Daily Tar Heel – History on the Hill

Carolina Firsts: Vermont C. Royster

At the University Day celebration on October 11, 2016, Chancellor Carol Folt announced a new program to name scholarships after notable “firsts” in UNC history. In recognition of the individuals recognized as pioneers at UNC, the University Archives is publishing blog … Continue reading →

When Vermont C. Royster began his studies at UNC in 1931, he was no stranger to the campus. He was born in Raleigh, and his father, Wilbur Royster, was a professor of Greek and Latin at the university. Although Royster did receive his degree in Classics, his mark on UNC as a student, alumnus, and professor was made through his journalism — writing for the Wall Street Journal and later teaching at the School of Journalism. Royster was one of the first UNC alumni to receive a Pulitzer prize in 1953 (the same year as W. Horace Carter), and he later received a second Pulitzer in 1984.

Royster’s profile in the 1935 Yackety Yack.

Royster began his journalism career at UNC, where he worked for several campus publications, including The Daily Tar Heel and The Student Journal. During his senior year, he revived and wrote a column in the Daily Tar Heel titled “Around the Well,” which highlighted and described various campus happenings and gossip.

In addition to being drawn to journalism at UNC, he was also an active writer and participant in the Department of Dramatic Arts. As part of a play-writing course, he wrote and staged two plays — Shadows of Industry and Prelude — both of which can be found in the archives.

After graduating, Royster went on to begin the journalism career for which he is well known. He moved to New York and began working for the Wall Street Journal in 1936. He retired from the Wall Street Journal in 1971 and joined UNC’s School of Journalism as a faculty member later that year. Over the course of his career — both as a professional journalist and university professor — he won two Pulitzer Prizes: the first in 1953 for Editorial Writing and the second in 1984 for Commentary.

Royster died in 1996, and his personal papers are housed in the Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library. In addition, Royster published several books over the course of his life — including My Own, My Country’s Time, A Pride of Prejudices, and Journey Through the Soviet Union — all of which can be found in UNC Libraries.

Sources & Additional Readings:

Collection of “Around the Well” columns

“Vermont C. Royster (1914-1996),” written by Will Schultz. North Carolina History Project. http://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/vermont-c-royster-1914-1996/.

Vermont Royster papers #4432, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Essential Royster: a Vermont Royster reader. edited by Edmund Fuller. Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books, 1985.

My Own, My Country’s Time: a journalist’s journey. Vermont Royster. Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books, 1983.

A Pride of Prejudices. Vermont Royster. Chapel Hill, N.C. : Algonquin Books, 1984.

Journey through the Soviet Union. Vermont Royster. New York, D. Jones [1962].

Now Available: Edie Parker Papers

We are pleased to announce a new addition to University Archives, the Edie Parker Papers. Edie Parker (then Edie Knight) attended UNC from 1947 to 1949. As a student, she was active in student government, Greek life, and the Model … Continue reading →

We are pleased to announce a new addition to University Archives, the Edie Parker Papers.

Edie Parker (then Edie Knight) attended UNC from 1947 to 1949. As a student, she was active in student government, Greek life, and the Model United Nations. The collection — mostly in the form of a scrapbook — includes materials from the Women’s Intercollegiate Government Forum that Parker planned, orientation booklets, rush invitations, clippings about the Model UN from the Daily Tar Heel, and letters from male suitors. While at UNC, Parker also participated in a conference about the U.S. role in European recovery from World War II that Mademoiselle magazine hosted in 1948. Her notes from the conference are included in the collection. Parker’s scrapbook and accompanying papers provide insight into the life of a woman student at UNC during the late 1940s.

Below, we’ve highlighted just a few items from the Edie Parker scrapbook, including photographs of UNC students and the 1949 UNC Commencement program.

Now Available: Edie Parker Papers

We are pleased to announce a new addition to University Archives, the Edie Parker Papers.

Below, we’ve highlighted just a few items from the Edie Parker scrapbook, including photographs of UNC students and the 1949 UNC Commencement program.

Rameses: A Mascot’s Story

The image of Rameses the ram sneers out from all manner of University of North Carolina memorabilia. His angry glare can be spotted on shirts, hats, keychains and bumper stickers. Of course, most Tar Heels know that there are really two different Rameses that represent the school at events both sporting and non-sporting. The story of the live Rameses, a Horned Dorset Sheep who attends home Carolina football games with Carolina blue horns, is fairly well-known. In 1924, the head of the Carolina cheerleaders, Vic Huggins, suggested buying a ram mascot to support star player Jack “The Battering Ram” Merritt. Rameses the First was purchased for $25 and the lineage has stayed in the same family all the way up to today, with Rameses XXII serving as the incumbent.

The story of the Rameses mascot, a human student inside an anthropomorphic ram costume, is less famous but equally important to the story of Carolina spirit. In 1988, students at UNC expressed interest in getting a Rameses mascot that could attend indoor events (such as basketball games) and help promote spirit across the campus and surrounding communities. At the time, UNC was the only school in the ACC without a costumed mascot. When the first Rameses costume premiered during the 1987-88 season, reactions were lukewarm.

The first costume was designed locally and featured horns made out of clay, which made the costume head heavy and difficult to move for the student inside. This student—the first to play Rameses—was senior Eric Chilton from Mount Airy, NC. The ram costume also wore a friendly expression, which some students felt wasn’t a strong representation of UNC’s tough and talented sports teams. In the October 21, 1988 edition of The Daily Tar Heel, a senior named Mike Isenhour was quoted to say, “I definitely think that we should get a new one. [The mascot] looked real wimpy. If there is going to be a new one, it should definitely be meaner.”

Students wanted the mascot to look more like the familiar face of Rameses seen on the UNC logo—with a tougher and more determined expression on his face. The new costume was designed by Stage Craft, a Cincinnati based company that also designed the Demon Deacon costume for Wake Forest University.

The newly designed Rameses costume premiered at the January 1989 basketball game versus NC State. He was designed to mirror the Rameses of the school logo, with a fierce scowl on his face, a Carolina blue jersey and a small hat.

Photo: The Daily Tar Heel, Jan. 30, 1989

The new mascot, the true identity of which was cloaked in secrecy, was elected from 12 people who auditioned. He attended both cheerleading camp and mascot camp for training. The mascot (not identified by name in the January 30, 1989 edition of the DTH), explained how acting worked when inside the costume. “Emotions have to be expressed with hand and body movements,” he said, noting that all movements had to be exaggerated.

This version of costumed Rameses was more popular than the original and became a crowd-pleasing addition to both athletics and community events. This version remained in active service until the late 1990s, when the costume was updated to the current design familiar to UNC students of today. This new design achieved a desired middle-ground between the happy-go-lucky initial design and the grumpy Rameses of the 1990s.

Today’s Rameses was designed to look muscular and intimidating and he has become a familiar sight at Carolina sporting events.

In 2007, Jason Ray was the cheerleader assigned to perform as Rameses at events. On March 23, 2007, he was struck by a car outside of the cheerleaders’ hotel in New Jersey. UNC were preparing for the Sweet Sixteen game against USC at the time. Ray died of his injuries on March 26, 2007 and his organ donation saved several lives. He was an honors student set to graduate that May with a degree in Business and a minor in religious studies.

The long tradition of UNC adapting Rameses to changing times has continued to the modern era. On October 23, 2015 an addition was made to the Carolina mascot team with the debut of Rameses Jr. (or “RJ”).

Photo: The Daily Tar Heel, October 23, 2015

Rameses Jr. looks different from his older brother, with blue horns, blue eyes, a less muscular physique and a friendlier facial expression. RJ was created to take on some of the mascot’s responsibilities because Rameses is in very high demand for public events. He was designed to increase the appeal of Rameses to young children, as he has a softer and less scary look. He can help broaden community outreach and serve as a good ambassador for the youngest Tar Heels.

Rameses, along with RJ and his ovine cousin Rameses XXII, continue to serve as strong representatives for the Tar Heel community and are a huge part of the spirit of the university.

November 22, 1963

Today, people around the country and around the world are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy, sharing remembrances of the president and of the day that shook the nation. In Chapel Hill, the campus … Continue reading →

The resolution passed by the Di-Phi Joint Senate on November 22, 1963. Di-Phi Joint Senate Records (#40153), University Archives.

In Chapel Hill, the campus came to a standstill as news of the President’s death spread. The next day, Daily Tar Heel writers recalled the moment that the word entered the newsroom:

“There were no warning bells on the UPI wire in the newspaper office here, as is customary when big news breaks. The first knowledge was the editor’s cry, ‘What’s this on the wire about the President being killed?’ No one believed he was serious.”

As word spread, students gathered around radios and televisions, abandoning their preparations for the “Beat Dook” parade scheduled for that afternoon. The parade and other campus events were cancelled, including that weekend’s football game against Duke.

Many on campus thought back to the President’s visit to campus two years earlier, and UNC President William C. Friday, who had visited Kennedy at the White House several times, said that he was “stunned” by this “terrible tragedy for our nation.”

That evening, the Di and Phi Joint Senate passed a resolution expressing their grief and sympathy. They sent a telegram to Jacqueline Kennedy and the newly sworn-in President Lyndon Johnson, saying “the Di-Phi Senate wishes to express its profoundest shock and grief at the death of our beloved president. May God keep you.”

Note from President Lyndon Johnson received by the Di-Phi Joint Senate, Di-Phi Joint Senate Records (#40153), University Archives.

Note from Jacqueline Kennedy received by the Di-Phi Joint Senate, Di-Phi Joint Senate Records (#40153), University Archives.

Read the Daily Tar Heel from November 23, 1963 on the Internet Archive.