From N.C. State University

Smithfield native Abby Lampe went through her N.C. State University career without garnering too much attention, even though she’s practically Wolfpack royalty, with a family legacy that goes back generations.

Like most other spring 2022 graduates, Lampe took a few photos at Memorial Tower in her cap and gown, attended commencement in PNC Arena and then went about planning her move to Charlotte as a technology consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Then, on June 6, she woke up an international celebrity, a viral sensation on Instagram, Twitter and Reddit wearing a black school sweatshirt and holding up an 8-pound cheese wheel after winning the women’s division of the 2022 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake near Gloucester, England. (In the event, competitors chase a wheel of cheese down a hill. The first one to cross the finish line wins.)

Scratched and bruised from her 15-second (somewhat) controlled tumble down the 200-yard hill, Lampe, now a cheese-chasing champ, did interviews with British media after the event, which draws spectators from around the world. She then left for a local pub, cheese wheel in hand.

By the time Lampe got back to her hotel, she had received interview requests from newspapers across North Carolina, local television stations, N.C. State’s reporter for Sports Illustrated, the NC State alumni magazine and several fan sites. All had seized upon her newfound celebrity, perhaps the most oddball victory for an N.C. State product since student Draven Sneed won a national cornhole championship.

“It’s been kind of wild,” Lampe admitted after getting up at 4:30 a.m. the day after her bruising race to send some photos and answer all the media inquiries. “Some of the names on the list were pretty mindboggling.

“I didn’t expect to be doing any of that this morning.”

By midday, however, her list of followers had doubled and she had updated her Instagram biography to read “2022 women’s cheese rolling world champion.” She even accepted online congratulations from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.

It didn’t hurt that the photos of Lampe’s ebullient smile, even with dirt and grass in her teeth and mud smeared on her face and clothes, were filled with unfettered joy from winning an event that is purported to date back more than six centuries.

“I’m still not sure if I chipped a tooth or I still have a mouth full of stuff from the race,” said the 21-year-old, who received a degree in industrial and systems engineering.

Her branding instincts, however, were perfect. She immediately held up the Wolf Hands sign and let the media on hand know she was a visitor from North Carolina who had wanted to compete n the 2020 event while studying abroad at the University of Surrey.

COVID had canceled both the 2020 and 2021 races. When Lampe learned that it was returning this year and it coincided with her summer travel plans, she decided to sign up. On June 3, she flew from Barcelona, Spain, to the United Kingdom to scout the famous grade and get her bearings on what is billed as “Gloucestershire’s steepest hill.”

On June 5, in front of hundreds of spectators, she bolted from the start line, took a somewhat diagonal route and out-tumbled more than a dozen competitors to win the women’s division.

Her first thought was school pride.

“I bleed Wolfpack red,” Lampe said.

Of course, she meant that figuratively and literally, as she began her recovery from minor scratches.

Lampe is part of a Wolfpack family that stretches back four generations. Her great-grandfather was J. Harold Lampe, the university’s longest-serving dean of the School of Engineering (1945-1962).

Dean Lampe took over an engineering school that helped fuel the U.S. Army and Navy during World War II through its diesel and ceramics engineering programs. He turned the school into a worldwide leader, especially with the opening of the world’s first nuclear reactor on a college campus. Burlington Laboratories is located at the intersection of Lampe and Stinson drives.

Lampe was also instrumental in the founding of the Research Triangle Park, often working with two of Cooper’s predecessors, J. Melville Broughton and Terry Sanford.

“I knew I had to represent N.C. State well during the race,” Abby Lampe said.

Her grandparents attended N.C. State, and her parents, John and Nancy Lampe, met as students studying history and computer science at the school. Lampe, her parents and siblings lived in Smithfield until moving to Clayton shortly after she enrolled at State.

Now, Lampe will go back to her once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunity that will take her to Portugal, Sweden, Greece and other parts of the European mainland before she begins her job in October.