The 10 defining moments of Charlotte football ahead of the 49ers’ 100th game

The Charlotte 49ers football team has come a long way in the past nine years.

Though it has been less than a decade since Charlotte first took the field, the plans for the team, stadium and city have been in the works for more than 20 years.

Charlotte’s NFL Draft picks, first winning season, bowl appearance, Power Five victory and introduction to the American Athletic Conference that has taken place in the past few years were made possible by the continued efforts of students, alumni, university fans and administrators.

Support for the program has continued to grow. In July of 2006, a group of 15 held the inaugural Charlotte 49er Football Initiative meeting. Campaigns, merchandise and websites were created to promote the creation of a Division I college football program in Queen City.

Less than a year later, the university’s students voted in drastic numbers in favor of a football program via a campus-wide poll. The UNC Charlotte Board of Trustees would soon authorize $150,000 to research the addition of a football program, culminating in the creation of a Football Feasibility Committee.

In February of 2008, the committee saw a unanimous vote in favor of adding a football program. Seven months later, hundreds of students, alumni and fans took matters into their own hands, literally.

The “March to the End Zone” rally hit campus, bringing together fans sharing the same sentiment: “We want football!”

Two days after the rally, university chancellor Philip L. Dubois officially recommended the addition of football, with the task of raising $5 million in funding for what is now Richardson Stadium.

It took until Aug. 11, 2010, to clear all obstacles in the program’s creation. A celebration was held in the student union where then-athletic director Judy Rose confirmed the news.

Charlotte took the field for the first time Aug. 31, 2013, as an FCS independent.

Fast-forward nine years, Charlotte’s posted a 36-63 overall record, with a 23-26 record at home. Hundreds of thousands of fans have enjoyed the intimacy of a Saturday afternoon spent at Richardson Stadium. This Saturday is the program’s 100th game, and it’s a high-stakes game on senior day with the 49ers’ bowl hopes on the line.

Here’s a look back on the Charlotte 49ers’ top 10 moments in football history:

10. Historic Win in FBS Debut (Sept. 4, 2015)

Charlotte’s program started as an independent but announced its intention to join Conference USA starting in 2015. After two 5-6 seasons in the FCS, Charlotte made the jump to the FBS and was tasked with playing Georgia State in its debut.

Emotions ran high from the start. Charlotte’s first FBS game came in the Georgia Dome and was nationally televised by ESPNU.

On the fourth play from scrimmage, cornerback Terrance Winchester recovered a Georgia State fumble and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown, Charlotte’s first in the FBS.

Charlotte won 23-20 as the Panthers’ late-game comeback attempt fell short with their onside kick sailing out of bounds with 30 seconds to play.

9. Brad Lambert’s Last Game (Nov. 24, 2018)

It was announced six days before the final game of the 2018 season that Brad Lambert would not return as head coach of the 49ers. Bowl eligibility was off the table and Charlotte was ready to move in another direction, replacing the first coach in its history.

Lambert posted a 22-48 record in his time with the 49ers, and while the wins didn’t accumulate during his tenure, he helped build the foundation for the program and recruited all four NFL Draft picks and current captains Luke Martin, Chris Reynolds and Victor Tucker.

Tied at 24 against Lane Kiffin’s Florida Atlantic team with just 25 seconds to play, Lambert sent on freshman kicker Jonathan Cruz to attempt the longest field goal of his career. Cruz had connected on kicks from 51 and 54 yards earlier in the season, but not with the pressures of a game-winner.

Cruz connected from 56-yards out to beat the Owls, keeping Florida Atlantic out of bowl contention.

Lambert’s six-year tenure ended in jubilation as the players drenched him in Gatorade and showed their appreciation by lifting and carrying the first coach in program history off the field.

8. Tucker Changing the Tide (Oct. 26, 2019)

Victor Tucker is going to go down as one of the best players in 49ers’ program history.

Tucker is second in the 49ers’ record books in almost every receiving category to Austin Duke. But a program-defining catch in 2019 sets him apart.

Charlotte was on the brink of losing five straight and dropping to 2-6 in 2019, Will Healy’s first season. North Texas led the 49ers by two scores nearly the entire contest at Richardson Stadium, including a 14-point advantage to start the fourth quarter.

In the final minutes, Tucker and Reynolds notched one of the biggest comebacks in program history.

Trailing by five with 18 seconds to play, Reynolds escaped the pocket and evaded two defenders rolling to his right. Reynolds looked to Tucker in the corner of the end zone and lofted a 50-50 ball from 34 yards out. Tucker boxed his defender out and came down with the game-winning score, electrifying the crowd and rejuvenating the 49ers’ season.

Following the comeback victory, Charlotte won five straight to achieve bowl eligibility for the first time. Tucker changed the tide of the 2019 season and the narrative of the 49ers’ program.

7. Hiring Will Healy (Dec. 4, 2018)

Healy, then 33 years old, was introduced as the head coach for the 49ers’ football team. Healy jokes he looked 12 years old upon his hire, but the youth, energy and enthusiasm were among the main reasons that Hill selected him.

“They’ve gone from ‘hope to win’ to ‘expect to win.’ That’s the foundation for us to take the next step and to do that in a hurry,” Healy said in his introductory press conference.

Healy posted the program’s first winning season and bowl appearance in program history in his first season, then secured the program’s first Power Five win two years later.

Charlotte took a big swing hiring an FCS coach with just three years of head-coaching experience, but the risk has paid dividends with the program’s explosion in the past three years.

Healy has been a good fit for Charlotte, a school that is fighting to become relevant in its own city. He is willing and ready to promote the 49ers on podcasts, radio shows or news broadcasts, and his energetic personality has drawn eyes all across the college football landscape.

The wins haven’t come as often as he would like, currently owning a 14-15 record as a head coach with the 49ers, but Charlotte is on the brink of achieving bowl eligibility for the second time in three seasons.

6. All-American Alex Highsmith (Dec. 16, 2019)

Alex Highsmith went from a walk-on with no offers to an AP Third-Team All-American in his time at Charlotte.

Highsmith’s breakout season came in 2018, posting career-bests in tackles and sacks, while breaking the single-season program record with 17.5 tackles for loss. He was tabbed as First-Team All C-USA with Glenn Spencer as his defensive coordinator.

When Healy arrived, Charlotte replaced the staff and brought in Marcus West as the defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator. West’s 4-2-5 scheme moved Highsmith to the edge where he would go on to dominate in the 2019 season.

Highsmith recorded 14 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss, fourth and fifth in the nation respectively. He posted 75 total tackles and saw his name moving up the NFL Draft boards with every game. Praise poured in from across the nation.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney praised Highsmith ahead of their 2019 matchup.

“He’s on all the ‘great player’ lists. I kept watching him and going, ‘Holy cow.’ He looks like Xavier Thomas,” Swinney said. “He’s physical, fast, disruptive. He’s causing sacks and tips. Really, really good football player. That No. 5 could play for anybody in the country.”

He was selected in the third round of the 2020 draft, 102nd overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

5. Going Bowling (Nov. 23, 2019)

Ahead of Healy’s hire, the 49ers’ best season in the FBS came in 2018 at 5-7. In his first year with the program, Charlotte rallied from a 2-5 record and were home underdogs against Marshall, a favorite for the Conference USA Championship.

It was a rain-drenched Saturday night with bowl-eligibility on the line. Charlotte, then winners of three straight, had a different energy following Tucker’s game-winning catch over North Texas weeks earlier.

The Niners trailed 10-0 early but rallied to take a late lead following Tucker’s first touchdown on the night.

Leading 17-13 with 48 seconds to play, Healy’s group faced fourth-and-10 with the option to kick a 42-yard field goal to extend the lead.

One conversion stood between the 49ers and victory -- a sixth win that would achieve bowl eligibility for the first time in program history. Healy elected to keep the offense on the field.

“They hadn’t stopped Vic all night long,” Healy said. “Do we run it and try to waste a little more time or go for the jugular? I think that’s our mentality right now. We’re not gonna be passive.”

Reynolds lofted a deep ball to the corner of the end zone where Tucker out-willed his defender, fighting through contact and reeling in one of the biggest catches in program history to effectively end the game.

Charlotte later played in the Bahamas Bowl that season, losing to Buffalo.

4. Larry Ogunjobi, First 49er to the NFL (April 28, 2017)

Charlotte has produced four NFL Draft picks in the past four years: Cameron Clark (New York Jets), Alex Highsmith (Pittsburgh Steelers), Nate Davis (Tennessee Titans) and Larry Ogunjobi (Cleveland Browns).

The 49ers were the first team to offer Ogunjobi a scholarship. Five years later, he heard his name called in the NFL Draft.

Ogunjobi was the university’s first player to be selected to play in the NFL, going in the third round of the 2017 draft as the 65th overall pick. He was a member of the 49ers’ first recruiting class and was the first to earn First-Team All C-USA honors.

In the program’s inaugural game, Ogunjobi was selected by the coaching staff to wear No. 49, the team’s honorary jersey. He finished his career with Charlotte with 217 career tackles, 49 tackles for loss and 13 sacks.

Following four years with the Browns, Ogunjobi signed with the Cincinnati Bengals this season.

3. March to the End Zone (Sept. 16, 2008)

Students, alumni and fans of the Charlotte 49ers made their intentions clear. They wanted football.

On a rainy Tuesday night, more than 800 people rallied together marching across campus, starting at the Belk Tower in the heart of the university.

The organizers of the rally hoisted yellow goalposts, which the group carried from the Belk tower through the middle of campus to Halton Arena, chanting “We want football!”

“As I was going around at the end, there was one person that shook my hand. He was an ‘88 grad. He was explaining to me how much it meant to him to see us succeed,” Reynolds said after passing Matt Johnson for the career program record in passing yards with 5,405 against Gardner-Webb on Sept. 11, 2021. “When he finished school, there was no football team, obviously. It’s hard to fathom how much further this program can go, especially in Charlotte.”

2. Beating Duke, the First Power Five Win (Sept. 3, 2021)

Beating Duke to open the 2021 season is the program’s biggest win to date. But the result of that game needs context to understand the impact.

Coming into 2021, the 49ers had never beaten a Power Five opponent. Charlotte played the Blue Devils for the first time in 2020 but lost 53-19.

Less than a year later, Charlotte opened its season by welcoming the first Power Five opponent to Richardson Stadium. It was a Friday night in September headlined by a nationally televised game with a near sell-out crowd.

The thriller saw three lead changes in the final three minutes of play. Despite Duke’s Mataeo Durant rushing for 255 yards and three touchdowns, Reynolds’ heroics led two lead-changing drives in the final minutes, eventually finding Shadrick Byrd for the game-winning touchdown with 33 seconds remaining.

Fans stormed the field, creating one of the most memorable scenes in 49ers’ history.

1. First Game, First Win (Aug. 31, 2013)

Charlotte took the field for the first time in program history against Campbell.

Linebacker Mark Hogan etched his name in the 49ers’ record books on the second play from scrimmage, scoring Charlotte’s first-ever touchdown on a 32-yard interception returned to the end zone.

The standing-room-only crowd of 16,630 at Richardson Stadium saw seven years of work, patience and dedication come to fruition.

“It was a humbling experience to be out there with the crowd and the stadium,” Lambert, the former head coach, said. “So many people put so much into this and to see it on game day. There were a lot of different things going on but it was an unbelievable environment today. It was pretty emotional. I really couldn’t have written the outcome any better.”

Charlotte won 52-7, recording the program’s first win.

“A lot of dreams came true today,” Johnson said. It’s safe to say they didn’t all belong to the players.

The fans stormed the field to join the team at the midfield logo in celebration. It was the first of many, and many more field-storming stories will be written as the university continues to grow.