Catching up with Bob Verga (aka Doug Hinds and the Rubber Chicken)

[killerleft]

Is that the Stallion Club, aka The Stable, on the front page today? Or is Pepsi a new sponsor for DBR?

Just a guess since I was too young to get in there.

[killerleft]

Is that the Stallion Club, aka The Stable, on the front page today? Or is Pepsi a new sponsor for DBR?

Just a guess since I was too young to get in there.

To answer my own question, apparently not. Here is a picture of storefront and interior circa 1970:

http://www.opendurham.org/buildings/stallion-club?full

[Jarhead]

I hope that Verga's induction into the Hall of Honor doesn't preclude his number being retired one day. Two #11's in the rafters will be fine. According to a couple of Bob's teammates, he hasn't stayed as connected through the years to Duke and to them as you might expect. Still the loner. What an amazing talent.

If we are to consider others from the Bubas era we'd have to consider the standard that was in play at that time. Dick Groat was a phenomenal player, and the first Duke basketball ever to have his number retired. That was in 1952. His number retirement had set the standard so high that no one even considered players that followed until Mike Gminski came along. His number was retired in 1980. It took 28 years for that to happen. There is no doubt in my mind about the G Man deserving the honor. Then Johny Dawkins and Danny Ferry came along in '86 and '89 and, likewise, earned the honor. But what about those 28 years in which a few players missed out on the honor? The powers that be took care of that by granting the honor to Art Heyman in 1990, but they still missed some deserving players. Bob Verga was one of them, as was Jeff Mullins who was honored in 1994. Why Verga was missed, I can only surmise, was that the standards for the honor were not so clear. In the meantime, 5 such honors were granted, and we all remember them, all very deserving. Laettner, Hurley, Hill, Battier, and Jason Williams went to the rafters, going up from 1992 through 2001. Redick and Shelden made it up there in 2007.

Somewhere in that span of time the standards were somehow changed, but not by much. My thinking is that only Alarie has been missed, but less than two or three may have benefited from a lower standard following those first 28 years. I don't want to debate them, but I will say the Verga deserved the honor as well as Mullins did, although I like Mullins as well as the two most recent honorees. Maybe I've started a debate after all.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

If we are to consider others from the Bubas era we'd have to consider the standard that was in play at that time. Dick Groat was a phenomenal player, and the first Duke basketball ever to have his number retired. That was in 1952. His number retirement had set the standard so high that no one even considered players that followed until Mike Gminski came along. His number was retired in 1980. It took 28 years for that to happen. There is no doubt in my mind about the G Man deserving the honor. Then Johny Dawkins and Danny Ferry came along in '86 and '89 and, likewise, earned the honor. But what about those 28 years in which a few players missed out on the honor? The powers that be took care of that by granting the honor to Art Heyman in 1990, but they still missed some deserving players. Bob Verga was one of them, as was Jeff Mullins who was honored in 1994. Why Verga was missed, I can only surmise, was that the standards for the honor were not so clear. In the meantime, 5 such honors were granted, and we all remember them, all very deserving. Laettner, Hurley, Hill, Battier, and Jason Williams went to the rafters, going up from 1992 through 2001. Redick and Shelden made it up there in 2007.

Somewhere in that span of time the standards were somehow changed, but not by much. My thinking is that only Alarie has been missed, but less than two or three may have benefited from a lower standard following those first 28 years. I don't want to debate them, but I will say the Verga deserved the honor as well as Mullins did, although I like Mullins as well as the two most recent honorees. Maybe I've started a debate after all.

I thought it was Eddie Cameron who said no more after Groat. Changes in athletic administration made for many other changes including whether to retire other jerseys. It was also my understanding that there was longtime opposition from some to retiring Artie's jersey because they did not approve of what they perceived to be his free spirited life style. He was superb steal from Carolina and started the modern era of Duke basketball, but he didn't toe that invisible line for deportment.

[ricks68]

I can't stop smiling as I reread some of these classic posts. Current students will have their own special memories. I hope they are half as fun to recall as these years later. What started as a Bob Verga update, morphed into one of the best threads ever chronicling Duke and Duke basketball's "beginnings." This is our heritage. Enjoy.

Thanks for bringing this thread back around again. I just reread it, also. And thanks for all the great posts from others on the board that really brought back some great memories. I can still hear the "two Verga, two!" chant we did every time he went up for his jumper from the outside.

ricks

[Verga3]

If we are to consider others from the Bubas era we'd have to consider the standard that was in play at that time. Dick Groat was a phenomenal player, and the first Duke basketball ever to have his number retired. That was in 1952. His number retirement had set the standard so high that no one even considered players that followed until Mike Gminski came along. His number was retired in 1980. It took 28 years for that to happen. There is no doubt in my mind about the G Man deserving the honor. Then Johny Dawkins and Danny Ferry came along in '86 and '89 and, likewise, earned the honor. But what about those 28 years in which a few players missed out on the honor? The powers that be took care of that by granting the honor to Art Heyman in 1990, but they still missed some deserving players. Bob Verga was one of them, as was Jeff Mullins who was honored in 1994. Why Verga was missed, I can only surmise, was that the standards for the honor were not so clear. In the meantime, 5 such honors were granted, and we all remember them, all very deserving. Laettner, Hurley, Hill, Battier, and Jason Williams went to the rafters, going up from 1992 through 2001. Redick and Shelden made it up there in 2007.

Somewhere in that span of time the standards were somehow changed, but not by much. My thinking is that only Alarie has been missed, but less than two or three may have benefited from a lower standard following those first 28 years. I don't want to debate them, but I will say the Verga deserved the honor as well as Mullins did, although I like Mullins as well as the two most recent honorees. Maybe I've started a debate after all.

Jeff Mullins' #44 was such a worthy addition to the rafters. Great player...great person. The Lexington, KY native chose Duke. Nuff said. Many don't understand why Bob Verga's #11 is not hanging as well. Maybe a part of the answer lies in the echo of Eddie Cameron. I love and respect the tradition and integrity of this university and this athletic department. I hope that Kevin White and Coach K will have another conversation about Bob Verga before it is too late.

[sagegrouse]

I thought it was Eddie Cameron who said no more after Groat. Changes in athletic administration made for many other changes including whether to retire other jerseys. It was also my understanding that there was longtime opposition from some to retiring Artie's jersey because they did not approve of what they perceived to be his free spirited life style. He was superb steal from Carolina and started the modern era of Duke basketball, but he didn't toe that invisible line for deportment.

I understand that Eddie Cameron's position on Groat vs. potential successors was the exceptional case of an All-American in TWO sports (Jim Brown, anyone?), and the other nominees (Heyman and Mullins) fell short of that standard. Looking back over the years, I wonder if there wasn't more to it than that -- Artie wasn't everybody's cup of tea, and I bet he had the Athletic Department on pins and needles more than once.

The only Dukie that met the Groat standard was Dave Sime, who set six world records in three weeks, and he didn't have a number to retire. From that same era, Sonny Jurgenson, in the NFL HOF, was a running QB in college.

sagegrouse
'The good news is that Dave Sime's grandson Max MacCaffrey is a football recruit. Oh yeah, and he's Billy's nephew'
"And lest I forget, when I say I am from the Class of Mullins, he was elected our senior class president -- every other claimant is an impostor"