An NC State tradition turns 50: The story behind the ‘Wolf Fingers’ hand sign and its legacy since

It doesn’t matter where one might be in the world. Whether it’s inside an airport in Middle America or on a glacier in Iceland, if someone is donning NC State gear of any kind, it’s likely that they’ll be met with a simple gesture in return: ‘Wolf Fingers’.  Not many schools around the country have a hand sign to identify with, but NC State is one of the few that has its own. It’s an easy thing to make, using all five fingers on a given hand to create what appears to be a silhouette of a wolf’s head with the index and pinky fingers as the ears and the other three together to create a mouth.  The hand sign has become ingrained in the Wolfpack’s culture. Nearly every student that makes their way through Raleigh has used it at some point, likely a multitude of times a week, while others grow up creating the sign as young as just a few years old. “It’s a wonderful thing because you can self-identify walking through an airport or any other public space, simply by making the hand sign,” former NC State Athletic Director Debbie Yow said. “That’s what makes it special.” NC State’s most-commonly used tradition is set to turn 50 years old on Saturday. It debuted inside Carter-Finley Stadium ahead of the Wolfpack’s 1975 season opener, and fittingly, it will return to the same venue on its birthday as a sold-out crowd of 56,919 raucous fans will utilize it as NC State hosts Virginia (12 p.m., ESPN2).  Although it’s been around for a while, the iconic hand sign was created almost by accident, but it has since become one of the most-recognizable traditions on the Wolfpack’s campus.