North Carolina Tar Heels
The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the Tar Heel State. The campus at Chapel Hill is referred to as the University of North Carolina for the purposes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.[2] Since the school fostered the oldest collegiate team in the Carolinas, the school took on the nickname Carolina, especially in athletics. The Tar Heels are also referred to as UNC or The Heels.[3]
"Carolina Tar Heels" redirects here. For the 1920s string band, see The Carolina Tar Heels.North Carolina Tar Heels
The mascot of the Tar Heels is Rameses, a Dorset Ram. It is represented as either a live Dorset sheep with its horns painted Carolina Blue, or as a costumed character performed by a volunteer from the student body, usually an undergraduate student associated with the cheerleading team.[4]
Carolina has won 50 NCAA Division I team national championships in eight different sports, eighth all-time, and 52 individual national championships.
North Carolina Cheer[edit]
I'm a Tar Heel Born[edit]
Carolina's main fight song is I'm a Tar Heel Born. Its lyrics appear in the 1907 edition of the university's yearbook, the "Yackety Yack," although how long it existed before that is not known.[25] Some say that it was in the late 1920s that it began to be sung as an add-on (or "tag") to the school's alma mater, "Hark The Sound", although the current version of the sheet music for "Hark the Sound" includes the "I'm a Tar Heel Born" tag as an integral part of the alma mater and credits the full song to William Starr Myers with a date of 1897.[26] Today, the song is almost always played immediately after the singing of "Hark The Sound", even during more formal occasions such as convocation and commencement. Just before home football and basketball games, the song is played by the Bell Tower near the center of campus, and is often played after major victories.[27]
As it appears in its 1907 printed form, the final words of the song are "Rah-rah, Carolina-lina, rah-rah-rah, Carolina-Lina, rah-rah, Carolina-lina! Rah, rah, rah!" Starting in the 1960s, however, "Rah, rah, rah!" was "unofficially" replaced with "Go to hell, State!"; NC State was UNC's main athletic rival for much of the first half of the 20th century. From the late 1980s onward, the "unofficial" final lyrics have been "Go to hell, Duke!"; reflecting Duke eclipsing State as Carolina's main rival. However, “Rah, rah, rah!” is still sung by older fans.
Simply known as "Tag" by many Marching Tar Heel alumni, and titled as such on some recorded albums, "I'm a Tar Heel Born" has been adopted by at least three other colleges for their use, including the University of Rhode Island, the University of Richmond, and Brown University (see [1]).
Here Comes Carolina[edit]
Another popular song is Here Comes Carolina.
As its title implies, it is most commonly played when a Tar Heel team enters the field of play. Traditionally, the band plays a version of the traditional orchestral warmup tune before launching into the song when the first player charges out of the tunnel. During the warmup tune, fans stand and clap along. The effect is similar to that of a train coming down the track.
From the early 1990s to around 2004 at basketball games, the band played the first seven notes of the song in different keys during player introductions, modulating a half step each time before launching into the song in the normal key after the final player was announced.
The last part of the song's melody come from an old revival song, "Jesus Loves the Little Children".
