The Vic Bubas Years - a Jim Sumner Production

[sagegrouse]

A great article from Jim on the first hints of glory in Duke basketball.

1959-1960 was Vic Bubas's first year and the team hadn't won anything. Art Heyman was a freshman and not eligible to play. In snow and cold Duke upset UNC in the ACC semis and Wake Forest in the finals. I learned a lot from the article.

Duke went on to defeat Princeton in the first round of the NCAA's and St. Joe's in the regional semis before losing to t he NYU Violets in the finals.

Here's a paragraph on the weather:

The ACC Tournament was held at Reynolds Coliseum, on the NC State campus, only 25 miles or so from Duke’s campus. Raleigh was hit with a seven-inch snowfall earlier that week, part of a pattern that made March of 1960 one of the coldest, snowiest Marches ever recorded on the east coast. The bad weather so compromised attendance that local station WRAL was allowed to telecast the first round of the tournament, something that had never been allowed before.

And a personal note: I had never set foot on the Duke campus but was scheduled to go on Friday morning for Angier Duke scholarship weekend. I got a phone call at my high school on Thursday, postponing the trip by a week. OK, but the weather was even worse the next weekend, and the Duke campus was covered in a foot of snow. Friday night I got to see Duke beat St. Joe's on TV and, for the first time, started rooting for the Blue Devils.

[wsb3]

A great article from Jim on the first hints of glory in Duke basketball.

1959-1960 was Vic Bubas's first year and the team hadn't won anything. Art Heyman was a freshman and not eligible to play. In snow and cold Duke upset UNC in the ACC semis and Wake Forest in the finals. I learned a lot from the article.

Duke went on to defeat Princeton in the first round of the NCAA's and St. Joe's in the regional semis before losing to t he NYU Violets in the finals.

Here's a paragraph on the weather:


And a personal note: I had never set foot on the Duke campus but was scheduled to go on Friday morning for Angier Duke scholarship weekend. I got a phone call at my high school on Thursday, postponing the trip by a week. OK, but the weather was even worse the next weekend, and the Duke campus was covered in a foot of snow. Friday night I got to see Duke beat St. Joe's on TV and, for the first time, started rooting for the Blue Devils.

I am enjoying the articles on the Bubas years. I don't recall this year as I was only three. But it was during the Bubas years that I became a rabid Duke fan and that has remained with me for almost sixty years now.

[jv001]

A great article from Jim on the first hints of glory in Duke basketball.

1959-1960 was Vic Bubas's first year and the team hadn't won anything. Art Heyman was a freshman and not eligible to play. In snow and cold Duke upset UNC in the ACC semis and Wake Forest in the finals. I learned a lot from the article.

Duke went on to defeat Princeton in the first round of the NCAA's and St. Joe's in the regional semis before losing to t he NYU Violets in the finals.

Here's a paragraph on the weather:


And a personal note: I had never set foot on the Duke campus but was scheduled to go on Friday morning for Angier Duke scholarship weekend. I got a phone call at my high school on Thursday, postponing the trip by a week. OK, but the weather was even worse the next weekend, and the Duke campus was covered in a foot of snow. Friday night I got to see Duke beat St. Joe's on TV and, for the first time, started rooting for the Blue Devils.

sage, was March, 1960 the time it snowed every Wednesday in the month? I was a new Duke fan somewhere around that time(58-60).

GoDuke!

[wsb3]

sage, was March, 1960 the time it snowed every Wednesday in the month? I was a new Duke fan somewhere around that time(58-60).

GoDuke!

Found this. I am a weather nerd when it comes to history.
http://wxbrad.com/the-year-it-snowed...0March%20alone.

This one might be better. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/tri...sdays-in-a-row

[camion]

sage, was March, 1960 the time it snowed every Wednesday in the month? I was a new Duke fan somewhere around that time(58-60).

GoDuke!

I remember that March well as I lived near Hickory at the time.

I had a Monday, Wednesday, Friday newspaper* route.


*newspaper - a publication that is printed on paper and distributed usually daily or weekly and that contains news, articles of opinion, features, and advertising

[roywhite]

sage, was March, 1960 the time it snowed every Wednesday in the month? I was a new Duke fan somewhere around that time(58-60).

GoDuke!

Yeah, my father-in-law ran a snowplow for the NC DOT, and at age 94 still talks about that string of snow storms.

[sagegrouse]

sage, was March, 1960 the time it snowed every Wednesday in the month? I was a new Duke fan somewhere around that time(58-60).

GoDuke!

Yes, probably. All I can say is that I looked forward to snowy winters, never having seen snow before, and was sorely disappointed by my four years on the Duke campus.

[Indoor66]

Yes, probably. All I can say is that I looked forward to snowy winters, never having seen snow before, and was sorely disappointed by my four years on the Duke campus.

Now you see snow most of the year whrre you live 😄

[jimsumner]

I remember that March well as I lived near Hickory at the time.

I had a Monday, Wednesday, Friday newspaper* route.


*newspaper - a publication that is printed on paper and distributed usually daily or weekly and that contains news, articles of opinion, features, and advertising

And comics. Don't forget the comics!!

[Dopeshop]

Great memories for me (61)
Youngkin’s son ,Glen,is now running for Gov of Virginia

Yunk and his wife (Hanes House ) Lived in Richmond and later Tidewater.

[Teton Jack]

Found this. I am a weather nerd when it comes to history.
http://wxbrad.com/the-year-it-snowed...0March%20alone.

This one might be better. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/tri...sdays-in-a-row

Thanks for the information. I was 9 years old, living in Charlotte, and astounded by all the snow. It was so wonderful - until they made us give up part of the Easter holiday and Saturdays to make up the lost snow days. I had forgotten the amounts so the links to the articles were much appreciated.

[-jk]

Fun series! Always a pleasure to read these, Jim.

One of my classmates in Durm schools was Greg Kistler. We were among a very select few Duke fans at Hope Valley ES way back when!

For those not following along on the front page, here are the three stories published so far:

Vic Bubas and the 60's, Part 1
Vic Bubas and the 60's, Part 2
Vic Bubas and the 60's, Part 3

-jk

[heyman25]

Someone with media connections should ask Joe Namath what it was like hanging out with Art Heyman in NYC when he was Broadway Joe. Heyman flamed out in the NBA, but was a star in the ABA with Connie Hawkins in Pittsburgh. #1 Draft pick NY Knicks.

[3rd Dukie]

A great article from Jim on the first hints of glory in Duke basketball.

1959-1960 was Vic Bubas's first year and the team hadn't won anything. Art Heyman was a freshman and not eligible to play. In snow and cold Duke upset UNC in the ACC semis and Wake Forest in the finals. I learned a lot from the article.

Duke went on to defeat Princeton in the first round of the NCAA's and St. Joe's in the regional semis before losing to t he NYU Violets in the finals.

Here's a paragraph on the weather:


And a personal note: I had never set foot on the Duke campus but was scheduled to go on Friday morning for Angier Duke scholarship weekend. I got a phone call at my high school on Thursday, postponing the trip by a week. OK, but the weather was even worse the next weekend, and the Duke campus was covered in a foot of snow. Friday night I got to see Duke beat St. Joe's on TV and, for the first time, started rooting for the Blue Devils.

Sage,
My late elder brother was a freshman in the 56-57 class. It was shortly thereafter that he was recruiting me into Blue Devil fandom. I specifically recall his hysteria over Vacendak and Artie. My brother had been a high school sports reporter, but he was inclined to great hyperbole when describing Larry Brown/Heyman interactions.
What a great article!

[jimsumner]

Someone with media connections should ask Joe Namath what it was like hanging out with Art Heyman in NYC when he was Broadway Joe. Heyman flamed out in the NBA, but was a star in the ABA with Connie Hawkins in Pittsburgh. #1 Draft pick NY Knicks.

Heyman had a very good rookie season with the Knicks in 1964. Then a combination of bad back and bad personality torpedoed his NBA career. His ABA career was short-lived but he helped the Pittsburgh Pipers to the 1968 ABA title. He averaged 20 ppg that year and was Scottie Pippen to Connie Hawkins' Michael Jordan.

The Pipers beat the New Orleans Buccaneers in the finals, four games to three. New Orleans was led that season by Heyman's old friends Larry Brown and Doug Moe. Also starting was Jackie Moreland, whose ill-fated recruitment led to NC State being on probation for a good bit of the late 1950s.

Good times.