Cozell McQueen

Cozell McQueen Jr. was born in Paris on January 18, 1962, during his father's U.S. Army service. The family moved through Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Fort Benning, Georgia, before settling in Bennettsville, South Carolina, where he grew up and starred at Bennettsville High School. At nearly 7 feet, he drew college interest across the South and beyond. Jim Valvano later joked that McQueen delayed his NC State commitment to take a recruiting visit to Toledo, Ohio, and that the South Carolina native had always wanted to "go up north" to play. McQueen arrived in Raleigh in 1981 with classmates including Lorenzo Charles, Terry Gannon, and others who would form the core of Valvano's rise.

McQueen attended Bennettsville High School in South Carolina, then enrolled at North Carolina State University, playing for the Wolfpack from 1981 to 1985 under Jim Valvano. He completed four seasons in the Atlantic Coast Conference while balancing the demands of major-college basketball. Later reflections from McQueen pushed back on stereotypes about students from small South Carolina towns, stressing that he considered himself prepared for university work.

At NC State, McQueen was a defensive and rebounding specialist rather than a primary scorer. He averaged roughly 5.3 points and 6 rebounds for his career and played 134 games. In 1983 he helped the sixth-seeded Wolfpack survive Pepperdine in double overtime with a late bank shot, outrebounded Georgia in the Final Four semifinal, and then limited Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon enough for a 54-52 title upset. As a junior and senior he started regularly and guarded stars such as Ralph Sampson, Keith Lee, Sidney Green, Brad Daugherty, and Jon Koncak.

Milwaukee drafted him 91st overall in 1985. Waived after camp, he bounced through Spain's Catalan league and the CBA (Wisconsin Flyers, Kansas City Sizzlers, La Crosse Catbirds) before a three-game NBA stint with Detroit in 1986-87. He then became a steady European big: Tours in France's Pro A, Paini Napoli (where he led Serie A in blocks in 1988-89), Philips Milano, CAI Zaragoza in Spain's Liga ACB, and Scaini Venezia. He finished in U.S. minor leagues and retired in 1996.

McQueen married Reverend MisChella McKoy McQueen. They raised three children, Cozell McQueen III, Chaz McQueen, and Dr. Chyna McQueen-Lane, and made their home in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina after his playing career. He remained tightly connected to the 1983 teammates, attending reunions and the team's 2019 hall of fame induction. Friends and coverage described a private family life rooted in Raleigh even as national nostalgia for Survive and Advance kept the Cardiac Pack in public view.

McQueen's public persona centered on competitive confidence without bravado about scoring. Before the 1983 Final Four he said he was never nervous, he just went out and played. He took pride in defense and in knowing his role. Off the court he pushed back against assumptions that South Carolinians were "slow and behind," insisting he belonged academically and athletically at NC State. Teammates later said he simply did not know he was supposed to fear stars like Ralph Sampson or Hakeem Olajuwon, and that belief shaped how he played.

McQueen endures as a symbol of the Cardiac Pack's grit: the reserve-turned-Final-Four force who rebounded against Georgia and Houston, then stood on the rim while Raleigh celebrated. ESPN's Survive and Advance documentary and decades of anniversary coverage kept his image alive. NC State ranked him among the program's top centers by impact, not scoring. His death in 2026 was mourned as another loss from a championship family that had already buried Lorenzo Charles, Quinton Leonard, Jim Valvano, and others. For Wolfpack fans, Cozell McQueen remains proof that role players can author championship moments.

McQueen won the 1983 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship with NC State. The 1983 team was inducted into the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019. Individually he was not a major national award winner, but he led Italy's Serie A in blocked shots in 1988-89 with Paini Napoli and earned lasting recognition as a cornerstone of one of college basketball's most celebrated underdog titles.

McQueen appears throughout coverage of the 1983 tournament, including ESPN Films' 30 for 30 documentary Survive and Advance. Local North Carolina television, especially WRAL and ABC11, recorded later interviews in which he reflected on the title game and why he rarely rewatched it. News outlets nationwide carried his 2026 obituary, often pairing the rim celebration photo with tributes from NC State athletics.

McQueen was not widely associated with personal scandal. In the 2020s he was among former Cardiac Pack players involved in litigation seeking compensation related to the NCAA's commercial use of athlete names, images, and likenesses from the pre-NIL era. That legal effort was about historical athlete rights rather than any allegation of wrongdoing by McQueen.

McQueen died on August 5, 2026, in Raleigh, North Carolina, at age 64. NC State men's basketball announced the news and said he had proudly worn the red and white from 1981 to 1985. Contemporary reports described a long fight with brain cancer (glioblastoma), with additional late complications including meningitis and an intestinal obstruction noted in regional coverage. Funeral arrangements were handled in the Durham area by Dunn Funeral Home and Cremation Services. He was survived by his wife, Reverend MisChella McKoy McQueen, and their three children.