NC State Sports, Illustrated Trappings of the NC State Football Tradition The Wolfpack Gridiron On the Battlefield and the Playing Field The Baby Boom Hoops, 1950s Changes in the Medium
  
NC State Sports, Illustrated:
Trappings of the NC State Football Tradition

The North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts fielded its first football team in its third academic year in March 1892. Games were initially held at the State Fairgrounds or in Pullen Park in a clearing known as Red Diamond. Between 1907 and 1966, games were played in Riddick Stadium, a smaller precursor to the Carter-Finley Stadium.

The first three "A&M" teams wore pink and blue as their colors, but in 1895 the squad voted to wear brown and white. Before long, dissatisfaction with the color combination led the Athletic Association and the student body to select red and white instead. Nicknames for the players included the "Aggies," "Techs," "Farmers & Mechanics," or, most often, "Red Terrors."

Early football programs were small and modest in design. As of the 1930s, growing advertising revenues and developments in print technology allowed the university to start publishing increasingly thicker booklets in the 7 x 10-inch format that would remain consistent for more than three decades. The programs' covers and prime advertising spaces featured lively, colorful illustrations. Since the mid-1960s, programs have measured 8 x 11 inches and favored color photographs over drawings.