Duke went 3-6-1 in 1969, ending the season with a 17-13 win over North Carolina. Hart figured in the game's key play, arguably the most famous play in ACC history. Ironically, he didn't even touch the ball. It was 7-7 late in the third quarter. Hart carried the ball on an option and was tackled close to the sideline. As the teams lined up for the next play, Hart bent down to tie a shoe. With the UNC defense huddled up, Duke end Marcel Courtillet picked up the ball and tossed it to Chesson, who ran down the sidelines 53-yards for the touchdown.
Duke did rehearse the "shoe-string" play in practice that week. Chesson says, "(Coach) Harp noticed that Carolina turned their backs when they were huddling on defense. So we thought we could exploit it. But we never thought it would work that well. Easiest touchdown I ever had."
A lot of things had to go right. The officials were alerted before the game. Hart had to make sure he didn't go out of bounds, stopping the clock. Duke had to have seven players on the line of scrimmage, they had to be set, the line had to be aligned properly. Hart says, "The signal was Marcel saying `Leo, are you okay?' We knew we could only try it once. I've had a lot of fun with it over the years."