A little research job for you. Check out RochesterFalcon's post on the <a href="http://ncaabbs.com/forums/acc/boards/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=000377" target="_blank">Aye Zigga Zoomba thread</a>. He claims that Bowling Green had the song first under the name "Ay Ziggy Zoomba." Thought you might want to look into that....
-JD
JDHeel:
Thanks for calling the Bowling Green situation to my attention. Fortunately, I was already aware of their claim and I have been doing further research on the subject. To make things more lively while we await football season, the debate has broken out again as to whether it is "roll" or "mow. It would appear that most UNC people say "mow" if they attended Carolina prior to 1965 and "roll" if they attended afterwards. We'll continue our efforts to pin point when the song was embraced by UNC and keep you posted.
I had a couple of exhilirating experiences last week that I will share with you. I talked by telephone with the Head Cheerleaders at Carolina in 1940 and 1941. I learned something I didn't know about the "card tricks" which were performed for many years at the home football games. I had alway thought that Norman Sper brought the cards to UNC and even the football program credited Sper with this achievement. But according to Charlie Nelson, the Head Cheerleader in 1940, the cards were initiated the year he was Head Cheerleader and he has the 1940 Yackety Yak to prove it. He provided Rick Brewer, the SI at the time, with this information several years ago and it has been removed from the football program In addition, there are a couple of other things that happened in 1940 of UNC historical importance. It was the first year that Carolina had female cheerleaders and also the first year cheerleaders performed at basketball games. Mr.Nelson maintains a residence in both Chapel Hill and the beach and Frank Alspaugh, the Head cheerleader in '41 lives here in Richmond,
I plan to meet with Mr. Nelson soon to discuss more UNC sports history and I will share things with you as I learn of them.
Awesome! Thanks for all the work you do. I've never heard Aye Zigga Zoomba, after hearing so much about it (especially on TTP). I'm salivating at the opportunity to hear the song this year in Kenan... and I hope that Fuchs does it right. I'll learn it as quickly as possible and encourage others to do so as well....
Looking forward to your next article -- take care!
-JD
ramfanatic, I was there between '61 and '66 and I very clearly remember it was "roll".
As for the cards, I don't know when they started but I think it was during my years there that they stopped.
For those readers who don't remember "cards", it worked like this: a section of Kenan (Southside, the "home side" (no double deck then) was set aside as the "card section". If you sat there, under your seat in a little metal bracket there was a card with colors listed on it, like so:
1. blue
2. blue
3. red
4. white
5. blue etc.
At halftime, sets of big cardboard squares would be passed out, each square having a different color on each side. Then, all you did when the kid in charge called for trick #1 was to hold up (in this case) a card with a blue side towards the field.
Problem was, by the 60's a lot of students thought it was hokey, and either wouldn't do it or else, would hold up the wrong color. Also, by then drinking was a big problem (the old pocket flask). Invariably, some idiot would "sail" one of these big cards and then dozens of the things would go flying - very dangerous. Finally the card club just gave up on it.
Another note: the little cards that you found under your seat were put out just before gametime, although that didn't stop dimwit students from switching them around to spoil the card message. But the big fear was that someone would get ahold of the cards before hand and replace them with counterfeits that would spell F**K DOOK or some other cute message. Interesting idea, actually, if someone could have pulled it off. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />