How Long Have You Been A Duke BB Fan?

[dairedevil]

Both of my parents are Duke graduates, so I was exposed to a love of all things Duke all my life. Growing up in the Atlanta area in the 60's, though, Duke didn't get a lot of exposure with the local sports media.

I remember watching the 1978 championship game with my folks and newborn son. Ga Tech joined the ACC, ESPN came to cable and showed lots of games, and it was much easier to watch and follow our beloved Blue Devils. In 1986, I made DUKE t-shirts for my son and me to wear during the Final Four - you couldn't find any Duke apparel in Atlanta then. Times have certainly changed...

[MarkD83]

I grew up watching big 5 basketball in the palestra. They also televised regional games of interest on the local station. One day I turned on the game and duke was playing unc. Unc went four corners and I thought how stupid is this. At halftime it was 7 0 duke and I was hooked. I then went to duke in 79 pre K and watched west philly star tinkerbell and reaffirmed my love of duke ball. One last comment thank you Tom Butters.

[rasputin]

My family moved to Greensboro in the fall of 1968. Not exactly the glory days for Duke athletics. Of course the majority of kids rooted for the Cheaters. I've never been one to go along with the crowd.

[weezie]

I attended a Duke basketball game two days before I was born. I don't remember not being a Duke basketball fan.

For me there is no beginning of fandom and no end. The circle will be unbroken.

[CharlestonDevil]

Since the day in 2nd grade when a UNC fan in a Walmart purchased TarHeel sweatshirt made a joke about me not pulling for "Michael Jordan's school".

22 years ago my love for Duke basketball started with hatred for U*NC. Seems appropriate now that we know they have been cheating for the majority of my life...

[JTH]

I can't remember exactly, but I do recall that the world was still just rocks and dirt was yet to be invented. Funny, I never thought dirt would catch on. We all thought it was just a fad.

Actually, I first got hooked by Jeff Mullins and Hack Tison. I regret that I do not recall seeing Art Heyman, so I must have started following the year after he graduated. That would be the early 60's.

Yes, I am older than dirt.

[wavedukefan70s]

My first duke shirt has spanarkel and Gminski on it.so I'd would guess mid late 70s.

[Native]

I posted this in a Reddit thread a while back. I've always been a Duke fan, but this is the day I became a die-hard.

My parents are both UNC alumni, but my maternal grandfather has taught business at Duke's Fuqua School since the late sixties.

When I was little, they both worked full time, so I would go spend the day at my grandma's house often. She'd take me over to campus to hang out at my grandpa's office all day, so I spent a ton of time on Duke's campus growing up.

For these reasons I grew up a Duke fan, even with my pretty voracious UNC fan of a dad. My grandpa sat on the academic advisory council for athletics at Duke, so through those connections I actually had the privilege of being a ball boy for the team in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Before one home game in 2001, a few of the players on the team were out shooting around during warmups. This was after the student doors had opened but prior to general admission doors opening, so it's just the players and the students in there.

As a ball boy, my job during this time was to rebound for the team. While doing this, Chris Duhon came up to me and jokingly challenged me to a game of one-on-one. I was 8 or 9 at the time, so I was scared out of my mind — never mind the fact that I was giving up about three feet or so to the guy — but we started "playing" anyway.

After a few go-arounds, the Crazies started to chant my name more loudly and cheered me on against Duhon. When Duhon went back to the locker room, the students called me over and crowd-surfed me all the way up to the upper level in Cameron and back down.

Since that time, I worked my a** off to get into Duke, will be a senior here in the fall, and am currently a Line Monitor that organizes the Krzyzewskiville campout every year.
Time flies.

[Saratoga2]

I was born in 1941 and played high school ball along the way. Since I thought I was a decent player, I tried playing at Northeastern Univeristy but quickly found being an all star at a small town didn't qualify me to play at the college level. Still I loved the game and found Duke to have a BB program that I really admired. I don't think I can say 55 years, but it is pretty close. Duke has been consistently fan worthy for all those years.

[Tommac]

Since at least the 65-66 season when Duke lost to Kentucky in the NCAA semifinal because Bob Verga was sick. Kentucky went on to lose to the famous Texas Western team.

[Jarhead]

My time at Duke started in September, 1949. Wallace Wade was the football coach, Jerry Gerard was the basketball coach, and Jack Coombs was the baseball coach. The crowds for most sports seemed very large. I didn't miss a game, and soon became a fan in all Duke sports. Freshmen had to memorize all of the Duke songs and cheers. The basketball roster included Ceep Youmans, Zeus Kulpan and Carl Sapp. Dick Groat was on the freshman team. Duke had two All-Americans prior to that, but Groat was, to me, the start of the modern era of Duke basketball, and please don't argue with me. Just look up in the rafters. Groat's #10 was the first retired jersey up there.

My season tickets for football date back to the early seventies, and I had season hoops tickets until two seasons after I moved to Northern Virginia around 30 years ago. For those two years we made it to just two games, so we gave them up. Luckily, Duke is well covered on TV.

[hudlow]

...Bill Foster was wearing plaid pants when I started following the Blue Devils.

[fidel]

When I was a 16 in '78...still remember the Sports Illustrated cover of tinkerbell fighting for points in the paint...'Duke Breaks Loose'. That's a long time ago!

Moved to the triangle in 87, loved watching Duke from the cheap seats (parking lot purchases).

Fuqua grad along the way.

It's been the Good Old Days for a long time now, and I have enjoyed it all.

[CDu]

My story is somewhat similar to Billy Dat's story, though a few years later. I grew up rooting against Duke. I didn't become a fan until I got accepted to Duke. So things really took hold in the Fall of 1997, when (along with Brand, Battier, Burgess, Avery, and Simpson, I made my arrival at Duke. Diehard ever since, though.

[bbosbbos]

A fan from 2005 after finding a job in DUMC.

[bluedevil31]

I grew up 45 minutes north of Syracuse, NY and just never cared for SU or Jim Boeheim, even though everyone around me loved them. I loved playing and watching basketball though. The first Duke game I remember watching is the battle of the Danny's, Danny Ferry and Danny Manning, not sure of the year, late 1980's but I loved watching Duke play and Coach K, I was hooked. I've been a Duke fan ever since then. As life happens, I graduated from college, moved to NC, married a Durham native and Duke fan, and we now have season tickets for football and attend as many basketball games as we can!

[Bostondevil]

I probably became a Duke fan when my father accepted a scholarship to Duke in the fall of 1954. I wasn't born yet but as Jim Valvano once said, in the ACC fans are born not made. I wasn't brought home to a crib decorated in Duke's colors, but, I've been cheering for them all my life. My first favorite player was Gary Melchionni. I think I liked him best because I was kinda proud I could say his name. When I was a kid and you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew, I'd come up with an answer, but really, all I ever wanted to be was a Duke grad/Cameron Crazie (although we weren't the Cameron Crazies until after I graduated).

AncientPhysicT maybe can't remember the comeback against Carolina in the '97-'98 season but I remember him watching the game. I'd date his awareness of Duke basketball to that game.

We have one rule in my house, you do not root for Carolina. Have I ever made a kid stand outside in the cold for testing those waters by pretending to root for the baby blues? Yes. Yes, I have. Actually, that's wrong, we have two rules. The other rule is you can study at any university you want to (and get accepted to), but if you go to UNC, I will not pay for it.

Side note: I was permanently scarred by that game in 1974. I never, ever, ever believe it's over until the buzzer sounds. I'd make Yogi Berra proud.

[Kedsy]

The other rule is you can study at any university you want to (and get accepted to), but if you go to UNC, I will not pay for it.

I set this exact rule for my own son. Funny, I worded it almost exactly the same way. Though he's a sensible boy so I don't expect him to want to go to UNC. Still, always helps to set expectations properly, right?

[superdave]

Freshman year at Duke, 1985-6. I went to college as a football fan. But then I saw:

Dawkins, Amaker, Alarie, Henderson, Bilas, Ferry, King
and
Strickland, Smith, Snyder, Williams, Nessley, Burgin

and it was a beautiful game to behold.

oh, and I was caught up the Cameron Crazies mania too.

I became a fan in 1985 as well, but I was 7 years old. I had two family friends who were at Duke who got me interested. I had the 1985-1986 "Formula For Success" team poster in my room, and I seem to remember having a Duke Big Apple (preseason) NIT tshirt.

[Jim3k]

Sage and I are tied at 55. As freshmen we were on the same floor in House J. He may actually have been a fan earlier since he was southern-born and was more aware of Duke than I. I confess that growing up in Colorado and living for two years in New England did not result in fandom of the basketball team, even though the '59-'60 team had made its mark nationally. As a high schooler I was only aware of Duke as a target school. Walking into DIS in the fall of 1960 changed everything.