Introduction

NC State College's Faculty Council, circa 1935.

For many students, faculty, alumni, and administrators at North Carolina State College in the 1930s, college football was intricately tied to notions of collective identity. There were several distinct understandings of how football might serve as a basis for collective identity as well as different ideas about why it was important for the university to do all it could to promote them. The football coach and the athletes he chose to recruit were some of the most prominent symbols of the school. They were seen as representing both current students and alumni and were one of the most visible ways the school represented itself to outsiders. Therefore, the question of who was capable of leading the football team was very important to members of the Faculty Council as they considered whether to renew the contract of football coach Heartley Anderson or fire athletic director Ray Sermon following the disappointing 1936 football season. A losing football season, allegations of financial improprieties, and faculty, student, and alumni discontent with the football program had led NC State’s Faculty Council to begin an investigation into the practices of Anderson and Sermon. Their initial aim was to determine if Anderson’s contract should be renewed or if Sermon should be fired. However, the controversy inspired a larger debate about the role of football at NC State.

For some, football provided a link to a collective identity based on a strong sense of Southern pride. Alumni and administrators who felt this connection to football believed it was crucial that NC State maintain an identity as a distinctly Southern school and that doing otherwise would alienate large numbers of potential supporters. Others were less concerned with regional issues and much more interested in using football to help build a distinct institutional identity. They felt that the football team could provide a basis for a collective identity among students and alumni at North Carolina State College by helping unite the student body and the region's many alumni. This sense of collective identity had the potential to inspire a sense of school spirit on campus while connecting alumni to current students and encouraging them to remain involved with the school after graduating.

Visit other Exhibits in the Under Review: The Anderson-Sermon Controversy and Football's Role on the College Campus.