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Tobacco Road refers to the tobacco-producing area of North Carolina and is often used when referring to sports (particularly basketball) played among rival North Carolina universities. The phrase actually originated as the title of a novel set in Georgia, but it naturally migrated to North Carolina because of the state's primacy in tobacco production.
The usual universities referred to by the moniker "Tobacco Road" are the following:
All of these schools are separated by no more than 25 miles (40 km) from any of the others with the exception of Wake Forest, which lies an hour and a half drive away via Interstate 40. In fact, all four are no more than six miles (10 km) from Interstate 40, so the road is sometimes informally known as the "Tobacco Road". The proximity of these schools to one another and the membership of each school in the Atlantic Coast Conference have created a natural rivalry among students and alumni.
Wake Forest University used to be in Wake Forest, North Carolina, just a few miles north of Raleigh, until it moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, about 100 miles (160 km) west of the Triangle. Since Wake Forest University is in North Carolina, and in the same city as the headquarters of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, a member of the ACC and still near the other three schools, Wake remains in the "Tobacco Road" group. These four universities are also known in the state as the "Big Four" and competed in the Dixie Classic tournament from 1949-1961 and the Big Four Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1971-1981.
NC State's Red and White Song mentions each of the four universities in its lyrics.
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