Peter Karmanos Jr., unhappy in Connecticut, was looking for a new city for his NHL franchise.
Steve Stroud, then chairman of the Centennial Authority, was looking for another tenant to share a new arena in Raleigh due to open in 1999.
It was an unlikely duo: the pony-tailed Karmanos, a software company owner from Detroit, and Stroud, a native North Carolinian whose drawl was thick and his business acumen keen.
But together, the two helped orchestrate and bring major-league hockey to the Triangle and the state in 1997. The Carolina Hurricanes, whose home is PNC Arena, have given North Carolina its only major-league championship – the 2006 Stanley Cup – while becoming an indelible part of the state’s sports landscape.