100 Games of Football Rivalry

Tomorrow will mark the 100th meeting between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack football teams. UNC won the first game, which was played on October 12, 1894, by a score of 44-0 (see image from the Tar Heel above). The Heels went on to win or tie the following 12 games, finally losing to the Pack for the first time in 1920.

4 thoughts on “100 Games of Football Rivalry”

  1. Could the Baskerville mentioned in the article be Charles Baskerville Carolina’s Chemistry professor? He was the man who discovered “Carolinium” which turned out to be the same thing as Thorium.

  2. Sounds likely, Kevin. From the New York Times, May 22, 1904: “Though hailed by great chemists as the only American who has ever discovered a new element, he is ready at a minute’s notice to go out on the football field, pull off his coat and show that he can punt the ball further than any undergraduate at the university…. It is not yet 10 years since he was cavorting up and down the athletic fields of the South, the Captain and star player of the University of North Carolina team.”

  3. Interesting post Jason. The UNC – NC State rivalry has an interesting past.

    The two teams did not play in 1944, 1945, or 1946.

    According to Charlie Justice, UNC’s All America tailback from 1946-1949, in a 1992 TV interview, following the 1946 season there was “some talk” in the NC Legislature requiring the teams meet each year.

    In 1947 the teams met in Chapel Hill so the 1948 game was scheduled for Raleigh’s Riddick Stadium, but on October 11, 1948 UNC was ranked by the Associated Press number one in the country and the game with NC State was coming up on October 16th. Since Kenan Stadium was larger than Riddick Stadium, the Tar Heels guaranteed NC State an extra $20,000 to move the game to Chapel Hill. State agreed to the deal and 44,000 fans jammed into Kenan.

    The teams have met every year since 1952. That 1952 game was cancelled because of a polio outbreak on campus.

    Over the years each school can claim classic wins and classic losses. Tomorrow’s 100th game will be unique…part of a season like no other.

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