North Carolina State University Athletics
Frank Weedon's NC State-Carolina Memories
10/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Here are Frank's five favorite Wolfpack-Tar Heel battles.
1956-NC State 26 North Carolina 6. "In 1956 State, as usual, met Carolina in Chapel Hill. The thing that made it different was that Jim Tatum had left Maryland after winning national championships there to come to his alma mater in Chapel Hill. State hadn't beaten Carolina since 1942 and had lost nine straight, including two by coach Earle Edwards in his first two years at NC State. Tatum was a great promoter of football, and that year he had seven different players picked for various All-America teams in preseason publications.
When the Carolina team came out on the field, they had this big hoop for them to run through, and Tatum and his staff wore 10-gallon hats, which he'd brought in from Oklahoma with him. The crowd was chanting "welcome home sunny Jim, welcome home." But by the time the third quarter was halfway through, that chant had shifted to the State side because State was up 26-6, which was the final score. After the game the media ask Earle how the Pack could beat a Carolina team with seven preseason All-Americans. He said, 'I don't know about that, but they are all ours and they were good enough to win today.'"
1960-NC State 3 North Carolina 0. "1960 was my first year as the sports information director at NC State and I was fortunate enough to step into the job when Roman Gabriel was the Pack's All-America quarterback. The final score that year was 3-0, and the only scoring came on a field goal by Nick Schafer. Despite Gabriel being an All-America quarterback, he only threw the ball seven times in the game. But in those days you couldn't have unlimited substitutions; you could only substitute one player on a given play. Tom Dellinger was the backup quarterback, but was also an outstanding defensive player.
Dellinger came in and played defense when Roman was on the bench after playing on offense. But in this case, Dellinger got hurt, so Gabriel had to play defense. He intercepted a ball in the end zone with about a minute to play to preserve the 3-0 win. The Associated Press writer that day reported that Roman Gabriel pitched a shutout, although he only threw seven passes."
1972-UNC 34 NC State 33. "It was Lou Holtz's first game against Carolina. The score was tied before Carolina recovered a fumble and scored to take the lead with just a few minutes remaining. State got the ball with 50 seconds to go and moved down the field to score. Pat Kenney, who was about 5'6, leaped high in the air to make a great touchdown catch with eight seconds to go. But since we had already tied Maryland earlier in the season at Carter-Finley, Lou decided to go for the win by going for two. Dave Buckey's pass was just barely tipped and Willie Burden just wasn't able to hang on to it, and we lost the ballgame. As the team left the field, the State fans gave Lou a standing ovation because he had gone for the win rather than the tie. That helped establish the atmosphere that Lou Holtz established here in his four years."
1986-NC State 35 North Carolina 34. "On October 18, 1986, the Wolfpack played in Chapel Hill. It was a wild game. When we took the lead 35-28 with 1:01 to go, it looked like we had the game wrapped up. But Mark Maye drove Carolina down the field and they scored with eight seconds to go. The Tar Heels went for two, just as State had done in 1972. The man was open, but when Dave Truitt caught a low pass at about the seven-yard line, his knee touched the ground and the ball was dead. Had his knee not touched the ground, he probably would have scored. We won that game 35-34. It was wild, going back and forth all day. It was one of the great wins for our program.
1990-NC State 12 North Carolina 9. "Usually a game that features only field goals isn't very exciting, but in 1990 the Wolfpack pulled one out, 12-9, on Damon Hartman's 56-yard field goal with one second to go. Two years before when we played over in Chapel Hill, he kicked his previous best field goal of 54 yards, but that was in a 48-3 win over the Tar Heels so it wasn't as important. But in this one, there were seven field goals scored, no touchdowns. Carolina scored with just over a minute to play to tie the score.
It took State 66 seconds to drive down the field and move into field goal position before they called a time out with one second left. Charles Davenport had completed four straight passes to setup the potential field goal. But the ball was still spotted at the 38-yard line, which made it a 56-yard field goal. Hartman had previously missed a 44-yarder with five minutes to go so the pressure was on him. He kicked that ball and I'll never forget Gary Hahn's description of that play as the ball sailed through the goal post.
Frank Weedon was NC State's sports information director from 1960-1972 before becoming the school's associate athletic director. He retired in 1996, and now owns the title of "senior associate athletic director emeritus."
