Victory Bell (Duke-North Carolina)
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For more information about the Duke-North Carolina Rivalry, see UNC-Duke rivalry.
| Duke (20) | North Carolina(38) |
|---|---|
| 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1958 1961 1962 1965 1966 1969 1973 1982 1985 1987 1988 1989 2003 |
1948 1949 1957 1959 1960 1963 1964 1967 1968 1970 1971 1972 1974 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1983 1984 1986 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2004 2005 2006 |
| Ties (1) | |
| 1975 | |
The Victory Bell is the traveling trophy given to the winner of the annual football game between the University of North Carolina and Duke University. Two cheerleaders, Loring Jones of Duke and Norman Spear of UNC, were influential in the concept of the Victory Bell. Jones was the one to design the model and Spear soon later obtained the Bell from an old railroad train. North Carolina won possession of the first ever Victory bell game with a 20-0 victory over Duke in 1948. In the recent history between these two bitter rivals, UNC has won the Victory Bell 16 out of the last 17 years.
It has been a tradition as of late for the winner to spray paint the platform of the trophy to match their school colors. After losing the Victory Bell in 2003, North Carolina came back the next year and beat Duke 40-17 in Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium. After the conclusion of the game, UNC football players immediately spraypainted the base of the Victory Bell Carolina Blue, leaving large amounts of light blue residue on the track of the stadium. Whenever UNC has been in possession of the Victory Bell, it is wheeled out at the start of every home game and is displayed in front of the students section.
In 2003 after Duke defeated UNC to claim the Victory Bell for the first time in thirteen years, North Carolina officials quickly shut down the scoreboard in Chapel Hill displaying the final score. Many fans believe this to be in response to a Duke rout over UNC in 1989, when postgame Duke Coach Steve Spurrier had his team pose underneath the scoreboard displaying the final score (Duke 41, North Carolina 0).
