In all my years here in Greenville I have noticed that most everyone lives in the present with no memory of the great accomplishments of the past. Such is the fate of Ed Emory, ECU’s head football coach in the early 1980s.

On paper, with a record of 26-29, you would think he was no big deal. But that was not the case. Emory was a former East Carolina College football letterman with the right combination of heart, bleeding purple and sweating gold.

There have been two truly exciting football seasons at East Carolina. When Coach Bill Lewis beat N.C. State in the Peach Bowl in 1991, and then the season we should have been undefeated in 1983. In that year we were 8-3 losing only to nationally ranked Miami, Florida State and Florida. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. East Carolina led all three of those games to the last two minutes when questionable penalties mysteriously gave the games away.

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