Raleigh handed one of its most visible honors to a familiar face in 2025, naming Dereck Whittenburg Grand Marshal of the city's annual Christmas parade.
For a player and coach whose name has been tied to NC State for more than four decades, the role was a natural fit — a hometown celebration led by someone the community has long claimed as its own.
Whittenburg has spent his post-playing years as an ambassador as much as an athlete, and the parade was one more stage for the easy warmth that has made him a fixture at Wolfpack events and across the Triangle.
He waved from the front of a procession that drew thousands downtown — a long way from Albuquerque in 1983, and right at home.