Carolina’s ties with Ireland go back centuries

Four-photo collage: Bono sitting on stage at Kenan Stadium during a U2 performance; Large group of Carolina Global Launch participants posing for a photo from above while standing on a University of Limerick branded indoor court; Newspaper clipping from The Daily Tar Heel with a black-and-white photo of Seamus Heaney speaking from a lectern with the University seal at the 1996 U.N.C. Chapel Hill Spring Commencement ceremony; and Ben Kiernan, with an Irish flag sticker displayed on the back of his U.N.C. football helmet, embracing a teammate.

Carolina football will make program history when it plays its first international game against Texas Christian University Aug. 29 in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin.

But did you know that there’s an Irish connection to the University’s early history?

Read about that fun fact and four more Carolina-Ireland ties.

An Irish presiding professor

Before there were University presidents and chancellors, the inaugural leadership title at Carolina was “presiding professor.” David Kerr was the first in 1794.

A Presbyterian minister, Kerr moved from Ireland to Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1791, according to a 1947 article from Our State magazine, and later made his way to Chapel Hill. He was on campus when UNC-Chapel Hill first opened its doors on Jan. 15, 1795.

A professor of languages, Kerr had to wait until Feb. 12, 1795, for his first student — Hinton James — to arrive.

Kerr “reigned a month in solitary state with nobody to teach,” Tar Heel students wrote in “The Carolina Handbook” (1929-30).

“The winter was of extreme severity. Not a student was present,” read a passage from The Hellenian yearbook in 1895.

Kerr departed the University in 1796 and, according to the Hellenian, became a lawyer, later working as a federal judge in the territory of Mississippi.

Carolina Global Launch

Students in the Carolina Global Launch program pose for a portrait on campus on Sept. 3, 2023, in Limerick, Ireland, prior to the start of their fall semester classes at the University of Limerick. (Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill)

Some Tar Heel journeys begin in Ireland.

The University of Limerick is one of the partner institutions in Carolina Global Launch, a program that enables first-year students to study abroad during their fall semester and then enroll at Carolina in the spring.

Located in Ireland’s third largest city, the University of Limerick is about 2½ hours southwest of Dublin. Future Tar Heels studying there can take a wide variety of courses, enjoy city life and live on an idyllic campus. And this year, they can watch Tar Heel football in person.

Heaney speaks at Commencement

Newspaper clipping from The Daily Tar Heel with a black-and-white photo of Seamus Heaney speaking from a lectern with the University seal at the 1996 U.N.C. Chapel Hill Spring Commencement ceremony.

Seamus Heaney speaking to Carolina graduates at Spring Commencement at Kenan Stadium on May 12, 1996. (Kathleen Oehler/The Daily Tar Heel)

One of the most acclaimed poets ever, Seamus Heaney spoke to Carolina graduates and received an honorary degree at the 1996 Spring Commencement ceremony.

Heaney grew up in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland, and later lived in Dublin for decades. His 1966 collection of poems, “Death of a Naturalist,” garnered widespread attention and created global fanfare. In 1995, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In addressing the Tar Heels, Heaney touched on the importance of perseverance in life and challenged graduates to go out into the world “with boldness.”

He also tailored his opening remarks to his audience. “From here on, the mark of the tar is upon all of us, academically and indelibly: So let us rejoice in that,” he said.

U2 plays at Kenan

Bono sitting on stage at Kenan Stadium during a U2 performance.

Bono on set at Kenan Stadium in 1983. U2 performed at a student-organized concert to raise money for charity. (Yackety Yack)

Likely the most famous Irish musical act, rock band U2 performed at Kenan Stadium in April 1983 as part of the Carolina Concert for Children, a student-organized event benefiting the Special Olympics, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and UNICEF. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five also performed.

U2 was on its third American tour and had recently released its third album, “War.”

Concertgoers were forced to brave wet conditions, which Bono joked with the crowd about, according to The Daily Tar Heel. “We’d like to thank you for making it rain today so it would be more like home for us,” the group’s lead singer said.

Student-athletes

Ben Kiernan, with an Irish flag sticker displayed on the back of his U.N.C. football helmet, embracing a teammate.

Dublin native Ben Kiernan punted for the Tar Heels from 2019-23. (Anthony Sorbellini/GoHeels)

Junior swimmer Grace Hodgins hails from Greystones, Ireland. First-year punter Adam McCann-Gibbs, who could make his collegiate debut at the College Football Classic, grew up about 100 miles from Dublin in Glen, Northern Ireland.

Three former Tar Heel student-athletes are from Dublin: Ben Kiernan, Carolina’s punter from 2019-23; golfer Keagan Cummings ’16; and field hockey’s Sinéad Loughran ’13, whose family owns a hotel in Dublin.