The Wolfpacker

Nov.-Dec. 2020

The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports

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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 ■ 49 vision decreased attendance, a common refrain for college football and minor league baseball. Studies showed a two percent drop in attendance at college football games in 1951 and a whopping 8-mil- lion decrease in the number of spectators at the 57 minor leagues that included 331 teams nationally. Withering pressure quickly ended the NCAA's ban, and the first coast-to-coast live broadcast of any college sports contest was Duke at Pittsburgh on Sept. 21, 1951. The 1952 Rose Bowl was the first national broadcast of a postseason game. Beginning in 1952, the NCAA established rights for all regular- season broadcasts and only allowed one national game per week, with a limited number of regional contests each weekend, a policy that stayed in place for regular-season broadcasts until the 1980s, when Georgia and Nebraska won an antitrust suit against the NCAA and opened up a broadcasting free-for-all with multiple national, syndicated regional and other broadcasts of college football games. The plotlines for the 1950 Maryland-NC State game were pretty deep. The Wolfpack wanted revenge against Tatum, who briefly coached at Oklahoma. His Sooners handed Feathers' team a 34-13 drubbing at the 1947 Gator Bowl, the Wolfpack's first-ever postsea- son appearance. Feathers' team had won only one game midway through the 1950 season, a one-point home victory over tiny Catawba College. It lost lopsided decisions to North Carolina, Duke and Clemson. Tatum's team, coming off its big 1949 season, lost its season opener at Georgia, but followed with an emotional upset at No. 2 Michigan State, its win in the inaugural game at Byrd over Navy and a victory over Georgetown at Washington's Griffin Stadium. The game against the Wolfpack was its first of its Southern Conference schedule. The 1-3 Wolfpack was a three-touchdown underdog going into the Homecoming contest, which drew 24,502 spectators, playing a de- cided second fiddle to the USC-Navy game being played in Baltimore. The Wolfpack's only hope was to use its passing game featuring halfback Ed "Scooter" Mooney in Feathers' split-T offense to out- gain the Terps. Mooney, who had completed 41 of his first 91 passes for 526 yards, was ranked in the NCAA's top five in passing yardage. That's not at all what happened, of course, in the ultimate rubber game in the rivalry, which dated back to 1909. In the series' first nine games, the record stood 3-3-3. The Wolfpack's biggest weapon in the game was All-American tackle Elmer Costa, the World War II Navy veteran who anchored both sides of the line. He was challenged to go against Maryland stars Ray Krouse, Bob Ward and Elmer Wingate. Costa and State's defense took control of the game on the seventh play, rushing Maryland sophomore quarterback Jack Scarbath and forcing him to throw a lateral to halfback Bob Shemonski. State nose guard John Tencick nearly covered the ball at the goal line, but it slithered away for a safety that gave State a 2-0 led. Maryland's Shemonski fumbled the ball away again two posses- sions later, giving the Wolfpack the ball on the Terps' 23. Three plays later, Mooney carried the ball in for his first touchdown of the game to give State a 9-0 lead. Three times in the first half Maryland advanced inside the 5-yard line, and the Wolfpack defense stopped them on downs on all three occasions, crushing Tatum's over-confidence in his offense's ability to produce. On the Pack's second drive of the second half, Mooney directed a 73-yard grind down the field on the legs of Alex Webster, Jimmy Smith and Jim O'Rourke. On fourth-and-seven inside the Maryland 20, Mooney found O'Rourke with a pass on the 5-yard line. It was the only pass the Wolfpack attempted the entire game, compared to the 39 thrown by the Terps. Mooney scored two plays later to give NC State a 16-0 lead. The Terps scored on two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but on its last drive of the game, emerging star Webster intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the final threat. The Wolfpack players hoisted Feathers onto their shoulders to cel- ebrate the win, one that was seen by a handful of people on the new technological marvel called television. State won its next three games, then tied Wake Forest and lost its season finale against William & Mary to finish 5-4-1. Maryland did not lose again that season, edging Southern Conference foes Georgia Washington and Duke, tying North Carolina, and whipping West Virginia (41-0) and Virginia Tech (63-7). However, neither team was invited to a postseason contest. One quick postscript: With great fanfare, Tatum returned to Chapel Hill in 1956 to become head coach and athletics director at his alma mater, looking to awake the sleeping giant yet again. The coach that had beaten State with Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl and three times at Maryland had only three seasons to build a program before tragically catching Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and dying at the age of 46. However, he never beat the Wolfpack in his three seasons at his alma mater. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ ncsu.edu. All-American Elmer Costa anchored both sides of the line for the Wolfpack and was named the National Lineman of the Week by the Associated Press for his performance in the upset of Maryland, during which NC State threw just one time. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS

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