R.I.P. Al Featherston (aka Olympic Fan) - a Dukie through and through!

[sagegrouse]

One of my lasting memories of DBR is unintentionally starting a raucous debate with Oly over the merits or demerits of the Woodrow Wilson Administration. It was really funny how quickly it spun out of control, leading to the temporary locking of a thread.

A brilliant writer, an informed voice, and a perspective that demanded your attention.

You have been missed, and sad to hear the news. Rest well, fellow traveler.

OPK, I believe it was this thread that has the most meat. The title was "Leadership in WW1 and WW2." Ol' Sage started it, and you commented but OF jumped in with both feet. It was a thrilling ride for a couple of weeks -- and what was impressive about OF's posts was their exuberance. We never convinced each other of a thing, but I eventually broke it off because it was so time-consuming.

It seems like it went on for weeks, but it was only August 21-26, 2015 -- a memorable thread for me, and I got a real impression of Al and his enthusiasm for many topics.

[OldPhiKap]

OPK, I believe it was this thread that has the most meat. The title was "Leadership in WW1 and WW2." Ol' Sage started it, and you commented but OF jumped in with both feet. It was a thrilling ride for a couple of weeks -- and what was impressive about OF's posts was their exuberance. We never convinced each other of a thing, but I eventually broke it off because it was so time-consuming.

It seems like it went on for weeks, but it was only August 21-26, 2015 -- a memorable thread for me, and I got a real impression of Al and his enthusiasm for many topics.

Same here, and thanks for linking it. I will peruse it tonight before our game with Kentucky.

I thought maybe the linked thread spun off from a different thread but not sure. I seem to recall someone said something about "Woody," and I made a comment/joke about not insulting Woody Wilson. Oly jumped on me with both feet.

Always a spirited and informed discussion with him, whether we agreed or not. A true staple of this board for many years.

[Billy Dat]

Having roamed these hills for many years, it becomes obvious that there is both a generation gap and a regional gap among DBR denizens. Let's say the generation gap is roughly "those who had internet in college vs those who did not" and "those who grew up in ACC country and those who did not". As someone right on the internet border and a definite 4-year-undergraduate carpetbagger, I have (mostly) enjoyed the friendly "get off my lawn" rebukes from those in the other group, and Olympic fan was a titan of that other group. Discovering, on this thread, that Al was Olympic Fan puts a smile on my face...would I have rather known who he was? It's hard to say. Did I ever get a spork from him? Does it matter? My ego says, yes, a spork from Al would have been well earned, as Julian said in his tribute about his earning Al's praise for a post about Tamir Goodman. I used to get a kick out of K referring to Al by name during pressers, and his voice was unmistakable, especially in huge national games where the media scrum included all manner of accents. I didn't recognize the references on this thread to Olympic Fan's decision to "leave" DBR but some DBR sleuthing led me to the fateful thread and post and I am cracking up...the impartial journalist getting to be an unrelenting Duke homer in this safe space. That settles it for me...he needed that anonymity so we could see his Duke fire burn through. Godspeed Olympic Fan.

p.s. Anyone know why he was "Olympic Fan"? I always assumed it was because he liked that K got the US National Team gig but that theory seems off-base considering who he really was. Was he simply a fan of the olympics?

[johnb]

Sad news.

Al (and Oly) were definite reminders that an essay is better than a tweet and a book is better than a meme. His contributions to DBR were such great examples of knowledgeable, thoughtful perspective. Even if you disagreed with his conclusions, the exploration was always worth hearing. Here's an Olympic Fan forum entry from September 2014. It's not the usual posting on a sports site.


200 Years Ago Today

On the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, the sun came up over Baltimore harbor and the view inspired an American lawyer on a British ship to write a poem that we're all familiar with.

The latter verses are a mite bombastic, but the first verse is a wonderful, clear expression of his sentiments as the dawn's early light revealed that the Star Spangled Banner was still flying over Fort McHenry after a 25-hour British bombardment. For most of the night, Francis Scott Key was able to tell that the fort held out because the British still bombarded it (more than the glimpses of the flag he caught by the rockets red glare and the bombs busting in air), but at a little after 3 a.m., the bombardment stopped. For two hours he wondered if the fort had fallen. His fear wasn't quieted until the first rays of the rising sun showed the American flag still flying over the fort.

Interesting to me that the flag he saw -- the Star Spangled Banner -- was the only official US flag with more than 13 stripes. It had 15 stars and 15 stripes ... as more and more states lined up for admission to the union, somebody realized that we couldn't keep adding stripes. So they went back to 13 stripes for the original 13 states and merely added stars for each subsequent state.

But here's the odd thing -- in 1814 there were not 15 states -- there were 18 states. I guess the flag had just not caught up.

https://forums.dukebasketballreport...ears-Ago-Today

[jv001]

Same here, and thanks for linking it. I will peruse it tonight before our game with Kentucky.

I thought maybe the linked thread spun off from a different thread but not sure. I seem to recall someone said something about "Woody," and I made a comment/joke about not insulting Woody Wilson. Oly jumped on me with both feet.

Always a spirited and informed discussion with him, whether we agreed or not. A true staple of this board for many years.

I wonder if OF found his Woodrow Wilson bumper sticker? GoDuke!

[tbyers11]

p.s. Anyone know why he was "Olympic Fan"? I always assumed it was because he liked that K got the US National Team gig but that theory seems off-base considering who he really was. Was he simply a fan of the olympics?

I recall the moniker was due to a love of Olympic Sports (Track and Field in particular).

[91Duke]

I've only posted here a couple of times, but I have read DBR for years, and I *always* enjoyed seeing the contributions from Al Featherston. He was clearly someone with a lot of knowledge and passion for all things Duke, and he had an eloquent way of expressing his points. I'm shocked to hear of his passing, and am sorry that we all won't benefit from his insights on this year's young team as the season goes on (and the many seasons to come).

[Highlander]

If any of you are transplants to the NC college basketball landscape and would like to read more of Al and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of basketball in our state, I can think of no better resource than this:

https://www.amazon.com/Tobacco-Road-.../dp/1592289150

[Natty_B]

Nobody wrote better about Duke basketball that Al Featherston. He was a year behind my old man at Duke. Just really sad.

[NSDukeFan]

OPK, I believe it was this thread that has the most meat. The title was "Leadership in WW1 and WW2." Ol' Sage started it, and you commented but OF jumped in with both feet. It was a thrilling ride for a couple of weeks -- and what was impressive about OF's posts was their exuberance. We never convinced each other of a thing, but I eventually broke it off because it was so time-consuming.

It seems like it went on for weeks, but it was only August 21-26, 2015 -- a memorable thread for me, and I got a real impression of Al and his enthusiasm for many topics.

Sad news.

Al (and Oly) were definite reminders that an essay is better than a tweet and a book is better than a meme. His contributions to DBR were such great examples of knowledgeable, thoughtful perspective. Even if you disagreed with his conclusions, the exploration was always worth hearing. Here's an Olympic Fan forum entry from September 2014. It's not the usual posting on a sports site.


200 Years Ago Today

On the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, the sun came up over Baltimore harbor and the view inspired an American lawyer on a British ship to write a poem that we're all familiar with.

The latter verses are a mite bombastic, but the first verse is a wonderful, clear expression of his sentiments as the dawn's early light revealed that the Star Spangled Banner was still flying over Fort McHenry after a 25-hour British bombardment. For most of the night, Francis Scott Key was able to tell that the fort held out because the British still bombarded it (more than the glimpses of the flag he caught by the rockets red glare and the bombs busting in air), but at a little after 3 a.m., the bombardment stopped. For two hours he wondered if the fort had fallen. His fear wasn't quieted until the first rays of the rising sun showed the American flag still flying over the fort.

Interesting to me that the flag he saw -- the Star Spangled Banner -- was the only official US flag with more than 13 stripes. It had 15 stars and 15 stripes ... as more and more states lined up for admission to the union, somebody realized that we couldn't keep adding stripes. So they went back to 13 stripes for the original 13 states and merely added stars for each subsequent state.

But here's the odd thing -- in 1814 there were not 15 states -- there were 18 states. I guess the flag had just not caught up.

https://forums.dukebasketballreport...ears-Ago-Today

These are definitely not the kinds of posts that initially drew me to this board, but I agree with other posters in that if I saw the last post of a thread was by Olympic Fan, I would probably read it, no matter the topic, to read his perspective and likely learn something interesting, presented in an interesting manner.

I recall the moniker was due to a love of Olympic Sports (Track and Field in particular).

I believe I also remember him being very enthusiastic during the Olympics threads on the Off-Topic board and making a reference to his moniker.

I will be disappointed that in future GOAT basketball player debates, I won’t get to read his defense of Bill Russell. I always loved those posts.

Thanks to those sharing their memories of him.

[Newton_14]

Just a very sad deal. A big big loss for the ACC sports community and even bigger loss for the Duke community. I grew up on tobacco road watching ACC basketball with a family devoted to it, and reading about the games the next day in newspaper articles written by Al Featherson. Through his writings, Al taught me more about ACC basketball than anyone else on the planet. The internet was a blessing in that it gave us even more access to his articles but also gave us Olyfan.

Al will be missed for a very long time. I think the basketball team should wear a patch on their jersey's with his initials. That would be very cool and appropriate.

[weezie]

Sorry to be late to offer my condolences. Al was kind to me and we had a little fun chatting during baseball seasons.

Godspeed to a hearty soul...

[jimsumner]

Duke press release

"The passing of Al Featherston has certainly been one of the saddest moments in the 10-plus years that I’ve been here. I’ve had a lot of great memories with Al – working with him, chatting with him and talking with him about anything and everything. What a creative and talented journalist; what a great mind; what a person you could trust and count on. Duke football, Duke University and this community will all miss Al Featherston, may he rest in peace.”
-- Duke head coach David Cutcliffe

[JStuart]

Al was a year ahead of me at the Durham Academy (formerly known as Calvert Method School in an old house on Duke Street) and I remember this near-adult from the 6th grade talking to my 5th grade class about the World War II naval maneuvers around Guadalcanal, specifically 'The Slot", and my being impressed with his detailed knowledge. He graduated from Jordan High School, in 1967, and when he reappeared as a sportswriter for the Durham Sun, I was delighted to read about ACC sports from his perspective, and to see his writing skills were far above those of the other unc homer types that populated all of the NC papers. It wasn't too obvious way back then that the only journalism school in the state was in Chapel Hill. I believe Al was the only Duke grad sportswriter in the State (Brill wrote for a Virginia paper...). Al would correct me here were he still around
Years later when the Herald and Sun merged, he continually outshone other writers, and I remember one article celebrating the coolness of being a triangle-based ACC sportswriter, and the steady number of trips to the NCAA tournament and Final Fours he was able to attend.
When he, and many other fine folks at the newspaper, was let go, when the paper was sold, and Frank Dascenzo was retained, I was aghast. I remember one of Frank's lines, 'the tension was so thick, you could cut it with a stiletto." Yeah, that was the writer they kept.

I rejoiced when the DBR arranged to have Al do routine reports on Basketball, and I'm hopeful the Powers That Be will arrange to have a Featherston Repository of past years' articles available.

I had also hoped for Al and Dan Kane to get together and write The Definitive Coffee Table book on the unc academic/sports fraud history, and toyed with the idea of starting a goFundMe effort to that effect, but, alas, I wasn't quick enough on the uptake.

This is a definite sad day in Duke University history, and I appeal to JD, Jason, and even Boswell to set up a Memorial Archive. Movie reviews, Duke-UNC articles, the works.

I'm depressed about this,
JStuart

[Mike Petrik]

Al will have the best seats in the house.

[jimsumner]

Olympic Fan?

One of Al's formative events in becoming a sports fan was the 1960 Rome Olympics. I think that led to his nickname. His imprint sport, so to speak. And yes, he never lost that interest in the Olympics.

Our mutual friend Barry Jacobs is also a Duke grad. Barry did a lot of free-lance stuff for the New York Times back in the day but lived in the Triangle. But I don't he ever had a full-time beat gig with a local paper.

The great irony of Al's work with the Herald-Sun was that he was the NC State beat writer for many years. Not that he didn't like covering the Wolfpack. But it did cause him to miss a lot of great Duke games.


And for the record, some very good, very objective sportswriters went to UNC's J-school. Bill Cole, for starters.


But, yes, there have been some homers.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Olympic Fan?

One of Al's formative events in becoming a sports fan was the 1960 Rome Olympics. I think that led to his nickname. His imprint sport, so to speak. And yes, he never lost that interest in the Olympics.

Our mutual friend Barry Jacobs is also a Duke grad. Barry did a lot of free-lance stuff for the New York Times back in the day but lived in the Triangle. But I don't he ever had a full-time beat gig with a local paper.

The great irony of Al's work with the Herald-Sun was that he was the NC State beat writer for many years. Not that he didn't like covering the Wolfpack. But it did cause him to miss a lot of great Duke games.


And for the record, some very good, very objective sportswriters went to UNC's J-school. Bill Cole, for starters.


But, yes, there have been some homers.

I've had a number of conversations with Bill Cole. His reporting was objective, but privately he leans toward Duke.

Tom Suiter was objective in his live reporting for WRAL TV, but retirement has allowed him to reveal his great love for Duke.

[Newton_14]

Olympic Fan?

One of Al's formative events in becoming a sports fan was the 1960 Rome Olympics. I think that led to his nickname. His imprint sport, so to speak. And yes, he never lost that interest in the Olympics.

Our mutual friend Barry Jacobs is also a Duke grad. Barry did a lot of free-lance stuff for the New York Times back in the day but lived in the Triangle. But I don't he ever had a full-time beat gig with a local paper.

The great irony of Al's work with the Herald-Sun was that he was the NC State beat writer for many years. Not that he didn't like covering the Wolfpack. But it did cause him to miss a lot of great Duke games.


And for the record, some very good, very objective sportswriters went to UNC's J-school. Bill Cole, for starters.


But, yes, there have been some homers.

Jim thanks for all your contributions in this thread and for your article on Al on the DBR Home Page. Very well done. It is now on you and Barry to carry the torch. And for the record, the torch could not be in better hands and I am positive Al and Oly both would insist it be you two guys that carry it.

Also, just so that everyone knows, you are also a graduate of Duke, correct? You are certainly one of the better and well respected journalist in my humble opinion as well. All of your articles are certainly "must read" for me and have been for years. Like I said above, the torch is in very good hands. Carry it well my friend.

[jimsumner]

Jim thanks for all your contributions in this thread and for your article on Al on the DBR Home Page. Very well done. It is now on you and Barry to carry the torch. And for the record, the torch could not be in better hands and I am positive Al and Oly both would insist it be you two guys that carry it.

Also, just so that everyone knows, you are also a graduate of Duke, correct? You are certainly one of the better and well respected journalist in my humble opinion as well. All of your articles are certainly "must read" for me and have been for years. Like I said above, the torch is in very good hands. Carry it well my friend.

Thanks for the kind words.

I have an undergraduate degree in American history from Duke and a Master's in the same field from NC State.

FWIW.

[OldPhiKap]

Thanks for the kind words.

I have an undergraduate degree in American history from Duke and a Master's in the same field from NC State.

FWIW.

What that is worth, is your double understanding of UNC’s haughty arrogance.

(Although in reality your are likely much more objective about UNC than I am. Always enjoy your articles and your posts, Jim).