When East Carolina University visits BYU for homecoming on Saturday, there will be more things in common between the two schools than the two squads' first football competition.
Both athletic departments were started by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Nephi Moroni Jorgensen, the first athletic director in 1947 at East Carolina Teachers College, started the football program. Athletics flourished as ECTC became ECC in the 1950s and East Carolina University in the 1960s. Now enrollment is reaching 27,000, third largest in North Carolina. The ECU Pirates have appeared in several bowl games — including the 2014 Birmingham Bowl against the Florida Gators.
Jorgensen's parents were Danish immigrants; he was the first son born in America. They arrived in the U.S. after joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jorgensen grew up in southern Idaho, attended Utah State, University of Oregon and Iowa State. He and his family settled in Greenville, N.C., the home of the ECU Pirates, and raised seven children. From 1947 to 1997 there was an unbroken time when there was either a Jorgensen on the faculty or as a student. Nephi Jorgensen died in 1988 and is buried in Greenville.
Jorgensen's descendants have attended ECU, BYU or both. One son played football for ECC, while several great-grandchildren are enrolled at BYU.
All six of Jorgensen's surviving children are planning on attending Saturday's game. While there is great excitement to honor this patriarch who will be remembered on homecoming day, the big question is who all of the children will be cheering for.
Either way, Jorgensen's descendants know how proud he must be that his East Carolina Pirates are playing against the BYU Cougars.