A house divided: Military family with NC State, UCLA ties excited for Holiday Bowl
The tale of the Wallace and Gomez family is a classic one.
Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, girl and brother can’t wait to destroy boy’s team in a few days.
What? Never heard that one before?
Here’s the story. Siblings Rocky and Ed Gomez grew up as Army brats. They were both born in North Carolina and grew up following sports on Tobacco Road.
Eventually Rocky and Ed both attended and graduated from N.C. State; Rocky in 1999, Ed a year later.
Across the country, at UCLA, Steve Wallace was commissioned into the infantry the same year Ed graduated from N.C. State.
In 2004, Rocky and Steve got married. Ed, also in the military, was deployed and unable to attend the ceremony. The brothers-in-laws didn’t meet until 2007 when they were both home from deployment. The family dynamic at both the Wallace and Gomez households are similar — they all love sports and are passionate about their alma maters.
Because of deployments, the three die-hard sports fans have never watched a game together in 21 years. That will all change on Tuesday when the Holiday Bowl puts their beloved schools against each other. At their home in Kansas, Rocky and Ed, decked out in N.C. State gear, and Steve Wallace, head-to-toe in UCLA paraphernalia, will make a full day out of the meeting between the Wolfpack and the Bruins.
“Game on,” Ed said.
Rocky, who has three boys with Steve, is considering dividing floors — Bruins upstairs, Pack supporters downstairs.
They will gather hours before the game starts, cooking and fellowshiping. But once the ball is kicked off, family members will take their respective sides.
Rocky jokes that one of her sons feels torn and might just wear black. Another son plans on siding with dad, the third child undecided.
“My husband is like,” Rocky jokes, “Which child is going to be in the will?”
N.C. State and UCLA have only played twice before, in 1959 and 1960, with the Bruins winning both times. For the Gomez and Wallace families the only UCLA-N.C. State history they know of are battles between Bill Walton and David Thompson on the basketball court. That changed when the bowl pairings were announced earlier this month. There were lots or projections that had the Pack and Bruins in the Holiday Bowl. Both families saw it, but didn’t want to get too excited until it became real.
Rocky and Steve have been stationed in both North Carolina and California, close enough to support their schools in person every now and then. Ed was stationed in Hawaii for a while, occasionally meeting someone who recognized his N.C. State hat at a bar.
When the announcement came out, Ed grabbed his phone and immediately had a message for his brother-in-law.
“You wear your colors, we’ll wear ours,” Ed wrote. “It’s just amazing that State finally gets to go to the west coast. I’ve been stationed on the west coast my whole career.”
Ed and his sister haven’t gone to a game together since the 1998 season. The siblings are really close, even rooming together for a while in Raleigh. When the game ends, no matter who wins, will there be hard feelings in the Wallace home?
“If State loses,” Ed said. “There’s no talking.”
Ed added that he and Rocky are “cut from the same mode” so she follows up his silent treatment sentiment.
“We just love our sports so much,” Rocky said. “We’re so passionate about it.”
The only thing they are more passionate about is family. They’ll get both on Tuesday.
“I’m so happy that we’re able to be together,” Rocky said. “And to be able to watch our two teams. My husband loves UCLA and I think it’s fantastic how our two worlds are colliding.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 5:15 AM with the headline "A house divided: Military family with NC State, UCLA ties excited for Holiday Bowl."
