Favorite Player Poll #6 of 8 (Multiple choice poll)

[JasonEvans]

You know the drill. Vote for as many as you want, as this is multiple-choice. The top 4 vote getters advance to the Round of 32. See the Ultimate Fan Poll thread stickied to the top of the board if you hae any questions.

-Jason "getting close to being done with the opening round!! Woo Hoo!!" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Group of death!!!!

5 really special players from the somewhat modern era and some deserving but no chance old-timers. Just a brutal choice. Someone very worthy will get left behind in this poll. Toughest choice yet!!

--Jason

[RepoMan]

Really? I am underwhelmed by the group from a "favorite player" perspective. But, that's why I like your "favorite" player poll more than a "best" player poll.

[Lord Ash]

Some really classy guys here who represented Duke very well.

I think this will be a four horse race.

[johnb]

David Henderson grew up in the poorest (2nd poorest?) county in North Carolina. To get to his house, you had to walk into the woods for quite a ways. Cardboard filled in the cracks. He drove the school bus for cash. Other schools told him he wouldn't belong at Duke. The principal at his school had two photos in his office: his wife and DH. When he signed his LOI, he, his mother, and the coaches cried. Despite what the coaches from State and Carolina and Clemson told him, he made B's in econ, played an integral role on the '86 team that came oh-so-close in the finals, played in the NBA, Israel, Turkey, and France, and was an assistant to K before he got the head job at Delaware.

Vote Henderson!

[johnb]

Well, I'd vote for Henderson, but you can't leave out Gminski. Graduated a year early from high school to go to Duke, back when Duke's team suck*d. Academic and basketball all american. NBA. Announcer. Without him, would we have made the final 4 in '78? No way.

[throatybeard]

David Henderson grew up in the poorest (2nd poorest?) county in North Carolina. To get to his house, you had to walk into the woods for quite a ways. Cardboard filled in the cracks. He drove the school bus for cash. Other schools told him he wouldn't belong at Duke. The principal at his school had two photos in his office: his wife and DH. When he signed his LOI, he, his mother, and the coaches cried. Despite what the coaches from State and Carolina and Clemson told him, he made B's in econ, played an integral role on the '86 team that came oh-so-close in the finals, played in the NBA, Israel, Turkey, and France, and was an assistant to K before he got the head job at Delaware.

Vote Henderson!

Which county? If memory serves, he was listed as from Drewry, which I think is on the Vance/Warren county line or so.

[johnb]

I still think Banks might be my favorite, and not just because he was in my era. Among the top couple of guys in his basketball class, he came out of the West Philadelphia projects and was told that there was no way he could compete academically at Duke, couldn't make it socially at Duke, and--anyway--why would we want to be the first black high school A-A to ever go to Duke (by the time that Banks was in grade school, Duke had never even had a black player)?

William Styron gave a super commencement address that year, as did a guy who was soon to go to Stanford's law school, but the best graduation speech was Gene's. Duhon and Langdon were appealing and likable, but Gene (and David and Mike) were more pivotal to the program and two of them began the tradition of us recruiting great African-American student athletes.

[johnb]

sometimes i forget that many of the readers have known this stuff since it happened...

As for the per capita income in Drewry, I couldn't find the data quickly but seem to remember it from the old Poop Sheet that became the ACC Area Sports Jnl.

[Johnboy]

Count me as another who is astonished that David Henderson isn't in this top four (yet??). IIRC, Jay Bilas has said (here on these boards), in so many words (if not outright) that he counts Henderson among his personal heroes. Wonderful human being, came from nowhere, who was a key player on Coach K's first great team. (Thank you for choosing the wrong blue, Curtis Hunter!)

[EarlJam]

When all of this is said and done, will a full list of "standings" be posted? Or a Top Ten? Or just the top Five or so?

A full listing would be interesting.

-EarlJam

[EarlJam]

Count me as another who is astonished that David Henderson isn't in this top four (yet??). IIRC, Jay Bilas has said (here on these boards), in so many words (if not outright) that he counts Henderson among his personal heroes. Wonderful human being, came from nowhere, who was a key player on Coach K's first great team. (Thank you for choosing the wrong blue, Curtis Hunter!)

Dang Nabbit!!! I made a mistake in not picking him. I truly meant to. It was just an oversight. Anyway I can add a vote for David? I loved him too and will never forget his monster dunk in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament - a needed one against a motivated Miss. Valley State team.

-EarlJam

[JasonEvans]

Dang Nabbit!!! I made a mistake in not picking him. I truly meant to. It was just an oversight. Anyway I can add a vote for David? I loved him too and will never forget his monster dunk in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament - a needed one against a motivated Miss. Valley State team.

-EarlJam

I can alter the vote totals and will add one for Henderson. I had a bad feeling he would be the odd man out in this poll. He was a real stud on that 1986 team, instant offense and energy off the bench. I adored the way he played and his life story is as inspiring as any you will hear. The guy has been an amazing ambassador for Duke over the years and I know for a fact that Coach K has a special spot in his heart for Henderson.

I will be sad when he is eliminated, but they don't call this one the group of death for no reason.

--Jason "also, EarlJam, if you want to see standings, look at the stickied Ultimate Fan Poll thread for the list of who has made it so far and what their vote totals have been" Evans

[bird]

I was on campus when the 1986 team returned from the championship game, and Henderson choked up during his talk. Obviously, team meant the world to him, and he was not only distressed about the loss but also about what he perceived as his personal responsibility for the same. He has always been one of my favorite players.

While Henderson performed a bit below his normal excellence in the championship game (5-15 shooting), I never felt it fair to tag him as making the difference. No one was to "blame." I will say that I have always felt that if the 1987 Coach K had been coaching the 1986 team, that we would have won.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I remember precious few speeches from seniors on banquet nights. Quin's was an absolutely brilliant and eloquent piece of work. Wish I still had a copy. Grant's was well written and beautifully delivered as well.

David's? Well, he grabbed and held on tight to every single heart in the house expressing his gratitude to Duke. He pointed out the circumstances he had come from and then stepped back, opened his arms to us and said sobbing, "And just LOOK! Look where I AM now!" as though even after four years, he still couldn't believe his miracle.

I'll never forget that one. Bless his heart...really.
Love, Ima

[micah75]

I remember precious few speeches from seniors on banquet nights. Quin's was an absolutely brilliant and eloquent piece of work. Wish I still had a copy. Grant's was well written and beautifully delivered as well.

David's? Well, he grabbed and held on tight to every single heart in the house expressing his gratitude to Duke. He pointed out the circumstances he had come from and then stepped back, opened his arms to us and said sobbing, "And just LOOK! Look where I AM now!" as though even after four years, he still couldn't believe his miracle.

I'll never forget that one. Bless his heart...really.
Love, Ima

Amazing stuff. That's one of the nice aspect of these polls, we get to hear a few remembrances that some of us weren't aware of. Had I known more about David's background and his banquet speech, I would have voted for him. I was in England for a couple of years there in the mid '80's and didn't get to watch the games, only read about them in the still fairly new "USA Today" at that time.

[throatybeard]

Poor Bernie Janicki. 31 boards in one game, but no love.

[CameronBlue]

I still think Banks might be my favorite, and not just because he was in my era. Among the top couple of guys in his basketball class, he came out of the West Philadelphia projects and was told that there was no way he could compete academically at Duke, couldn't make it socially at Duke, and--anyway--why would we want to be the first black high school A-A to ever go to Duke (by the time that Banks was in grade school, Duke had never even had a black player)?

William Styron gave a super commencement address that year, as did a guy who was soon to go to Stanford's law school, but the best graduation speech was Gene's. Duhon and Langdon were appealing and likable, but Gene (and David and Mike) were more pivotal to the program and two of them began the tradition of us recruiting great African-American student athletes.

Great post. Gene was also of my era. Stories are spun, sports legends born, destroyed and rebuilt but the only indelible marks that survive the passage of time are the players' stats. Gene's stats are merely noteworthy. If posters could be transported through time to experience the emotion of past eras, Gene would be number one in more fans' hearts. He contributed to the culture of Duke University in ways that extended beyond the basketball program and enriched the lives of those around him.

[Bob Green]

At this point, Mike Lewis has only received nine votes! That is really astonishing. He is one of Duke's all time greats.

[SilkyJ]

Really? I am underwhelmed by the group from a "favorite player" perspective. But, that's why I like your "favorite" player poll more than a "best" player poll.

I agree. I have voted for at least 3 and usually 4 players in every poll so far, and here I only voted for G-man and Trajan. That is representative of my age in that I never saw (I should say don't remember seeing) Banks or Henderson play. Trajan was a favorite of mine in middle/high school and G-man was a classmate of my folks and one my parents' all-time favorites, so I had to kick in one for him.

I am not surprised to see Duhon leading the pack, but while I loved to party with him, I have to say that he never LED us to the promised land and was overall a bit of a disappointment for me...which is probably partially a consequence of the fact that he was J-Will's heir...