Memorable Tar Heel firsts from across Carolina Athletics:

Erin Matson, First goal as a Tar Heel:

In the first game at the brand new Karen Shelton Stadium, Carolina led Michigan 2-1 on August 25, 2018. That’s when Carolina field hockey fans were treated to what would soon become a very commonplace occurrence: an Erin Matson goal.

Matson scored her first goal in her first game as a Tar Heel. “It wasn’t one of my prettier ones,” she said. “It was just a normal tapin on a ball that was trickling. I think I dove for it just to knock it in to tie it up. The goal wasn’t that special, but the game itself was very special because Karen Shelton Stadium was brand new and I was brand new.”

With one year of competition remaining, Matson has gone on to become the ACC’s all-time goals leader. She has won virtually every on- and off-field award in addition to three national championships.

Anson Dorrance, First win as women’s soccer head coach:

Dorrance remembers: “I was coaching men and women at the time. My wife, M’Liss, was pregnant with Michelle, my oldest daughter. Just before I was to leave with my team to go to Wilmington to play a doubleheader against the UNC Wilmington men’s and women’s teams, M’Liss went into labor. My assistant, Geoff Griffin, went in my place. So I
was not actually at the game for my first win as the Carolina women’s soccer head coach.”

Dorrance has since won over 900 games — and 21 NCAA championships — in his career as one of the most decorated head coaches in any sport.

Football, first forward pass:

As is well documented in Lee Pace’s book, “The First Pass,” Carolina threw the first forward pass in college football history. It happened on Oct. 26, 1895, when Joel Whitaker was punting from the Tar Heel end zone against Georgia. To avoid the rush, he tossed the ball forward, where George Stephens caught it and sprinted 70 yards for a touchdown.

One slight problem: the play was technically illegal. But in a precursor to future ACC officiating, the referee didn’t see the pass, and the play stood. An intrigued observer was legendary coach John Heisman, who was in the crowd and began a decade-long lobbying effort to persuade the NCAA to allow the forward pass. The organization eventually legalized the play in 1906.

Football, first bowl game:

The first bowl game for Carolina football was a big one: the Tar Heels appeared in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 1947. Third-ranked Georgia beat ninth-ranked Carolina, 20-10. The game was one of three major bowls during the Charlie Justice era, as the do-everything back also guided the Heels to one more Sugar Bowl and a Cotton Bowl during his decorated career.

Men’s Basketball, first triple-double:

One of the most unusual pieces of Tar Heel basketball trivia is the fact that in the decorated history of Carolina hoops, there have only been two triple-doubles — and they happened within two weeks of each other.

Brendan Haywood did it first, scoring 18 points to go with 14 rebounds and 10 blocks against Miami on Dec. 4, 2000. Two games later, Jason Capel had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Buffalo on Dec. 17. The history of Carolina basketball has seen exactly zero tripl-edoubles other than the slightly weird month of December 2000.

The women’s program is still in search of its first triple-double. The closest recent performance came from Kennedy Todd-Williams, who was just one assist away in her fourth game ever as a Tar Heel. Todd-Williams had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists against South Carolina State in December of 2020.

Charles Scott, First African-American scholarship student-athlete:

Scott is one of only six Tar Heels in history to score at least 2,000 career points, and was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. He helped the Tar Heels to back-to-back Final Fours in 1968 and 1969 and also won an Olympic gold medal in 1968.

Camey Timberlake, First female scholarship student-athlete:

A Lexington, N.C., native, Timberlake was also the first female scholarship athlete in the ACC. A decorated tennis player and eventual member of the North Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame, she arrived in Chapel Hill having won five state amateur titles in the span of just a few weeks.

Timberlake set the stage for the initial seven women’s sports that joined the Carolina athletic department and eventually made the Tar Heels the dominant force in intercollegiate women’s sports: field hockey, tennis, swimming and diving, fencing, basketball, gymnastics and volleyball.

Men’s Basketball & Women’s Soccer, First NCAA Championships:

Carolina has amassed 46 NCAA team championships. The first men’s title came in 1957, when McGuire’s undefeated Tar Heels bested Kansas and Wilt Chamberlain in triple overtime in Kansas City. The first women’s championship — not surprisingly — was won by the women’s soccer program, which won the inaugural NCAA women’s championship in 1982 and has then proceeded to win a staggering 20 more.

Men’s Basketball, First game as head coach:

Carolina Basketball was built by a series of head coaches who took the Tar Heels to the pinnacle of the sport. Their first wins at Carolina are as follows:

• Frank McGuire: The New York native coached his Tar Heels to a 70-50 win over The Citadel on December 1, 1952. Carolina went 17-10 in McGuire’s first season as he began to import the New York-based talent that would eventually lead to the 1957 national championship.
• Dean Smith: Carolina toppled Virginia, 80-46, on December 2, 1961. Smith’s first Carolina team went 8-9 and ended the season with an ACC Tournament loss to South Carolina.
• Bill Guthridge: Like his predecessors, Guthridge opened with a home win, this one an 84-56 thrashing of Middle Tennessee State on November 14, 1997. In his first season, which included National Coach of the Year honors, Guthridge directed Carolina to an ACC Tournament championship and a Final Four berth.
• Matt Doherty: The fiery Doherty earned his first technical foul and his first victory as head coach in a 66-61 home victory over Winthrop. His inaugural Tar Heel team was ranked as high as No. 1 in the country and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in a season in which Doherty earned National Coach of the Year honors.
• Roy Williams: The Roy Williams era began with a 90-64 win over Old Dominion on November 22, 2003. In what those close to him called his best coaching job ever, Williams led his first Carolina team to a 19-11 record and a round of 32 NCAA Tournament appearance.
• Hubert Davis: In a game he repeatedly said was not about him, the Tar Heels earned Davis’ first win as a head coach with an 83-67 win over Loyola (Md.).