1888 North Carolina Tar Heels football team

1888 North Carolina Tar Heels football
ConferenceIndependent
North Carolina Inter-Collegiate Football Association (spring 1889)
Record1–3 (1–1 NCIFA)
Head coach
Captains
  • Bob Bingham
  • Steve Bragaw
Home stadiumCampus Athletic Field (I)
1888 Southern college football independents records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Georgetown    4 2 0
Trinity (NC)    2 1 0
Virginia    2 1 0
Wake Forest    2 1 0
Johns Hopkins    6 5 0
Richmond    1 2 0
North Carolina    1 3 0
Navy    1 4 0
Gallaudet       
Randolph–Macon       
St. John's (MD)       

The 1888 North Carolina Tar Heels football team represented the University of North Carolina (referred to as "the University" or "Chapel Hill" in media at the time) in the 1888 college football season. The Tar Heels played four games, two in the fall of 1888 and two in March 1889, with a final record of 1–3. This was the first season the university fielded a football team. The team captains for the 1888 season were Bob Bingham and Steve Bragaw. The game against Wake Forest on October 18, 1888 was the first in the state, and the game against Trinity several weeks later, on November 29, was the first "scientific" game in the state. Princeton star Hector Cowan traveled south at the beginning of 1889, and trained the team for ten days, prior to the team's games in March, and was paid $300, which was collected by the student body for that purpose.