A Century of Carolina Football

Aug. 8, 1999

Year-by-Year:

1920: The Tar Heels began the Roaring Twenties in a not so roaring fashion, finishing 2-6 under coach Myron E. Fuller... Carolina won two of its first three games, topping Wake Forest 6-0 and South Carolina 7-0 and losing 21-0 at Yale. The 2-1 Heels then lost their last five games, the last four by shutouts. A 13-3 loss at N.C. State, UNC's first-ever loss to the Wolfpack, was followed by a 13-0 loss at home to Maryland, Carolina's first loss in Chapel Hill since 1891. The offensively inept Heels followed the Maryland loss with another home loss, 23-0 to VMI. Road losses to Davidson (7-0) and Virginia (14-0) mercifully ended the season... The Maryland loss ended an amazing home unbeaten streak for North Carolina. Following a 6-4 loss to Trinity in UNC's very first home game in 1891, Carolina had gone 65-0-3 at University Athletic Field and Emerson Field. The Tar Heels recorded an amazing 58 shutouts in those 68 games, outscoring the opposition 1,609-70, or 23.66 to 1.03 per game... This year's away game against Virginia was played in Charlottesville, as the tradition of playing in Richmond came to an end. The new location didn't help. The Cavaliers defeated UNC 14-0... Carolina scored just 16 points the entire season, a 2.0 points per game average, the worst offensive effort of the 1900s.
1921: This year brought a new twist to the head coaching situation as UNC tried to find out if two are better than one. rothers Bill and Bob Fetzer began a five-year run as co-head coaches with a 5-2-2 mark... Their first team had a slow 1-2-1 start, before a 4-0-1 finish left the Heels with a 5-2-2 record. Carolina started with a win over Wake Forest, a loss at Yale, a tie with South Carolina and a second straight loss to N.C. State. After a 16-5 win over Maryland got UNC back on track, Red Johnston picked up 353 all-purpose yards to lead the Heels to a 20-7 win over VMI. Carolina then won three of the last four, the only blemish a 0-0 tie with Davidson. UNC defeated Virginia 7-3 before 10,000 fans at Emerson Field on Thanksgiving Day. In an unusual scheduling quirk for that era, the UVA game was not the last game of the season. Rather, Carolina finished its 1921 campaign with a 14-10 win over Florida at Jacksonville, Fla...This season marked Carolina's first as a member of the 14-team Southern Conference. The charter members included Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.
1922: The Fetzers had their most successful season this year, as Carolina finished with an outstanding 9-1 record and tied for the Southern Conference championship... After an opening 22-0 win over Wake Forest, Carolina made another trip to Yale and suffered an 18-0 loss, as three UNC touchdowns were called back by penalties... The next Thursday, Oct. 12, Carolina faced Trinity for the first time since 1894, when the school cancelled the sport. Trinity had actually begun playing again in 1920, but did not schedule the Heels until this year. Carolina was too strong, taking a 20-0 win before several thousand Emerson Field fans. UNC and Duke have played eached other every year since... A mere two days after the Trinity game, Carolina topped South Carolina 10-7 at home. Monk McDonald's 95-yard kickoff return for a TD was the key play in a 14-9 win over N.C. State in Raleigh the next week, then Red Johnston ran 78 yards for a TD the next Saturday in a 27-3 win over Maryland. Wins over Tulane, VMI and Davidson were followed by a thrilling, hard-fought 10-7 win over Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. to give the Heels a share of the conference championship... UNC, which was ranked 11th in the nation by I.B. Thomas in the January 1923 issue of Intercollegiate Athletics, played before a record 68,500 fans during the season... Seven more schools - Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, the University of the South, Tulane and Vanderbilt - joined the Southern Conference this year.
1923: The injury-plagued Heels limped their way to a respectable 5-3-1 record... For the fourth straight year Carolina topped Wake Forest to begin the season, this time taking a 22-0 win at home. The Heels then rode the rails north for their annual lesson in football from Yale, this year losing 53-0 at the Yale Bowl. UNC returned South to face Trinity before 7,000 fans at Hanes Field in Durham. The Heels took a rather narrow 14-6 win in a game they heavily dominated. A 14-0 win over N.C. State wrapped up the state championship and put the Heels at 3-1, but a 2-2-1 finish was capped off with a 0-0 tie with Virginia at Emerson Field on Thanksgiving Day.
1924: The Fetzers suffered their only losing season as Carolina finished with a 4-5 record... Carolina was in trouble early after an opening 7-6 loss at Wake Forest, a team UNC had beaten 17 straight times. Ironically, this loss started a four-game losing streak to the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest would go on to win the state championship this year... Carolina traveled back to New Haven, Conn. for the sixth straight season and suffered its sixth straight loss to the Ivy League power, this time by a 27-0 margin. Yale shut out UNC five of those six years and outscored the Heels 187-7. The teams would not meet again until a 13-6 Yale win in the war year of 1944... Carolina beat Trinity 6-0 at home behind two drop-kicked field goals before a 10-0 win at N.C. State moved UNC to 2-2. Losses to Maryland and South Carolina followed by narrow wins over VMI and Davidson put the Heels at 4-4 going into a Thanksgiving Day game at Charlottesville. UVA's 7-0 win gave UNC its second losing season since 1912... The Tar Heels played before their biggest crowd to date, 25,000, in the early October loss at New Haven's Yale Bowl...

Rameses, UNC's
eloved Mascot

Rameses, an idea of cheerleader Vic Huggins, became the Tar Heel mascot in 1924. A ram was shipped in from Texas and arrived just prior to the VMI game. Late in a scoreless game Bunn Hackney was called on for a field goal attempt. Hackney patted Rameses on the head for good luck, then split the uprights for a 3-0 upset.
1925: The Fetzer era ended with a highly successful 7-1-1 season behind a great defensive team... For the second straight season Wake Forest shocked the Heels in their opener, this time winning 6-0 in Chapel Hill. Carolina rebounded with a 7-0 win over South Carolina before facing an old opponent with a new name...Trinity had now become Duke, and the nickname Methodists had been replaced by the Blue Devils. This year's game was expected to be relatively close, but the Tar Heels exploded to an easy 41-0 victory. George Sparrow drop-kicked an amazingly-long 45-yard field goal for the Heels... Carolina blanked N.C. State, Mercer and Maryland to give the Heels five straight shutout wins before VMI scored in a 23-11 UNC win at Richmond. A 13-0 win over Davidson put UNC at 7-1 entering the season-ending Virginia game. 16,000 fans overflowed Emerson Field's 2,400 seat capacity and saw the two old rivals struggle to a bitter 3-3 tie... Carolina gave up just 20 points (2.22 per game), the best mark in the 1900s...The Fetzer brother combination was a big success, as ill and Bob combined for a 30-12-4 (.696) record over their five seasons.
1926: Chuck Collins, one of Notre Dame's "Seven Mules" who blocked for the "Four Horsemen", began his eight-year coaching tenure with a 4-5 record... Collins' squad got off to a rough start, losing 13-0 at Wake Forest and 34-0 at Tennessee. A 7-0 win over South Carolina gave the Heels a little momentum going into the Duke game, the last UNC-Duke game that would be played at Emerson Field. The game turned into a defensive battle in a driving rain. Gus McPherson's seven yard scoring game gave the Heels a 6-0 win. UNC lost 14-6 the next Saturday at Maryland despite McPherson's 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Shutout wins over N.C. State and VMI were followed by scoreless losses to Davidson and Virginia... Carolina either shut out its opponent or was shut out itself in every game other than the 14-6 loss to Maryland... Kay Kaiser, later a renowned Big Band leader and motion picture personality, made his debut as head cheerleader in 1926. His Cheerios were the first major organized cheer block at Carolina.
1927: The Tar Heels lost six of their first seven games before rallying with three straight wins to finish 4-6... Carolina opened with three straight home games, the last three ever played on Emerson Field. Wake Forest won its fourth consecutive season opener over UNC, this time by the odd score of 9-8, the only such score in UNC's history. Carolina then lost 26-0 to Tennessee before ending the Emerson Field era with a 7-6 win over Maryland... The old University Athletic Field and Emerson Field were very friendly to the Tar Heels. Carolina put together a combined 80-8-5 (.887) record at the two locations before outgrowing Emerson Field... UNC followed the last Emerson Field game with a horrid four-game road trip, dropping games at South Carolina, Georgia Tech, N.C. State and VMI... Up next, the first game ever played at Kenan Stadium, a 27-0 win before 8,000 fans on Saturday, Nov. 12. The new stadium must have revitalized the Heels as the next week they beat two-touchdown favorite Duke 18-0 at Durham. Jimmy Ward's 75-yard scoring pass to Tom Young keyed the Heels win in front of 6,000 fans at Hanes Field... Kenan Stadium was officially dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, as 28,000 fans saw the Heels take a pulsating 14-13 win over Virginia behind Jimmy Ward's passing. John Sprunt Hill officially made the presentation of the stadium to Governor A.W. McLean, who accepted on behalf of the University and the state... William Rand Kenan Jr. donated Kenan Stadium to the University as a memorial to his parents, William R. Kenan and Mary Hargrave Kenan. Kenan, a member of the 1893 squad, was a wealthy New York City industrialist who discovered carbide and made monumental progress in the field of chemistry. Construction began in November, 1926 and was finished the following August. The total cost of the stadium and the accompanying field house was $303,000. The stadium was originally to be built from funds raised by alumni donations, but when Mr. Kenan saw the plans he decided that the stadium would be a perfect memorial to his parents. Mr. Kenan announced his gift to the University on the very day he visited the site in November of 1926. oth Mr. Kenan and, since his death in 1965, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, have donated several million dollars for stadium and field house improvements... To visualize Kenan Stadium on that day, imagine that you are standing behind the west end zone, looking east toward the field house. The first thing you would notice is how narrow the original field house was. It looked very different without the weight room on the north side and the Ram's Room on the south side. There were no bleachers or structures of any kind between the field house and the playing field, making it appear to be set very far back from the field. There was nothing behind it but trees. As you look up at each side of the stadium there are, of course, no upper decks. Nor are there the old press box and guest box that were in place until 1988. Rather, there were much smaller, flatter structures on each side that housed just a few rows of people. There were no bleachers behind the west end zone. As with the other end of the field, there were just trees. Spectators could sit on the grassy banks that are now the corner seats of the west end of the stadium. Dirt paths wound their way around the backs of the stadium and, if you wished, you could stand behind the top of the bleachers and watch the game. There was one main entrance into each side of the stadium. Walking to the stadium was like taking a walk in the woods. It was if God had searched for the perfect setting for a football field, then placed Kenan Stadium in the middle of that lovely valley on the south side of campus.
1928: Carolina finished 5-3-2, but still won its first state championship since 1925... The Heels opened the season in a big way as their 65-0 win over Wake Forest snapped a four-game losing streak to the Deacons. This win and a 65-0 win over Virginia Medical in 1914 are the two biggest in school history. UNC topped Maryland 26-19 the next Saturday, then took the train to Cambridge, Mass. for a 20-0 loss to Harvard, the second and last time the two schools would meet... The Ivy League was the most powerful conferences in college football's early years. Carolina has an overall 2-15 record against the Ivy League. The Heels are 0-2 against Harvard, 2-4 with Penn, 0-2 against Princeton and 0-7 with Yale... Losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech were followed by ties to N.C. State (6-6) and South Carolina (0-0), the last time Carolina has had back-to-back ties. The Heels ended up on a high note, topping Davidson (30-7), Virginia (24-20) and Duke (14-7) in the last three games. The Duke game marked the Blue Devil's first appearance in Kenan Stadium. Duke led 7-0 at the half before Carolina rallied with 14 second-half points to take the state championship... President Calvin Coolidge attended UNC's win at Virginia, the first time a U.S. President had ever attended a game in the South.
1929: This year's "Team of a Million Backs" went 9-1 and outscored its opponents 346-60. Johnny Branch, Rip Slusser, Henry House, Jimmy Maus, Phil Jackson, Jim Magner and Jimmy Ward were the stalwarts of UNC's "Million Backs", who electrified fans with their brilliant offense... A season-opening 48-0 win over Wake Forest was followed by a 43-0 win at Maryland that featured several spectacular plays. Jackson hit Yank Spaulding with a 78-scoring pass and Branch with a 60-yard scoring strike while Chuck Erickson, who later became UNC's Athletic Director, had a non-scoring 79-yard interception return. ranch's 60-yard punt return for a TD led Carolina to an 18-7 win at Georgia Tech, before UNC lost its only game of the season. A Georgia Bulldog team that would finish just 6-4 came to Chapel Hill and pinned a 19-12 loss on the Heels. Carolina responded by winning six consecutive routs...A 38-13 win over Virginia got the Heels rolling again, then Strud Nash's 68-yard punt return for a TD and Maus' 67-yard scoring pass to Erickson led a fun 32-0 win over N.C. State at home. Wins over South Carolina, Davidson and Virginia on Thanksgiving Day put UNC at 8-1 going into the Duke game... This year's game was Carolina's first-ever appearance at Duke Stadium, later to be renamed Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke had christened the new facility on Oct. 9 in a loss to Pittsburgh. The Heels were heavy favorites and did not disappoint. Nash scored the game's first two touchdowns and UNC was off and running to an easy 48-7 win... Carolina's average scoring margin was a whopping 28.6 points, 34.6 to 6.0... ...UNC drew a record 139,500 attendance for the season... Southern California was the only team in the nation to score more points than Carolina this year... Team captain Ray Farris was named a second-team AP All-America at guard. Farris' son Ray, who played quarterback at UNC from 1959-61, scored the final two points in UNC's 50-0 win over Duke in 1959.

Notable: Carolina joined the Southern Conference on Feb. 25, 1921. The conference agreed to bans on post-season play, freshman eligibiliy and athletic training tables, as well as requiring eligibility forms for players and disallowing organized practice before Sept. 10... The hiring of the Fetzers marked the first time that coaches at Carolina were assured of long-term positions instead of the usual one-year contract... 1924 was the first season the Heels did not play at a neutral site...William Rand Kenan, a New York city engineer and a member of the 1893 UNC football squad, gave the University $275,000 to help build the stadium that was named for him.

The Decade By the Numbers:

Overall Record: 54-33-6
Home: 25-10-3
Away: 20-21-2
Neutral: 9-2-1
Longest Unbeaten Streak: 9 (Oct. 12, 1922 - Sept. 29, 1923)
Longest Losing Streak: 5 (Oct. 21, 1920 - Nov. 25, 1920)
Most Points Scored (Game): 65 in 1928. UNC 65 - Wake Forest 0
Least Points Scored (Game): None 25 times
Most Points Scored (Season): 346 in 1929
Least Points Scored (Season): 16 in 1920
Most Points Allowed (Game): 53 in 1923. Yale 53 - UNC 0
Least Points Allowed (Game): None 31 times
Most Points Allowed (Season): 115 in 1928
Least Points Allowed (Season): 20 in 1925

1920 (2-6)

Coach: Myron E. Fuller
Captain: Beemer Harrell

Oct  2  Wake Forest          W,   6-0
Oct  9  @ Yale               L,  0-21
Oct 16  South Carolina       W,   7-0
Oct 21  @ N.C. State         L,  3-13
Oct 30  Maryland             L,  0-13
Nov  6  VMI                  L,  0-23
Nov 13  v Davidson           L,   0-7
Nov 25  @ Virginia           L,  0-14
                               ------
                                16-91

1921 (5-2-2)

Coach: Bob & Bill Fetzer
Captain: Robbins Lowe

Oct  1  Wake Forest          W,  21-0
Oct  8  @ Yale               L,  0-34
Oct 15  @ South Carolina     T,   7-7
Oct 20  @ N.C. State         L,   0-7
Oct 29  v Maryland           W,  16-7
Nov  5  v VMI                W,  20-7
Nov 12  v Davidson           T,   0-0
Nov 24  Virginia             W,   7-3
Dec  3  v Florida            W, 14-10
                               ------
                                85-75

1922 (9-1)

Coach: Bob & Bill Fetzer
Captain: Grady Pritchard

Sep 30  v Wake Forest        W,  62-3
Oct  7  @ Yale               L,  0-18
Oct 12  Trinity              W,  20-0
Oct 14  South Carolina       W,  10-7
Oct 19  @ N.C. State         W,  14-9
Oct 28  Maryland             W,  27-3
Nov  4  @ Tulane             W, 19-12
Nov 11  v VMI                W,   9-7
Nov 18  v Davidson           W,  29-6
Nov 30  @ Virginia           W,  10-7
                               ------
                               200-72

1923 (5-3-1)

Coach: Bob & Bill Fetzer
Captain: Roy Morris

Sep 29  Wake Forest          W,  22-0
Oct  6  @ Yale               L,  0-53
Oct 12  @ Trinity            W,  14-6
Oct 18  @ N.C. State         W,  14-0
Oct 27  @ Maryland           L,  0-14
Nov  3  @ South Carolina     W,  13-0
Nov 10  v VMI                L,   0-9
Nov 17  Davidson             W,  14-3
Nov 29  Virginia             T,   0-0
                               ------
                                77-85

1924 (4-5)

Coach: Bob & Bill Fetzer
Captain: Pierce Matthews

Sep 27  @ Wake Forest        L,   6-7
Oct  4  @ Yale               L,  0-27
Oct 11  Trinity              W,   6-0
Oct 16  @ N.C. State         W,  10-0
Oct 25  Maryland             L,   0-6
Nov  1  South Carolina       L,  7-10
Nov  8  VMI                  W,   3-0
Nov 15  @ Davidson           W,   6-0
Nov 27  @ Virginia           L,   0-7
                               ------
                                38-57

1925 (7-1-1)

Coach: Bob & Bill Fetzer
Captain: Herman McIver

Sep 26  Wake Forest          L,   0-6
Oct  3  @ South Carolina     W,   7-0
Oct 10  @ Duke               W,  41-0
Oct 15  @ N.C. State         W,  17-0
Oct 24  @ Mercer             W,   3-0
Oct 31  v Maryland           W,  16-0
Nov  7  v VMI                W, 23-11
Nov 14  Davidson             W,  13-0
Nov 26  Virginia             T,   3-3
                               ------
                               123-20

1926 (4-5)

Coach: Chuck Collins
Captain: Manly Whisnant

Sep 25  @ Wake Forest        L,  0-13
Oct  2  @ Tennessee          L,  0-34
Oct  9  South Carolina       W,   7-0
Oct 16  Duke                 W,   6-0
Oct 23  @ Maryland           L,  6-14
Oct 30  N.C. State           W,  12-0
Nov  6  VMI                  W,  28-0
Nov 13  @ Davidson           L,  0-10
Nov 23  @ Virginia           L,   0-3
                               ------
                                59-74

1927 (4-6)

Coach: Chuck Collins
Captain: Garrett Morehead

Sep 24 Wake Forest L, 8-9 Oct 1 Tennessee L, 0-26 Oct 8 Maryland W, 7-6 Oct 15 @ South Carolina L, 6-14 Oct 22 @ Georgia Tech L, 0-13 Oct 29 @ N.C. State L, 6-19 Nov 5 @ VMI L, 0-7 Nov 12* Davidson W, 27-0 Nov 19 @ Duke W, 18-0 Nov 24 Virginia W, 14-13 ------ 86-107 *(first game played in Kenan Stadium)

1928 (5-3-2)

Coach: Chuck Collins
Captain: Harry Schwartz

Sep 29  Wake Forest          W,  65-0
Oct  6  @ Maryland           W, 26-19
Oct 13  @ Harvard            L,  0-20
Oct 20  Virginia Tech        L, 14-16
Oct 27  Georgia Tech         L,  7-20
Nov  3  @ N.C. State         T,   6-6
Nov 10  South Carolina       T,   0-0
Nov 17  @ Davidson           W,  30-7
Nov 29  @ Virginia           W, 24-20
Dec  8  Duke                 W,  14-7
                              -------
                              186-115

1929 (9-1)

Coach: Chuck Collins
Captain: Ray Farris

Sep 28 Wake Forest W, 48-0 Oct 5 @ Maryland W, 43-0 Oct 11 @ Georgia Tech W, 18-7

Oct 19 Georgia L, 12-19 Oct 26 Virginia Tech W, 38-13 Nov 2 N.C. State W, 32-0 Nov 9 @ South Carolina W, 40-0 Nov 16 v Davidson W, 26-7 Nov 28 Virginia W, 41-7 Dec 7 @ Duke W, 48-7 ------ 346-60

Decade-by-Decade

1888-1899 | 1900-1909 | 1910-1919 | 1920-1929
1930-1939 | 1940-1949 | 1950-1959 | 1960-1969
1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1998

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