Technician has been running for nearly 100 years, with the first issue published on Feb. 1, 1920. Throughout the years, NC State has seen many different events, from great successes to terrible tragedies and everything in-between. Time, and language itself, has changed over the years, but for almost every major event, Technician was there.

Since 1983, the Technician has had the tradition of releasing a yearly parody paper near the NC State vs. UNC-Chapel Hill basketball game. The most recent entrance to this tradition still currently sits on stands but the tradition first started more than 30 years ago.

On Feb. 18, 1983, the Technician ran a five-page spread under the name “The Daily Tar Heal” one day before the legendary ‘83 men’s basketball team defeated UNC at Reynolds Coliseum 70-63. The spread featured a wide variety of fake stories including UNC Vice Chancellor Donald A. Boulton being suspended, the school’s 1982 yearbook releasing after a year-long delay and coach Dean Smith personally pleading with the North Carolina General Assembly for more money for UNC, the last of which was accompanied with a fake photo of a mostly naked Smith.

The next week, on Feb. 21, 1983, the Technician ran the front page headline “Dean loses clothes Friday, cool Saturday” to celebrate the weekend win. Also on the front page, under the headline “Satirical paper draws wide media exposure,” ran an article explaining the whole affair and the reactions The Daily Tar Heal received.

“On Friday the Technician office received calls from the radio stations WQDR and WXYC, WRAL, The Raleigh Times, a Chapel Hill newspaper and even The Daily Tar Heel, according to Tom Alter, Technician editor-in-chief.”

According to the article, 15,000 copies of the spoof paper were inserted into Technicians and 10,000 copies were distributed to UNC’s campus. The article also explained the 1983 staff’s inspiration for the paper.

“The idea for this paper was sparked when The Daily Tar Heel created its version of the Technician on the back page of its Oct. 15, 1982 edition, which came out just before State played against them in football.”

The next year saw the publication rivalry strengthen. On Feb. 17, 1984, the Technician ran an editorial titled “Thieves Steal Technicians.” According to the article, 12,000 copies of the Technician were stolen from boxes two days prior. Unfortunately the article with this headline was also stolen. This incident was recorded the next week, on Feb. 20, in an article titled “DTH plays prank,” revealing the culprits of the “prank.” The article began as so:

“This is starting to become a little ridiculous. If you’ve been wondering why there were only a few papers out last Wednesday and Friday, all we can say is that it wasn’t our fault. Some people like our paper so much that they want all the papers to themselves.”

The article went on to explain how, while the theft of the first paper remained a mystery, the theft of the second was a well organized (if poorly thought-out) UNC college prank.

While not as widely covered as the on the court rivalry, the NC State-UNC competitiveness can be felt strongly across many aspects of student life and definitely in student media.