by Lee Pace, GoHeels.com

CHAPEL HILL—Successful and wealthy people often will not take "no" for an answer. Case in point was a Raleigh construction magnate who at first was rebuffed in his quest to land tickets to the Carolina-Notre Dame football game, scheduled for November 1949 in Yankee Stadium in New York.

Albert Earle Finley began a construction equipment business in Raleigh in 1931, and nearly two decades later it had grown into the largest distributorship in the United States. Finley was generous with the proceeds from his businesses, establishing a reputation as one of North Carolina's most generous philanthropists. He was also an avid golfer and sports fan, following with interest the pursuits of university teams in the Triangle area. Like many others without direct connections to Carolina, Finley had become a fan of those late-1940s Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice-led teams.

He phoned the ticket office at Carolina in the fall of 1949 and was told that, unfortunately, there were no tickets available.

"Surely there are tickets somewhere," Finley countered.

He was told demand was high and that, no, there were none for sale. Pressing the matter, Finley was directed to the university's athletic director, Chuck Erickson. Finley phoned Erickson, who explained that hard-to-get tickets went to the university's most generous financial boosters.

"If you need some money, let's talk," Finley said.

Erickson, who doubled as the Tar Heels' golf coach, told Finley that the university had built a nine-hole golf course during World War II with labor from the Navy Pre-Flight and that each hole had two tees to vary the holes on a golfer's second time through. UNC had the land for nine more and wanted to upgrade the original holes and build a second nine.

A deal was struck: Finley agreed to pay for the services of George Cobb to design the course and for construction costs. The golf course was named in his honor and remains today UNC-Finley Golf Course (though the layout was completely redesigned by Tom Fazio in 1999). And Finley got his tickets to the Carolina-Notre Dame game.

The game was scheduled to showcase Justice, the Heisman Trophy runner-up for two years running, against Notre Dame, a school located in Indiana that nonetheless had bedrock support in the Irish-Catholic communities of New York. The Irish had never lost under coach Frank Leahy, winning 26 games from 1946-48 and being tied twice, and they were 6-0 in 1949 and ranked No. 1 in the nation when they collided with the Tar Heels.

The Tar Heels' hopes were dashed the previous week, when Justice sprained his ankle at the end of a 75-yard punt return against William & Mary. He missed early preparations for Notre Dame, but Coach Carl Snavely was optimistic Justice would be ready for Saturday. As the week wore on, however, Justice's ankle was slow to respond to treatment and he was ruled out of his triple-threat role as the tailback in the Tar Heels' single-wing attack.

More than 20,000 Tar Heel fans traveled by plane, train, chartered bus and auto caravan to New York. Manhattan was painted Carolina blue for the weekend, with fans enjoying a Friday night pep rally in Times Square and a Saturday morning parade. More than 2,000 Carolina students traveled as well and treated the Yankee Stadium crowd to one of their renowned card shows orchestrated by head cheerleader Norman Sper. And the Heels, 27-point underdogs, gave them all quite a show. Carolina jumped to a 6-0 lead after a blocked punt set up an early score and fought the Irish to a 6-6 halftime standoff. Notre Dame's power and depth won out in the fourth quarter, though, as the Irish exploded with 27 points and notched a 42-6 win.

There won't be 20,000 Carolina fans going to South Bend this weekend, but there is a group of some 600 who'll be taking the Anthony Travel excursion to Chicago and South Bend. Similar to its itinerary in 2006, the group will headquarter in Chicago (at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel) and have a Friday night reception (at Navy Pier on the shore of Lake Michigan). The group will take a chartered seven-car train to South Bend on Saturday morning and return after the game.

Carolina and Notre Dame will become more familiar with one another now that Notre Dame is an adjunct member of the ACC. The two schools knew each other quite well in the 1950s and '60s. Erickson was good friends with Notre Dame AD Moose Krause, and after the 1949 game they decided to begin playing football on a regular basis. Over the next 17 years, the teams played 13 times. Of the 18 games total, 11 have been played in South Bend, six in Chapel Hill and one in New York.

There's been a decidedly gold-tinted aura to the rivalry, such that it is. Carolina has won just twice, those a 12-7 triumph in Kenan Stadium in 1960 over a team that included future NFL stars Nick Buoniconti and Daryle Lamonica and in 2008 when Cam Sexton scored on a four-yard run to provide the victory margin in a 29-24 win.

Otherwise, the Irish have dusted the Heels 16 times, including a painful 34-24 loss in South Bend in 1958 in Jim Tatum's last year before his death; a 16-0 whitewash during John Bunting's senior season in 1971; and a 21-14 loss in Kenan Stadium in the Joe Montana-debut game in 1975.

Bill Dooley's team had a 14-0 lead through three quarters in 1975, a game that still sticks in the craw of any avid Tar Heel fan. Irish Coach Dan Devine inserted an unknown sophomore quarterback into the lineup with 6:04 to play, and Montana sparked Notre Dame to two quick scores, the game-winner an 80-yard strike to split end Ted Burgmeier on a simple out-pattern with 1:04 to play. One Tar Heel gambled on an interception and slipped and another missed a tackle, allowing Burgmeier to score.

"We tore 'em up and they were dying in the fourth quarter," center Mark Cantrell said afterward. "Then I don't know what happened. I can't believe we played the way we did and lost."

Ray Farris of Charlotte was a quarterback on the 1960 team. He remembers the Tar Heels' one offensive TD in their win in Kenan Stadium, that being his 47-yard throw to Skip Clement.

"It was a down-out-and-up route," Farris says. "Red Mack was one of their best runners, but he was on defense against Skip on that play. He bit on the fake on the out-route, Skip got behind him and it was clear sailing."

He also remembers the sterling performance by the Tar Heel defense that afternoon. Carolina picked off five passes-including one returned 42 yards for a touchdown by Mike Greenday and then a game-clincher by Ward Marslender-and stopped the Irish five times inside the 20 yardline.

"Our defense was the reason we won that game," he says. "Bud Carson was our defensive coach, and he was a great, great coach. Rip Hawkins had a great game at middle linebacker that day, I remember that as well."

Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace (leepace7@gmail.com) is in his 25th year writing "Extra Points" and 11th reporting from the sidelines for the Tar Heel Sports Network. His unique look at Tar Heel football will appear regularly throughout the fall. Follow him on Twitter @LeePaceTweet.