NC State Football's History of Success

March 12, 1892: The North Carolina A&M football team squares off against a team from the Raleigh Male Academy at Raleigh's Athletic Park (now Pullen Park).  The Aggies record a 12-6 victory in a game that includes two 45-minute halves and has plowed lines to serve as the boundaries of the field.  The A&M team wears pink and blue uniforms and nearly 200 people attend the game.

1893: The A&M "Farmers" play their first college game against Tennessee in Raleigh, winning 12-6.

1895: North Carolina A&M, under the direction of Coach Bart Gatling, dons red and white uniforms for the first time.

November 8, 1902: The Farmers battle to a 0-0 tie against the well-established powerhouse from North Carolina in a game at the State Fair Grounds.  Following the contest, the entire student body at Trinity College (now Duke University) sends the Farmers a congratulatory telegram.

October 1, 1906: The Farmers use a new "trick play"  in a 39-0 victory over Randolph-Macon at the Fair Grounds: the forward pass.

September 1907: The Farmers play their first game at the New Athletic Park on the school campus versus Richmond. The site later becomes known as Riddick Field and then Riddick Stadium.  The Red Terrors also brought home NC State’s first football title that year, winning the South Atlantic Championship with a 6-0-1 record.

1909: Season tickets are sold for the first time.  The price for five games?  $2!

1910: The Farmers post a 4-0-2 record and win the South Atlantic Championship.

November 4, 1911: A scoreboard is installed at the A&M Athletic Field.  The scoreboard informs the crowd which team has possession, the down and distance and the score.

1913: The Farmers posts a 6-1 record and win another South Atlantic Championship.

1918: The United States' entrance into World War I and a dangerous flu epidemic on campus forces State College, as A&M is now known, into reducing its schedule to four games. State produces its first All-American, as tackle John Ripple makes the Walter Camp second-team.  [Read more about Ripple here.]

October 23, 1919: State and Carolina meet for the first time since 1905. State players wear uniform numbers for the first time and the first game program is printed.

1921: State joins the Southern Conference and begins to wear red sweaters instead of white sweaters. Local newspapers begin referring to the squad as the Wolfpack for the first time.

1927: State wins its first official conference title (Southern Conference) with a 9-1 record.

September, 1930: NC State opens the 1930 season by playing its first night game.  Under the newly installed lights of Riddick Stadium, the Pack defeats High Point, 37-0.

1937: NC State's new coach, “Doc” Newton, believes that the offensive huddle slows play too much, so he develops "The Huddle without a Huddle," using an instrument that the Associated Press describes as "a metal gadget the size of a pocket watch and somewhat similar to a baseball umpire’s [ball-strike] indicator."  Before each play, the tailback sets two numbers on the indicator - one for the play called and one for the snap count.  The indicator is passed on to each of the players at his assigned position, and then the tailback deposits the gadget into a special pocket in his uniform pants.  Needless to say, the practice lasts just one season and Newton begrudgingly lets his team huddle before each play.

1943: With every man over 18 who is fit for service inducted into the military, Coach Doc Newton doesn’t have much to work with.  To make matters worse, State hosts Army officer trainees and the Army won’t allow its cadets to compete in intercollegiate athletics.  North Carolina and Duke both host Navy programs, which allow its participants to play on varsity teams. The day before the Carolina game, 24 of Carolina’s 90 players are placed on furlough by the Navy and the day before the Duke game, 23 members of that squad are transferred by the Navy.  Nevertheless, State drops both contests.

November 10, 1945: Howard “Touchdown” Turner returns an interception 105 yards against Duke, the longest play in NC State history.

October 8, 1946: The Wolfpack appears in the UPI poll (19th) for the first time after a 14-7 win over Clemson. 

January 1, 1947: The Wolfpack is invited to play in the second-annual Gator Bowl contest in Jacksonville, Fla.  Each school receives $30,000 for participating in the contest.  Forty-two players travel to Florida for the game against Oklahoma.

October 23, 1948: The Wolfpack squad flies to an away game for the first time, bringing home a 7-0 win from Chattanooga.

October 21, 1950: The Wolfpack appears on television for the first time.  The Dumont Network regionally televises a 16-13 NC State victory at eighth-ranked Maryland.

1952: The Southern Conference bans schools from playing in bowl games and limits squads to just 40 players for conference games. 

1953: NC State joins the newly formed Atlantic Coast Conference.  There is no league champion in the first year, but the ACC signs an agreement to send a conference school to the Orange Bowl for the next two years.

September 18, 1954: Earle Edwards coaches his first game at NC State, a 21-30 loss at Virginia Tech.  Edwards would go on to win five ACC titles during his 17 seasons with the program and put NC State on  the map in the college football scene. [Read more about Edwards here and here.]

November 23, 1957: Dick Christy scores all 29 of NC State's points in a 29-26 victory at South Carolina that gives the Pack its first ACC championship.  Although he has never attempted a field goal in a game, Christy boots a 47-yarder to give the Pack the win.  The score had been 26-26 with State driving, but the Gamecocks seem to seal State's fate by intercepting a pass.  Fans spill out of the stands to celebrate, but a defensive pass interference call gives the Wolfpack one more play. [A recap of NC State Football's Greatest Day.]  The rest, as they say, is history. [Read more about Christy here.]

November 28, 1961: Quarterback Roman Gabriel completes 17-22 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns in a 38-14 win over South Carolina, setting the ACC record for career completions. [For more on Gabriel's career, click here.]

November 22, 1963: NC State clinches a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship with a win over Wake Forest in Riddick Stadium.  However, the celebration is overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that day in Dallas, Texas.  The game had been moved to Friday night and news of the assassination came just hours before kickoff.

November 13, 1965: NC State plays its last game in Riddick Stadium, defeating Florida State, 3-0.

October 8, 1966: NC State plays its first game in the new Carter Stadium, losing 21-31 to South Carolina.

October 7, 1967: The Pack, with its "White Shoes" defense, upsets second-ranked Houston (7-6) in the Astrodome before a crowd of 52,483, the largest crowd ever to see an indoor football game at that time.  Approximately 7,000 fans were waiting for the victorious State squad  at the airport the next day. 

1969: Clyde Chesney becomes the first African American to play football on the NC State varsity squad.

November 24, 1971: Thirty-four-year-old Lou Holtz is named head coach for the Wolfpack.  Freshmen are eligible for the first time since World War II.

November 18, 1978: Ted Brown’s #23 jersey is retired prior to a 24-10 win over Duke.  Brown finishes his career with 4,602 yards, setting an ACC record that still stands.

November 17, 1979: NC State defeats Duke, 28-7, to claim the ACC title.

September 6, 1986: Head Coach Dick Sheridan and the diamond logo make their NC State debut, as NC State defeats East Carolina 38-10.

1991: NC State football celebrates its 100th birthday with a 9-3 record, a final AP ranking (24th), a second-place finish in the ACC, and its fourth consecutive trip to a bowl.

January 1, 1995: NC State makes its seventh consecutive bowl appearance, defeating Mississippi State 28-24 in the Peach Bowl.

September 12, 1998: The Wolfpack upsets No. 2 Florida State, 24-9, at Carter-Finley Stadium, marking the first victory over a team ranked that high since a 1967 victory second-ranked Houston.

January 6, 2000: Chuck Amato is named the 32nd head coach in NC State history, returning to his alma mater after 18 years at Florida State University.  Amato brings the “Block S” logo back to the Wolfpack after a 14-year absence.

 

November 10, 2001: With a 34-28 victory, NC State becomes the first league team to win at Florida State in the decade since the Seminoles joined the Atlantic Coast Conference.

October 26, 2002: With a 38-6 win at Clemson before a national, ESPN Thursday night audience, the Wolfpack runs its record to 9-0, the best start in school history.  That mark ties the longest win streak in school history.

January 1, 2003: The Wolfpack completes the winningest season in school history (11-3) with a 28-6 win over Notre Dame in the Toyota Gator Bowl. 

April 25, 2003: The Murphy Football Center is officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the facility’s Gant Plaza.  The state-of-the-art building boasts over 100,000 square feet devoted solely to the Wolfpack football program.

November 22, 2003: Philip Rivers’ jersey is retired before the Pack’s final game.  Rivers finished his career ranked second in NCAA history with 13,484 passing yards and 13,582 yards of total offensive, both ACC records.  He was named the 2003 ACC Player of the Year after setting an NCAA Division I record for career starts by a quarterback with 51.

March 14, 2004: Demolition begins on the old press box to make way for Vaughn Towers - Carter-Finley Stadium’s new facility that boasts luxury suites and a press box.

November 27, 2004: NC State plays its season finale and becomes just the third team in ACC history to lead the NCAA in total defense, giving up just 221.4 yards per game.

 

December 31, 2005: NC State caps off its season with a 14-0 shutout of South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.  It marks the first time the Wolfpack had posted a shutout in a bowl game and was the only shutout in a 2005 bowl game.

 

April 29, 2006: The Wolfpack's Mario Williams becomes the first player in ACC history to be selected as the number-one pick in the NFL draft.  Williams, who was selected by the Houston Texans, was one of three NC State players taken in the first round.

December 9, 2006: Tom O'Brien is introduced as NC State's 33rd head coach.  O'Brien says his goal is to make the Wolfpack champions in the classroom, in the community and on the football field.

April, 2007: O'Brien holds the first reunion weekend for all former NC State football players, in conjunction with the Red & White Spring Game.  More than 300 former Wolfpack players attend the inaugural event. More than 400 attended the 2008 reunion.

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