NC State's Rocky Mountain Prodigal Son

Joe Coors Jr. during his 2012 congressional campaign.

© Tim Peeler, 2019

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With beer sales being the talk of the state as the 2019 college football season opens this weekend, perhaps we should all tip a frosted mug to a former NC State baseball player and UNC soccer player who once ran his family’s brewing and manufacturing businesses: The Adolph Coors Company.

You may have heard of it, since it still boasts the largest beer production facility in world and makes more than 20 different nationally and internationally distributed beer brands.

Joseph Coors Jr., a 1964 graduate of NC State, was a rebel who was once exiled from the family businesses by his father for not waiting until he graduated from college before marrying his prep school sweetheart. It was a marriage that lasted more than half a century before Coors died just three years ago.

“I was my own person,” he told writer Lisa Stroud in a January 1991 edition of NCSU: The Alumni Magazine. “I didn’t do anything to get thrown in jail, but I was always looking for ways to get around authority figures – legally.”

Joe Jr. would likely be proud to know that Coors Light is one of several beers that will be available Saturday when the Wolfpack opens the same way it ended the 2018 regular season, by hosting in-state rival East Carolina. His family has certainly reaped great benefits by selling their products to students and alumni of both schools, even though the golden brew from Golden, Colorado, was banned from the East Coast nearly a century.

(Didn’t know that? Go watch Smokey and the Bandit and offer up condolences to those of us who came of age in the 1980s.)

The story of Joe’s journey from Colorado to North Carolina and back – with detours to New Hampshire, California and Oregon – is both sweet and courageous. It also includes, according to Joe Jr., a few directives from God.

Like his father, uncles and his five brothers, Coors attended high school at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, a classic New England prep school for the well-to-do. By the time he enrolled in the late 1950s, the Coors family was among the richest in the world thanks to the beer that was famously made with pure Rocky Mountain spring water. The expectation for every member of the family was to get a secondary education at Exeter, a degree from Cornell’s School of Engineering and a position within the family’s corporate infrastructure to lead various parts of the company.

Shortly after Joe Coors Jr. enrolled at Exeter, however, he met his roommate’s sister, Gail Fambrough, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The two hit it off and exchanged letters for the next eight weeks. Joe Jr. spent Christmas that year in the Triangle, turning the pen-pal relationship into an intense romance. During his senior year, Joe applied to and was accepted to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After he arrived on campus, he joined the Tar Heel freshman soccer team, but didn’t last long in the shadow of the Old Well. He transferred to NC State after one semester, enrolling in the applied math department, where he was classmates with another future billionaire, Jim Goodnight, president and CEO of Cary’s SAS Inc.

Coors settled into his new routine in Raleigh and continued seeing Gail, who by then was pursuing and education degree at UNC.

A capable athlete, Coors decided to join Vic Sorrell’s Wolfpack baseball team in the spring of 1962 as a right-handed pitcher. The Wolfpack was hurting that year, after losing two starting pitchers and power-hitting first baseman Roman Gabriel, who had a team-leading five home runs and 19 RBIs in his junior year but was ineligible to play as a senior after signing a professional football contract with the Los Angeles Rams.

Gail and Joe Coors Jr. on their wedding day. (Family photo.)

Sadly, Joe Jr. never got into a game. Midway through the season, on April 14, 1962, he married Gail in a wedding ceremony in Chapel Hill, despite the family’s unwritten rule that none of the male heirs could be married until after they received their college degree.

His father immediately cut him out of the family businesses.

“At the time I was very bitter,” he said in the alumni magazine story. “…[but] in a German family, there are certain expectations. You do what you are told. Obviously, I had some of the blood from my mother’s side of the family. I felt if my life was going to be run for me that way that I would just as soon not participate.

“So I didn’t.”

Joe Jr. never returned to the Wolfpack baseball team. He graduated NC State with a degree in applied mathematics and a minor in ceramics engineering, which was part of what is now NC State’s Department of Materials Engineering.

He didn’t exactly wander in the wilderness after breaking with the family. After graduation, he became a stockbroker in Denver, only about 15 miles away from his family’s 22-room estate on the grounds of the Coors brewery. He later moved to San Diego, where the weather was warm enough for year-round golf, to become a computer programmer and a data processing specialist.

Then, just before Christmas in 1972, Coors said the voice of God told him to “go home.” So he did. He asked for a job within in the company and after two months of somewhat heated familial debate, he was offered a job as a data processor within the Coors Ceramics Inc.

At the time, like Joe Jr., the ceramics company was a dark family secret. Early in the 20^th century, Adolph Coors owned a glassworks company that produced bottles and other porcelain-based pottery. He found ways to incorporate clay dug out of the same waterways that provided the brewery its pure spring water.

That worked well for three years until the onset of World War I, when U.S. companies were barred from importing from Germany the high-quality chemical and scientific porcelain. So Adolph Coors bought the Herold Pottery Company and turned it into a ceramics production company, which sustained the family throughout the decade of Prohibition, along with the production of malted milk and non-alcoholic beer. When Prohibition was lifted in 1933, Coors was one of the few breweries still in business.

When Joe Jr. was accepted back into the family, he went to Hillsboro, Oregon, as a data processor for Wilbanks Inc., a subsidiary ceramics company. He stayed there for 11 years, becoming president and CEO in 1980.

“It was family policy not to talk about that business,” Coors told the alumni magazine some 25 years ago. “I have changed that.”

Joe Jr. returned to Colorado in 1984 and helped introduce several ceramic golf products that were near and dear to his heart: ceramic putters, drivers and golf spikes. CoorsTek, though no longer part of the parent company, still manufactures high-quality golf equipment, along with components for semiconductors, bearings and other technical applications of ceramics. It has more than 6,000 employees and 60 manufacturing facilities in 14 countries.

And it’s no longer a secret.

Joe Coors Jr. at CoorsTek. (CoorsTek photo.)

After taking over the reins of all the family businesses in 1986 and increasing worldwide sales in every division, Joe Jr. retired from the family business in 2000 to a quiet life in Colorado, playing golf most days at The Club at Rolling Hills, where he and Gail were longtime members. The family business was eventually merged with Molson Brewing and Miller Brewing into MillerCoors, which is now the second largest beer brewing company in the country.

It was during a round there that Joe Jr. got his second message from God: Run for Congress.

So he mounted a challenge to his next-door neighbor, incumbent U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D), as a Republican candidate for Colorado’s 7^th District, using “I am not a beer. I am you.” as his campaign slogan.

It did not help, and Perlmutter retained his seat, winning the fourth of his seven terms so far.

Joe Coors Jr. died on Sept. 16, 2016, from the complications of a stroke. He was 74.

Had he lived to see it, Coors would likely be astounded that his family’s signature product will be served in Carter-Finley Stadium and that his alma mater now has its own fermentation science program, a research brewery and its own namesake lager, Old Tuffy Premium Lager, which is being commercially produced by craft beer specialist New Belgium Brewing Company of Asheville.

New Belgium was founded in Fort Collins, Colorado, about 70 miles from where the Adolph Coors began his family empire more than 125 years ago.

On Saturday, Coors Light and Old Tuffy will be sold in cans side-by-side throughout the football game.

Sources for this story include: NCSU: The Alumni Magazine, The Denver Post, the NC State Special Collections Archive and NC State athletics archives.

ACC's Top 50 Players of All-Time (1997 view)

© The Durham Herald-Sun, March 4, 1997

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BY AL FEATHERSTON and TIM PEELER

The first pick was easy.

David Thompson was our unanimous choice as the greatest player in ACC basketball history. That judgment was reached both by the 11 members of The Herald-Sun sports department who voted on the poll and by dozens of ACC writers, coaches and former players surveyed before the balloting.

The verdict was clear: DT is No. 1.

No debate. No arguments. No challengers.

Too bad it wasn't as simple to select and rank the next 49 players on our list of the Top 50 players in ACC history. From the selection of Duke's Christian Laettner as the league's second greatest player to the choice of Wake Forest's Tyrone ``Muggsy'' Bogues as No. 50, each choice was fraught with debate.

So why do it?

Blame Tim Duncan. The decision to rank the ACC's 50 greatest players had its roots in a discussion of Duncan's place in ACC history. The Demon Deacon senior clearly rates as one of the greatest players in the 44-year history of the league.

But where does he rank, and what criteria should be used to rate the ACC's greatest players?

"I'm going to stay away from that," Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said last week. "There's no denying Tim's going to be ranked among the best, but I'm not saying he's the best or in the top five.

"He's still got things to accomplish."

Our panel picked Duncan No. 4, but we put an asterisk by his name. We counted on the 6-10 senior winning a third straight first-team All-ACC spot. We counted on him being a consensus All-American. We counted on him earning 1997 ACC and national player of the year honors.

If he does nothing else, the Wake Forest star is our No. 4 all-time ACC player.

But Duncan could move up if he could lead the Deacons to a third consecutive ACC Tournament title -- something two other teams in ACC history have accomplished -- then leads Wake Forest to the Final Four or maybe even to its first NCAA Championship.

The panel agreed those factors should count toward the ultimate evaluation of Duncan's career -- or any player's career, for that matter. Individual achievements are significant, but those achievements have to be considered in the context of a player's impact on his team, on the conference and on the national scene.

"That's how you measure the great ones," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "How much can they lift a team?"

Each of the players selected by The Herald-Sun as the ACC's 50 greatest met those criteria. We honored three players from Duke's back-to-back NCAA champions in 1991 and '92. We honored three members of the N.C. State team that compiled a 57-1 record over the 1972-73 and '73-74 seasons. We honored three members from UNC's 1982 NCAA Championship team and the star of the Tar Heels' 1957 NCAA champs.

But we couldn't honor every great player from every great team -- not with 50 picks.

In fact, a survey of the players who just missed our list reads like a Who's Who of college basketball.

It includes seven players who earned ACC player of the year honors (UNC's Pete Brennan, Lee Shaffer and Mitch Kupchak; Duke's Steve Vacendak; Maryland's Albert King; Wake Forest's Rod Griffin and Clemson's Horace Grant), a three-time first team All-ACC choice (UNC's York Larese), two consensus All-Americans (UNC's Bob McAdoo and J.R. Reid) and 59 -- that's right, 59! -- first-round NBA draft picks.

But the NBA was irrelevant to the discussion. We weren't picking the best professionals who played in the ACC. If that was the goal, Michael Jordan would be the easy No. 1 pick.

Instead, we voted Jordan No. 11, based on a college career that includes one ACC and one national championship, one ACC and one national player of the year award, and two selections as first team All-ACC.

Compare those accomplishments to the player picked just ahead of him -- Duke's Danny Ferry.

The Blue Devil big man was, like Jordan, a national player of the year and a two-time All-American. But he also was two-time ACC player of the year and the 1988 ACC Tournament MVP (an award Jordan never won). Ferry led the league in scoring twice, Jordan once.

By staying four years, Ferry ended up high on the ACC career list for points (15th) and rebounds (21st). He's the only player in league history with 2,000-plus points, 1,000-plus rebounds and 500-plus assists.

Jordan, who left after his junior year, doesn't show up on any of the ACC's statistical lists.

True, Jordan hit the winning shot in the 1982 NCAA title game, but don't forget that James Worthy was the Tar Heels' MVP that year and the MVP of the '82 Final Four. As a freshman in 1986, Ferry filled much the same role as Jordan did for UNC in '82 -- he was a key supporting player on Duke's 37-3 NCAA runners-up.

The difference is that when Ferry became Duke's main man in '88 and '89, he led the Blue Devils to an ACC title and two Final Fours. After Jordan became UNC's leader in 1983 and 1984, the Tar Heels won nothing in postseason -- despite a lineup that surrounded Jordan with Sam Perkins, Brad Daugherty and (in '84) Kenny Smith.

So Ferry had the better college career. The fact that Jordan's pro career has eclipsed Ferry's by a wide margin doesn't change that.

Putting Jordan at No. 11 wasn't the only pick that provoked debate among our panelists. Among the other more provocative selections:

* Christian Laettner, No. 2 -- We thought the Duke All-American was far and away the greatest NCAA Tournament performer the ACC has ever produced. He is the only player in NCAA history to start for Four Final teams. As a freshman, he outplayed Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning in the East Regional title game. As a sophomore, he hit a dramatic last-second shot to beat Connecticut in the East Regional title game. As a junior, he was the Final Four MVP after hitting the game-winning free throws to upset UNLV and bring Duke its first NCAA title. As a senior, his turn-around jumper at the buzzer against Kentucky gave Duke a victory in the East Regional title game that was picked by ESPN as the greatest college game ever played.

His regular-season play wasn't bad either, as evidenced by his ranking as the No. 5 scorer in ACC history. His 55.7 percent 3-point percentage in 1992 is an ACC record that no other player has approached.

* Len Chappell, No. 3 -- Quite simply, a forgotten superstar. But Chappell's three-year reign at Wake Forest produced a better ACC record (42-8) than the three best years of Tim Duncan (41-12) or Ralph Sampson (42-11).

He also led the Deacons to two league titles, winning the ACC Tournament MVP award twice, and to the 1962 Final Four -- Wake Forest's only Final Four appearance.

Statistically, neither Duncan nor Sampson can compare. Chappell averaged 24.9 points and 13.9 rebounds, including 26.6 points and 14 rebounds as a junior and 30.1 points and 15.2 rebounds as a senior.

Chappell never was the national player of the year, as Duncan probably will be this season and Sampson was three times. But when you look at individual achievement and team success, there's no escaping the conclusion that Chappell, not Sampson or Duncan, was the greatest center in ACC history.

* Larry Miller, No. 5; Charlie Scott, No. 7; Phil Ford, No. 8 -- Was Miller the best North Carolina player in the ACC era?

Our panel had a hard time picking the greatest Tar Heel. No ACC team has had as much success as UNC, but Dean Smith's Tar Heels have tended to be team oriented, not superstar dominated.

Miller, Scott and Ford all drew strong support. Was it coincidence that the voting put them in chronological order?

Miller, a powerful, sweet-shooting wing player, certainly deserves credit for helping launch the Dean Smith dynasty at UNC. The Tar Heel coach always cites Miller as the first player he recruited that Duke coach Vic Bubas wanted.

That recruiting victory paid off in 1967, when Miller led UNC to three head-to-head victories over Duke to give Smith his first ACC title. Miller earned ACC player of the year honors and was voted tournament MVP after hitting 13 of 14 field goals in a 32-point effort against Duke.

Miller repeated as player of the year and ACC Tournament MVP in 1968, adding the McKevlin Award as the league's top athlete. He finished his career with an average of 21.8 points a game and 9.2 rebounds -- the latter figure pretty good for a 6-4 player.

Scott shared the spotlight with Miller in 1968, then became the Tar Heels' big gun in 1969. He averaged 22.3 and 27.1 points in his last two seasons. Like Miller, he destroyed Duke in ACC Tournament finals, earning MVP honors in 1969 with a 40-point performance (with the 3-point shot, it might have been 50). A week later, he hit a last-second bomb from beyond the top of the key to beat Davidson in the East Regional finals and send UNC to its third straight Final Four.

Scott was the ACC's first great black athlete, and he had to break barriers that cleared the way for so many of the great ACC players who followed. He never was voted ACC player of the year -- a circumstance some observers have long believed smelled of racism. But two months after his career ended in 1970, the same group of voters who picked South Carolina's John Roche as player of the year, voted Scott as the ACC athlete of the year.

Ford was, quite simply, the greatest point guard in ACC history.

Smith's teams first used the Four Corners delay when Larry Brown was the point guard in the early 1960s. But with Ford in the middle, the Four Corners became a nearly invincible weapon.

Ford first unleashed his skills during the 1975 ACC Tournament, when he became the first freshman to win tournament MVP honors. He quarterbacked the '76 U.S. Olympic team to the gold medal and finished his career in 1978 as the ACC and national player of the year.

Injuries spoiled his postseason record, but he did lead a crippled UNC team to the 1977 NCAA title game, when, for once, the Four Corners didn't work -- but only because another player missed a layup that Ford set up.

So how do you rank Carolina's best? We went Miller-Scott-Ford, but I don't think anyone would complain too loudly if the order was reversed.

* Ralph Sampson, No. 6 -- Easily the most controversial player on our list.

Many listed the Virginia big man as the No. 2 player in ACC history. Some didn't have him in their top 20. That's ridiculous for the ACC's only three-time national player of the year, but it's the kind of emotion Sampson generated in his career.

Nothing about Sampson ever was simple. His teams won big -- in the regular season. But he never won an ACC Tournament and two of his best Virginia teams were eliminated by other ACC teams.

Apologists claimed that he was surrounded by mediocre talent, but the year after he failed to take Virginia to the '83 Final Four, the players he left behind made it to the '84 Final Four.

Perhaps Sampson's career was symbolized by a trip the Cavs took early in his senior season. Virginia went to Japan, and with Sampson sidelined with a minor injury, the Cavs beat Houston (the same Phi Slama Jama team that would lose to N.C. State in the title game) and Top-20 Utah.

On the way home, Virginia stopped in Hawaii for a game. With Sampson back in the lineup, the Cavs lost to Chaminade in one of the most celebrated upsets in NCAA history.

Where does Ralph Sampson rate? He was the focal point of each of his 132 games. Because of his stature, he was blamed for every Virginia failure -- whether or not it was his fault.

Picking Sampson No. 6 was a compromise. We never really agreed on his rankings -- just as we never reached agreement on so many players who barely made our list or barely missed it.

There isn't a clear-cut top 50 ACC players. We did the best we could after research and soul-searching (and not a little politicking).

In the end, the only choice we'd all agree was right is the guy at the top of the list.

THE HERALD-SUN'S TOP 50 IN THE ACC

1. David Thompson/ N.C. State
2. Christian Laettner/ Duke
3. Len Chappell/ Wake Forest
4. Tim Duncan/ Wake Forest
5. Larry Miller/ UNC
6. Ralph Sampson/ Virginia
7. Charlie Scott/ UNC
8. Phil Ford/ UNC
9. Grant Hill/ Duke
10. Danny Ferry/ Duke
11. Michael Jordan/ UNC
12. Len Rosenbluth/ UNC
13. Art Heyman/ Duke
14. James Worthy/ UNC
15. Tommy Burleson/ N.C. State
16. Dickie Hemric/ Wake Forest
17. John Roche/ S.Carolina
18. Bobby Hurley/ Duke
19. Len Bias/ Maryland
20. Billy Cunningham/ UNC
21. John Lucas/ Maryland
22. Ron Shavlik/ N.C. State
23. Charlie Davis/ Wake Forest
24. Johnny Dawkins/ Duke
25. Mark Price/ Ga. Tech
26. Mike Gminski/ Duke
27. Sam Perkins/ UNC
28. Jeff Mullins/ Duke
29. Randolph Childress/ Wake Forest
30. Sidney Lowe/ N.C. State
31. Barry Parkhill/ Virginia
32. Bob Verga/ Duke
33. Rodney Rogers/ Wake Forest
34. Bryant Stith/ Virginia
35. Bobby Jones/ UNC
36. Dale Davis/Clemson
37. Joe Smith/Maryland
38. Jerry Stackhouse/UNC
39. Kenny Anderson/Ga. Tech
40. Bob Lewis/UNC
41. Jeff Lamp/Virginia
42. Kenny Smith/UNC
43. Rodney Monroe/N.C. State
44. Tom McMillen/Maryland
45. Tree Rollins/Clemson
46. Lou Pucillo/N.C. State
47. Monte Towe/N.C. State
48. Gene Banks/Duke
49. Dennis Scott/Ga. Tech
50. Muggsy Bogues/Wake Forest