East Carolina University played its first intercollegiate football game on October 29, 1932, against the Scots of Presbyterian Junior College. In the more than eight decades that have followed, the ECU Pirates have experienced triumph and tragedy while creating a premier game-day experience. From the team’s early days playing on farmland through the decade-long quest to join the Southern Conference, ECU’s rise is recounted through these pages. Players are featured alongside legendary and colorful coaches in this history of Pirate football.