Originally Posted by
Olympic Fan
Some weird stuff about that retirement.
The administrator who didn't want to retire any numbers after Groat's No. 10 was athletic director Eddie Cameron. He would not let Bubas retire either Heyman's No. 25 nor Mullins' No. 44.
By the time Bill Foster wanted to retire Mike Gminski's No. 43, Cameron was gone and AD Tom Butters was open to the idea. He also let Coach K call the retirement of Johnny Dawkins' 24 in 1986 and Ferry's 35 in 1989.
A lot of fans wondered why Gminski, Dawkins and Ferry were honored and not the Bubas greats. Coach K heard some of the complaints and contacted Coach Bubas to see what had gone on in the 60s. When he heard the story, he decided that Duke should honor its past greats. He arranged for Heyman's No. 25 to be retired on Mar. 4, 1990.
Gary Melchionni, Mark Crow, Greg Wendt and Thomas Hill all wore No. 25 AFTER Heyman. Thomas Hill was wearing it when it was retired -- he switched to No. 12 for the last three years of his career.
The Mullins retirement was Dec. 6, 1994 ... Interesting that Duke was playing George Washington that night. Mullins was coaching UNC Charlotte at the time and since Charlotte and GW were in the same conference and had future games against each other, Mullins wasn't allowed (by NCAA rules at the time) to see any of the game. He sat in an office and watched the game on TV, coming out for pregame and halftime ceremonies.
No. 44 was worn by Pete Kramer, Scott Goetsch, Todd Anderson, Phil Henderson and by Cherokee after Mullins.
All that is not so odd ... the Yankees retired Gehrig's No. 4 when he got sick in 1939, so no other Yankee ever wore than number. But when Ruth moved on to the Boston Braves in 1935, the Yankees assigned his No. 3 to Canadian outfielder George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk, who wore Ruth's number until it was retired soon after Gehrig's No. 4.