Return to the 1893 season page

Though this game is listed on NC State's official list of football games for the 1893 season, I have been unable to find a source to substantiate the game. Firstly, it is not mentioned in any of the main books covering NC State football The Wolfpack by Bill Beezley, Go Wolfpack by Thad Mumau, or Touchdown Wolfpack! by Douglas Herakovich), or the early history of NC State football written by Joel Whitaker in 1907. Secondly, I could find no indication in digitized newspaper collections that the game had been played. Finally, earning a score of 13 at this time would have been rather difficult, as touchdowns earned a team 4 points and the goal kick earned a team 2 points. The only way a team could have scored 13 points would have been by scoring two touchdowns, missing both goal after kicks, and then kicking the ball between the goal posts with a drop kick for 5 points.

The game was, however, offhandedly- and indirectly-referenced by C. D. Harris in his generally-error-riddled 1910 history of NC State football, where he summarized the 1893 season dubiously as follows: "the 'prep.' schools, with the exception of Morson and Denson's [also known as the Raleigh Male Academy], were left out, and a schedule with the colleges of the State was arranged, including games with Davidson, Trinity, Wake Forest, and the university [of North Carolina] scrubs." I could find no evidence that any of those games aside from the games against UNC’s scrubs took place, while Harris also left off the verifiable games played against Oak Ridge.

All of these facts make me strongly doubt that this game ever happened.