Queen Elizabeth once a UNC fan? Her 1st (American) football game featured the Tar Heels
About six decades ago, the UNC Tar Heels once hoped that the presence of Queen Elizabeth II among the ranks of their fans would surely result in a win at a game on the road.
That’s because the first-ever American football game attended by Queen Elizabeth II was a North Carolina game against the University of Maryland.
But the historic occasion on Oct. 19, 1957, did not deliver for the Tar Heels.
Queen Elizabeth died Thursday at the age of 96 as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. The queen sat on the throne for 70 years.
In 1957, during the fifth year of her reign, the queen rooted for UNC in a small but unique moment in history. The Charlotte Observer reported the queen and prince went to the game at College Park, Md. — attended by 43,000 people — as part of a six-day state visit to the United States.
“It took more than 20 black limousines to transport all of them,” The Charlotte Observer reported on the logistics to take the royals and other dignitaries to the game.
Queen Elizabeth, then 31 years old, sat next to Prince Philip in a box on the 50-yard line, according to The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer archives. She had “specifically requested the chance to see her first American football game,” The Washington Post reported.
The occasion thrilled then-N.C. Gov. Luther Hodges, who also attended the game, according to a Oct. 20, 1957, story. Then-UNC President William Friday and his wife also sat in the royal box.
The Observer took note of the queen’s attire: a “soft red-rose suit with a matching scalloped modified cloche hat” that was “trimmed with matching braid.” She wore her signature pearl necklace.
The British royals apparently were not knowledgeable about the gridiron rules, the N&O story notes. But, most notably, they were reportedly excited to be on the Carolina side of the stadium, though it also was shadier there.
“Although a bit puzzled by it all and seemingly not too happy, Queen Elizabeth apparently was rooting for the Tar Heels,” N&O sportswriter Jack K. Russell wrote about the game.
Her presence was memorable and filled with questions: “Where do you get all those enormous players?” the queen asked Maryland’s then-Gov. Theodore McKeldin.
“Your majesty, that’s a very embarrassing question,” McKeldin replied, according to The Washington Post.
The players’ size, and abilities, awed the young queen.
“How can they hit each other so hard and not be injured?” she asked.
For Prince Philip’s part, he said he had been studying up on the rules of football and he watched excitedly. But in the end, Carolina delivered a “rather ragged game” for their special guests, The N&O wrote.
The Tar Heels, ranked 14th in the nation at the time, lost the game to the Terps, 21 to 7, the records show.
The Tar Heels chalked it up to several difficulties, which one UNC player described as including the presence of the queen herself.
“It was the first American football game ever watched by Queen Elizabeth [II],” Emil DeCantis, a sophomore halfback at UNC in the game, told The Washington Post. “But she was late and held up the game for an hour. A lot of the guys had the flu, and we were so darn tired from warming up for so long.”
She apparently didn’t irk fans too much, though. The Charlotte Observer’s front page headline notes: “Tar Heels Adopt Queen for a Day — and Love It.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 4:45 PM.
