not feature a three-point line; Curry’s accurate long-range shooting was not rewarded, as it would be later in his NBA career. (In the early and mid-1980s, the three-point line was introduced in many conferences at varying distances, but it was not recognized by the NCAA.)
Curry also played baseball for Virginia Tech. He was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 14th round of the 1985 MLB draft but opted to continue playing basketball.
Curry finished his Virginia Tech career with 2,389 points (second all-time) and 295 steals (all-time leader) in basketball, and a 6–1 record with a 3.81 ERA in baseball.
He was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, his first year of eligibility.
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Bruce Smith – Virginia Tech Hokies
Following an all-state high school career, Smith accepted an athletic scholarship to Virginia Tech. Known as “The Sack Man” at Virginia Tech, Smith finished his college career in 1984 as the most honored player in Hokie history. Foreshadowing his future success in pursuing quarterbacks in the NFL, he had a career total of 71 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, for losses totaling 504 yards. Smith had 46 career sacks, including an NCAA-leading 22 during a junior season in 1983 that saw him named First-team All-America by the AFCA (Coaches) and Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1984, Smith capped off his tenure in Blacksburg with the Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s top lineman, and a consensus selection to the All-America Team. His accomplishments at Virginia Tech earned him a spot in the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
The stylized VT (the abbreviation for Virginia Tech) is used primarily by the athletic department as a symbol for Virginia Tech athletic teams. The “athletic VT” symbol is trademarked by the university and appears frequently on licensed merchandise.
During the early years of the university, a rivalry developed between the Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech, then called VPI. This rivalry developed into the original “Military Classic of the South,” which was an annual football game between VMI and VPI on Thanksgiving Day in Roanoke, Virginia. This rivalry continued until 1970 when Tech’s football program became too large and too competitive for VMI. Today, Tech’s major athletic rivalries include the Virginia Cavaliers (see Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry), the West Virginia Mountaineers, and the Miami Hurricanes.
Virginia Tech’s fight song, Tech Triumph, was written in 1919 and remains in use today. Tech Triumph is played at sporting events by both the Virginia Tech band, The Marching Virginians, and the Corps of Cadets’ band, the Highty Tighties. The Old Hokie spirit yell, in use since 1896, is familiar to all Tech fans.
Many of Tech’s more modern traditions were adopted after the construction of Lane Stadium in 1964. Virginia Tech’s football traditions and the school’s fans are the subject of a 2007 full-length documentary called Hokie Nation which features a mix of interviews with coaches, players and fans as well as a look at Hokie football history and the direction of the program.
College Sports Established
1895
Location
Blacksburg, Virginia
College Name
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Collegiate History
1973 – Present / NCAA Division 1
1921 – 1973 / University Division of the NCAA
1907 – 1921 / Athletic Association of the United States
Conference History
2004 – Present / ACC
1991 – 2004 / Big East Conference
1978 – 1991 / Metro Conference
1965 – 1978 / Independent
1921 – 1965 / Southern Conference
1907 – 1921 / South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association
1895 – 1906 / Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association
Nickname
Hokies – The Virginia Tech Hokie is a thing of mystery. For fans unfamiliar with Tech’s mascot, the much-beloved bird is an orange and maroon turkey—but it’s called a HokieBird, hence the nickname “Hokies.”
The nickname originated in the 1896 when the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (VAMC) changed its name Virginia Polytechnic Institute, now known commonly as Virginia Tech. Then abbreviated as “V.P.I,” school administrators held a contest to find a new cheer to go with the University’s new name.
Senior O.M. Stull won the contest with his cheer, “Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy; Techs! Techs! V.P.I.” While Stull later admitted that the word ‘hoki’ had no real meaning, it worked as an attention-getter. The term stuck.
NCAA Championships
Baseball 0
Men’s Basketball 0
Women’s Basketball 0
Football 0
Soccer 0