Sweet Tater

[chrishoke]

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...uke-basketball

Part 1 from Jim Sumner. Can't wait for Part 2.

[chrishoke]

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...uke-basketball

Part 1 from Jim Sumner. Can't wait for Part 2.

What If: Tate Armstrong Had Stayed Healthy In 1977?

[TKG]

My first Duke basketball idol. I loved Tate Armstrong. Thanks, Jim. I know what’s coming in Part II but cannot wait to read your next installment.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

What If: Tate Armstrong Had Stayed Healthy In 1977?

Tate was a really nice guy. We weren’t friends, but he always said hello to
me.

[richmclean]

Tate was a hall-mate in SAE our freshman year and roomed with Mark Crow. Both great guys and Tate would goad us into playing horse with the nerfball hoop he had put over his door. Killer mentality always and liked to show that he was honorable mention AA in Street and Smith but the nicest kid.

Frustrating year on the court including being in the middle of the 8 Pts in 17 seconds at UNC (also had a 5 pt lead with 25 seconds left-ugh).

Wrote and deleted a few more paragraphs but will defer to Jim Sumners always money pieces.

[jv001]

Tate was a hall-mate in SAE our freshman year and roomed with Mark Crow. Both great guys and Tate would goad us into playing horse with the nerfball hoop he had put over his door. Killer mentality always and liked to show that he was honorable mention AA in Street and Smith but the nicest kid.

Frustrating year on the court including being in the middle of the 8 Pts in 17 seconds at UNC (also had a 5 pt lead with 25 seconds left-ugh).

Wrote and deleted a few more paragraphs but will defer to Jim Sumners always money pieces.

Tate Armstrong is still my favorite Duke player. Close between he and Christian. I was ten years from my Army duty and I was waiting for a good Duke team. The late 60s team under Bubas were good ones but then the well went dry. Tate at least gave me some hope. I too am anxiously waiting for Jim's second piece on Tate.

[aimo]

Mad crush on Tate Armstrong when he played at Duke. Of course, I was five . . .

[TruBlu]

I moved to Durham straight out of the Navy in 1975 and got a job there. I told my wife (at the time) that I chose Durham because it was halfway between her parents and my parents. One of the main reasons for choosing Durham was that I was a lifelong Duke fan. After finding lodging and moving, the next thing I did was purchased season tickets to football and basketball. (At that time, Duke had billboards advertising season basketball tickets as “your chance to see ACC games”.

Floppy blonde haired Tate soon became my favorite Duke player. I also am looking forward to Jim’s next installment.

A quick search found that he is currently a real estate developer in the DC area, and has 7 children. Apparently, basketball wasn’t his only talent. 😉

[Music man55]

Man, I would have loved to have had Tate Armstrong on the 77/78 team. Imagine him in the backcourt alongside Spanarkle again, with Tinker bell, Dennard,Giminiski,and the rest. Might have been Dukes' first Natty!

[TKG]

A question for Mr. Sumner: in addition to the wrist injury, didn’t Tate suffer with a bout of mononucleosis during his career?

[jimsumner]

A question for Mr. Sumner: in addition to the wrist injury, didn’t Tate suffer with a bout of mononucleosis during his career?

Not sure. He did have several injuries early in his career. Gary Melchionni did have mono in 1971. Could you be thinking of him?

[chrishoke]

Part II.
https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...uke-basketball

[jv001]

Part II.
https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...uke-basketball

Another great trip down Duke memory lane from Mr. Sumner. The last sentence in the article makes me really sad.

GoDuke!

[peteandpete]

It will always be too soon for me to discuss what might have happened had this injury not occurred. For those who never saw him play, you missed one of the greats. He was a complete player. As mentioned earlier, he transformed himself during that summer. Tate is still one of my favorite Duke players. He was tough, too. I witnessed Clemson's two sport star, Stan Rome, back hand him underneath the basket in Clemson. And believe it or not, Duke didn't get the call. He got up, eventually, and kept on scoring. Saw him against Clemson again at Duke and they had no answer for him. In fact, no one did. The only person that slowed him down was Dean Smith by limiting his playing time on the Olympic team. Hard to score from the bench. I will never forgive Smith for that. Saw him get Lucas, Howard, and Davis of Maryland in foul trouble at the ACC Tournament. Reaching for a beer now. The tears will surely follow.

[accfanfrom1970]

. Reaching for a beer now. The tears will surely follow.

Love Tater. Tell us what beer on Ymmm beer.

[jv001]

Part III of Mr. Sumner's article, "What If" is another of his Duke memory gems. Like most Duke fans of that era, I too was heart broken with Tate's broken wrist. The article also brought back some very bad memories of Steve Gray. I was a young hot-head in those days and I directed some very bad language toward Steve. One of those things that I regret. Tate Armstrong in my opinion was as good a shooter as JJ and Bob Verga. G-Man and Jim Spanarkel were good young players as well as senior Mark Crow but losing one of the best college players in the country killed any hope of post season play.
Thanks for the articles Mr. Sumner.

GoDuke!

[Bob Green]

Link:

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...uke-basketball

[peteandpete]

Watching Maryland at Duke, Feb. 21, 1976 on youtube. For those who never saw Tate, have a look. I think there are a few other games available, too. Man, he was amazing. Spanarkel has gotten hurt. Lefty is angry. And we're up four at the half. No spoilers. You'll have to watch it yourselves. Moses, Hodge, Crow, Fox, Young. LGD!

[ehdg]

Sorry but saw the title of this thread and first thing that came to mind for me was Ron White the comedian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neUaSTSKFZc

[Tooold]

Watching Maryland at Duke, Feb. 21, 1976 on youtube. For those who never saw Tate, have a look. I think there are a few other games available, too. Man, he was amazing. Spanarkel has gotten hurt. Lefty is angry. And we're up four at the half. No spoilers. You'll have to watch it yourselves. Moses, Hodge, Crow, Fox, Young. LGD!

Was that the game when Lefty had a cast on his leg and Cameron Crazies (although they weren’t called that then) paced behind him with fake casts and skin caps on their heads?

Loved Tate, as did everyone on campus then. Mark Crow...deadly from the corner (too bad there was no 3 point shot). Paul Fox...excellent, unselfish teammate.