1.
Duke Blue Devils football
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The Duke Blue Devils Football team represents Duke University in the sport of American football. The Blue Devils compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the program has 17 conference championships,53 All-Americans,10 ACC Players of the Year, and have had three Pro Football Hall of Famers come through the program. The team is coached by David Cutcliffe and play their home games at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham. Although Duke has mostly struggled since the mid-1960s, the Blue Devils are currently undergoing a renaissance under Cutcliffe, Duke secured their first Coastal division title on November 30,2013 with a win over arch-rival North Carolina. In 2014, Duke followed up with a 9-win season, including a victory over eventual Orange Bowl winner Georgia Tech, in 2015, the Blue Devils broke through for a 44-41 overtime win over Indiana in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. The Duke Blue Devils, then known as the Trinity Blue and White, first fielded a team in 1888. The first game against North Carolina was the first scientific game in the state, the 1891 team went undefeated and claims a southern championship. The Blue Devils were independents and later members of the Southern Conference during this period before becoming a charter member of the ACC. The Blue Devils did not compete in football from 1895 to 1919, in late 1930, Wallace Wade shocked the college football world by leaving Alabama for Duke. He had been at Alabama since 1923, after assisting Dan McGugins Vanderbilt Commodores during two undefeated southern championships, an upset by the Florida Gators in 1923 is all that stopped Alabama from a conference title in Wades first year. In 1924 he won the SoCon title, and in 1925 and 1926 won national championships and his 1925 team was the first Southern team to win a Rose Bowl. Wade was under fire at Alabama after lackluster seasons in 1928 and 1929, Wade submitted his resignation on April 30, with the caveat that he coach next season. John Suther described the feeling before the Tennessee game that year and he was like a blood-thirsty drill sergeant anyway, and those critics made him more fiery. He challenged us to help him shut up the loudmouths that were making his life miserable, in his final year at Alabama, Wade won his third national championship. Wades success at Alabama translated well to Dukes program and he sent former Alabama players and future Duke assistants Herschel Caldwell and Ellis Hagler to the school a year early to prepare a team. Duke won 7 Southern Conference championships in the 16 years that Wade was coach and he also led the team to 2 Rose Bowls. Wade served a stint in the military in World War II, leaving the team after the 1941 season, Wades achievements placed him in the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1933, Duke, led by North Carolinas first first-team All-American Fred Crawford and it was Tennessees first loss in over two and a half seasons
2.
VMI Keydets football
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The VMI Keydets football team represents the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. The Keydets compete in the Southern Conference of the NCAA Division I FCS, VMI plays their home contests at 10, 000-seat Alumni Memorial Field, as they have since 1962. Historically VMIs biggest rival was Virginia Tech, today, VMIs biggest rival is the The Citadel, as the two teams have battled 70 times, with The Citadel leading the series 38–30–2. The winner of each receives an award known as the Silver Shako. The last contest occurred on November 22,2014, in which The Citadel rushed for nearly 400 yards en route to a 45–25 victory, in addition to The Citadel, VMI has minor rivalries with William & Mary and Richmond. The Tribe and the Keydets first met in 1908, and William & Mary leads that series 52–33–2, VMIs competition with Richmond goes back farther, to just their third year of existence. Richmond has won 41 games to VMIs 40, and the teams have tied five times, also, the Keydets have played Virginia and Virginia Tech 82 and 79 times, respectively. VMI football dates back to 1873 with a season, featuring a 4–2 loss to Washington. No player or coaching records are known from that game, the Keydets would not have another intercollegiate team until 1891 under coach Walter Taylor III. Taylor was the son of Walter H. Taylor, a Civil War lieutenant colonel, the Keydets went 3–0–1 in 1891, with a win and tie against Washington and Lee and defeats of St. Johns and Pantops Academy. VMI had two undefeated seasons in 1892 and 1894, and a total record of 32–10–2 during the 19th century. Although they were undefeated in 1899 by a virtue of a lone win over Washington & Lee. VMI continued to have success on the field during the early 1900s, ropers brief two-year tenure was highlighted by wins over NC State and Davidson. After several seasons of mediocrity, VMI returned to their ways in 1911 under Alpha Brummage. After Brummage left VMI for Kentucky, where he would become the football and basketball coach. VMI joined the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1918, many of the members of which formed the bulk of the Southern Conference after the disbandment in 1921. In 1920, Blandy Clarkson led VMI to its third of only four seasons with a 9–0 record. With the finished construction of Alumni Field in 1921, VMI football no longer needed to play on the Parade Ground situated in front of the barracks, the stadium was placed around the same place it is today, and was completed at a total cost of $69,000
3.
NC State Wolfpack football
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The NC State Wolfpack football team represents North Carolina State University in the sport of American football. The Wolfpack competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, prior to joining the ACC in 1953, the Wolfpack were a member of the Southern Conference. As a member of the ACC, the Wolfpack has won seven championships and participated in 30 bowl games. NC State is currently coached by Dave Doeren, in their latest season under Doeren, the Wolfpack finished 7-6 after a 41-17 victory over Vanderbilt in the Independence Bowl. Since 1966, the Wolfpack has played its games at Carter-Finley Stadium. On September 16,2010, NC State restored the tradition of having a mascot on the field as a wolf-like Tamaskan Dog named Tuffy was on the sidelines for the Cincinnati game in Raleigh. Since then, Tuffy has not missed a Wolfpack football game in Carter-Finley Stadium, NC State played its first football game against a team from the Raleigh Male Academy on March 12,1892 in what is now Pullen Park. The Aggies, whose colors were blue and pink, won 12-6 in front of more than 200 spectators, the following year, the school played its first intercollegiate game, a 12-6 victory over Tennessee College. The programs long-standing rivalry with nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began on October 12,1894 with a 44-0 UNC victory in Chapel Hill, eight days later, the team lost again to UNC, 16-0 in Raleigh. In 1895, under third-year coach Bart Gatling, the team wore red, over the next five seasons the program continued to try to establish itself, achieving only one winning season during the period. The football team has only had scholarship football players since 1933. In 1906, in a game against Randolph-Macon in Raleigh, the Farmers attempted their first forward pass, the following season was the programs most successful yet. Under coach Mickey Whitehurst, A&M won the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship with a 6–0–1 record and that season, the program also recorded its first ever victory over Virginia. The Farmers played their games that season on campus at the New Athletic Park. In addition to Pullen Park, the fairgrounds had hosted some games prior to the opening of the new stadium. The team won a second South Atlantic championship in 1910 under coach Edward Green, a win over Virginia Tech in Norfolk that season was dubbed the biggest game ever played in the South. Coach Green led team to a conference championship in 1913. The 1918 season was cut due to the United States entrance into World War I
4.
Duke University
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Duke University is an American private research university located in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the town of Trinity in 1838. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment, at time the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father. Dukes campus spans over 8,600 acres on three campuses in Durham as well as a marine lab in Beaufort. The main campus—designed largely by architect Julian Abele—incorporates Gothic architecture with the 210-foot Duke Chapel at the campus center, the first-year-populated East Campus contains Georgian-style architecture, while the main Gothic-style West Campus 1.5 miles away is adjacent to the Medical Center. Duke is the seventh-wealthiest private university in America with $11.4 billion in cash, Dukes research expenditures in the 2015 fiscal year were $1.037 billion, the seventh largest in the nation. In 2014, Thomson Reuters named 32 of Dukes professors to its list of Highly Cited Researchers, Duke also ranks fifth among national universities to have produced Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, and Udall Scholars. Ten Nobel laureates and three Turing Award winners are affiliated with the university, Dukes sports teams compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the basketball team is renowned for having won five NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Championships, most recently in 2015. Duke is consistently included among the best universities in the world by numerous university rankings, according to a Forbes study, Duke is ranked 11th among universities that have produced billionaires. Duke started in 1838 as Browns Schoolhouse, a subscription school founded in Randolph County in the present-day town of Trinity. Organized by the Union Institute Society, a group of Methodists and Quakers, the academy was renamed Normal College in 1851 and then Trinity College in 1859 because of support from the Methodist Church. Carr donated land in 1892 for the original Durham campus, which is now known as East Campus, in 1924 Washington Dukes son, James B. Duke, established The Duke Endowment with a $40 million trust fund, income from the fund was to be distributed to hospitals, orphanages, the Methodist Church, and four colleges. Duke thought the change would come off as self-serving. Money from the endowment allowed the University to grow quickly, Dukes original campus, East Campus, was rebuilt from 1925 to 1927 with Georgian-style buildings. By 1930, the majority of the Collegiate Gothic-style buildings on the one mile west were completed. In 1878, Trinity awarded A. B. degrees to three sisters—Mary, Persis, and Theresa Giles—who had studied both with private tutors and in classes with men. With the relocation of the college in 1892, the Board of Trustees voted to allow women to be formally admitted to classes as day students
5.
Durham, North Carolina
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Durham is a city in the U. S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County, though portions also extend into Wake County in the east, the U. S. Census Bureau estimated the citys population to be 251,893 as of July 1,2014. Durham is the core of the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Area and it is the home of Duke University and North Carolina Central University, and is also one of the vertices of the Research Triangle area. The Eno and the Occoneechi, related to the Sioux and the Shakori and they may have established a village named Adshusheer on the site. The Great Indian Trading Path has been traced through Durham, and Native Americans helped to mold the area by establishing settlements, in 1701, Durhams beauty was chronicled by the English explorer John Lawson, who called the area the flower of the Carolinas. During the mid-1700s, Scots, Irish, and English colonists settled on land granted to George Carteret by King Charles I, early settlers built gristmills, such as West Point, and worked the land. Prior to the American Revolution, frontiersmen in what is now Durham were involved in the Regulator movement, according to legend, Loyalist militia cut Cornwallis Road through this area in 1771 to quell the rebellion. Later, William Johnston, a shopkeeper and farmer, made Revolutionaries munitions, served in the Provincial Capital Congress in 1775. Large plantations, Hardscrabble, Cameron, and Leigh among them, were established in the antebellum period, by 1860, Stagville Plantation lay at the center of one of the largest plantation holdings in the South. There were free African-Americans in the area as well, including several who fought in the Revolutionary War and this road, eventually followed by US Route 70, was the major east-west route in North Carolina from colonial times until the construction of interstate highways. Steady population growth and an intersection with the road connecting Roxboro and Fayetteville made the area near this site suitable for a US Post Office, Durhams location is a result of the needs of the 19th century railroad industry. The wood-burning steam locomotives of the time had to frequently for wood and water. Eventually a railway depot was established on land donated by Bartlett S. Durham in 1849, sherman occupied the nearby state capital of Raleigh during the American Civil War. The last formidable Confederate Army in the South, commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston, was headquartered in Greensboro 50 miles to the west. After the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9,1865, fortunately for Durham, its future had nothing to do with 19th-century politics. As both armies passed through Durham, Hillsborough, and surrounding Piedmont communities, they confiscated the areas Brightleaf Tobacco, the community of Durham Station grew slowly before the Civil War, but expanded rapidly following the war. Much of this attributed to the establishment of a thriving tobacco industry. Veterans returned home after the war, with an interest in acquiring more of the tobacco they had sampled in North Carolina
6.
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
7.
Bobby Dodd Stadium
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Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team, often referred to as the Ramblin Wreck, in form since 1905. The team participates in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference and it is the oldest stadium in the FBS and has been the site of more home wins than any other FBS stadium. The stadium is located on the east side of the Georgia Tech campus, across from freshman housing facilities and just a walk from the campus library. The facility is located in Midtown Atlanta, just off Interstate 75/85, the stadiums atmosphere is unique in its setting, with a picturesque view of the downtown and Midtown Atlanta skylines looming overhead during games. Grant Field is the oldest continuously used site for college football in the Southern United States. Football has been played at the current site since 1905, in 1913, permanent grandstands were built for the first time, mostly by Tech students. It was originally named for Hugh Inman Grant, son of John W. Grant, from 1913 to 1919, the stadium grew from a capacity of 7,000 to one of 25,000. In 1988, the stadium was renamed in honor of Bobby Dodd, the playing surface is still named Grant Field. The stadium bears little, if any, resemblance to its original form, the original facility, roughly corresponding to the lower level of the current stadiums west grandstands, seated 5,600. The terrain in the area slopes upward from north to south, due to that natural grade, much of the field itself is below street level. The houses observable in the background of photos were replaced by dormitory buildings in the 1930s. By 1925, the east and south stands were completed, making the stadium a 30, the west stands were rebuilt and a large press box was added in 1947, bringing capacity up to 44,000. In 1985 the South stands were razed to make room for the William C, Wardlaw Center, a modern field house and athletic office facility to replace the facilities in the old Heisman Gym, which was located just to the north of the stadium. The current, modern west grandstand covers the old concrete one, the high interstitial space is currently used for storage. The lighting was replaced in 1998, following the 2001 season, a major expansion and renovation project was started, which was done in two phases in order to play the 2002 season in the stadium. For the 2002 season, seating was returned to the South end in front of the Wardlaw Center, after the 2002 season, the expansion was completed by adding a massive free standing upper deck in the north end zone. This addition of an end zone upper deck brought Bobby Dodd Stadium to its current capacity
8.
Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
9.
Davidson, North Carolina
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Davidson is a lakeside town on Lake Norman in northern Mecklenburg County in the U. S. state of North Carolina. The population was 10,944 at the 2010 census and it is home to Davidson College. The town is centered on the college from which it takes its name, the town was founded in 1837 with the establishment of the Presbyterian Davidson College, named for Brigadier General William Lee Davidson, a local Revolutionary War hero in Mecklenburg County. The land for Davidson College came from Davidsons estate, a portion of which was donated by his son. The history of the town of Davidson is inextricably linked to Davidson College, although Davidson’s growth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries typified small railroad towns throughout the Piedmont, the presence of the college created a unique village. The tree-shaded campus filled with classically inspired architecture distinguished Davidson from other communities, the sway of the school also extended beyond the campus to the entire town, influencing commerce, culture, and the character of its architecture. The 1869 Branson’s business directory recorded four dry goods merchants in the town as well as a cabinetmaker, a miller, soon after the arrival of the railroad, Davidson became a shipping point for cash crops, especially cotton, and a service center for farmers. In common with other towns in the region, textile investors constructed cotton mills. The Linden Cotton Factory, erected in 1890 on Depot Street, was the first textile plant in Davidson, and in 1908, two thousand bales of cotton were sold at Davidson annually in the early 1900s. In 1891, the name of the town was changed from Davidson College to Davidson, Davidson’s cotton mills spurred the growth of the town, and by 1910, the population of Davidson reached 500 residents, climbing to 1,500 by the 1920s. Between 1900 and the Great Depression, the district evolved from a commingling of stores and residences into contiguous rows of one- and two-story. Physicians, building contractors, and milliners also had Main Street addresses, the demise of cotton farming and decline of other agricultural pursuits in the region effectively ended the town’s role as a farming service center. Meanwhile, improved highways and the advent of I-77 encouraged residents to frequent larger department stores in the cities, especially Charlotte, in more recent years, the emergence of suburban shopping centers around Davidson accelerated the towns status to an all-purpose retail market. Today, the development around Charlotte has stimulated Davidson’s growth to its current population of more than 10,000 people. Local downtown businesses, now characterized by restaurants and specialty shops, prestigious, nationally known Davidson College has made Davidson an intellectual and cultural center, drawing into its orbit a sizable professional class. An emphasis on design has been a consistent theme in each resulting regulatory document, additionally, the Town of Davidson received National Register Historic District status in 2009 for the historic core of town, which includes downtown. Davidson is located along Lake Norman in the piedmont of North Carolina at 35°29′28″N 80°49′58″W, approximately 20 miles north of Charlotte in northern Mecklenburg County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 5.1 square miles
10.
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is known as the City of Oaks for its oak trees. The city covers a area of 142.8 square miles. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the population as 451,066 as of July 1,2015. It is also one of the cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County, Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University and is part of the Research Triangle area, together with Durham and Chapel Hill. The Triangle nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake Counties, partway between the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U. S. Census Bureaus Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area, the Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013. Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a small portion extending into Durham County. Raleigh is an example in the United States of a planned city. It was chosen as the site of the capital in 1788. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. Raleigh is home to cultural, educational, and historic sites. The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Raleigh features three venues and serves as the home for the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet. Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek is a large music amphitheater located in southeast Raleigh, one U. S. president, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh. Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina, was the first nominal capital from 1705 until 1722, the colony had no permanent institutions of government until the establishment at the new capital New Bern in 1743. In December 1770, Joel Lane successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county, on January 5,1771, the bill creating Wake County was passed in the General Assembly. The county was formed from portions of Cumberland, Orange, the county gets its name from Margaret Wake Tryon, the wife of Governor William Tryon
Homecoming. #Rankings from AP.
