What is a Tar Heel?
During UNC’s NCAA basketball tournament win last night, the question came up, “what exactly is a Tar Heel?”
According to wikipedia, the term has its origins in North Carolina’s colonial history, when tar production was an important local industry. It wasn’t the most glamourous work, and “tarboilers” or “tar heels” were derisive nicknames for NC residents. Then, after some North Carolina troops fought bravely during the Civil War, the term “Tar Heel” began to become a source of pride for the State. Eventually the University adopted the nickname and it has stuck for more than 100 years.
The story of UNC’s seemingly-unrelated ram mascot is an interesting one too. During the mid 1920’s, Jack Merrit was a popular football star at the school, whose powerful play earned him the nickname “battering ram.” With the team in a slump, the University authorized $25 to be spent bringing a real-live ram in from Texas. Ramses the ram turned out to be good luck, and the team pulled out a late victory in his first game. Since then, a long line of rams have paced the sidelines at UNC games.
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June 30th, 2009 at 5:40 am
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