Rivalries

Many were strongly opposed to the fact that Frank Graham had the final say in determining NC State's football coach.

Regional concerns were not the only consideration in a collective sense of identity based on NC State football. For some, it was important to maintain NC State’s identity as distinct from other universities in North Carolina. The statewide university system had recently been consolidated, and Frank P. Graham served as president of the consolidated system. Graham, however, was still widely associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he had served for many years. A local newspaper in 1937 described Graham by saying “there was never a more perfect incarnation of that vague but moving something, native only to the environs of Chapel Hill, known as the ‘Carolina Spirit.’’ Graham served with the Faculty Council at NC State as they investigated the charges against football coach Heartley Anderson and athletic director Roy Sermon, and he ultimately had the power to decide how the situation would be resolved. As the same newspaper article pointed out, many NC State alumni were not happy that a man “who has urged on more than a score of Chapel Hill teams against those of West Raleigh” would now “have the say as to who shall be the coach at State College.” Their distinct sense of collective identity as NC State alumni differentiated them from Chapel Hill graduates, and Graham’s role in selecting the football coach infringed on their autonomy.