David Henderson & retired numbers

[johnb]

In a recent DBR podcast, the group discussed Duke’s policy on retired jerseys. Jay Bilas made a couple of interesting comments about how Coach K’s use of external standards (accolades voted on by non-Duke people) is fraught with potential bias/error, since why should Duke care who won some award voted on by, say, national sportswriters. They also discussed the OAD problem that will keep the most likely candidates from even getting to a sophomore year, much less the now-required graduation. Listen away.

Anyway, Jay suggested careers after Duke might be taken into consideration and briefly mentioned a couple of candidates who might be considered, including David Henderson, which surprised me.

For those who didn’t follow the teams from the early/mid 1980’s, David was a gritty 6’5” shooting guard who arrived in the ‘86 class that featured Bilas along with Johnny Dawkins, Tommy Amaker, Mark Alarie, and Weldon Williams. During his senior year, the team cruised to K’s 1st Final Four. Everybody around here knows that this was the class that saved K, but people may not know much about David, who had a 10 year pro career (a season with the 76ers along with years in Israel, Turkey, France and US developmental leagues). He was a Duke assistant for 3 years, head coach at Delaware for 6 more years, and has been a scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers since 2006.

David came to Duke from Drewry, NC, which is a very small town. Stories from back then (from Barry Jacobs?) focused on the area’s poverty, and how David had to shlep through the woods to get to a road to get to school (and apparently even drove the school bus). As I recall, his principal had two photos in his office: one of his family, and another of David Henderson. Other programs told him he wouldn’t be accepted at Duke, that very few people left Drewry to go anywhere, and that he was too poor and rural to go to fancy Duke, filled with white preppy northerners. David came anyway, was co-captain of that glorious ‘86 team, and graduated on time with a degree in economics.

Banks and Dawkins might have been more pivotal recruits, but it’s arguable that David Henderson opened doors to guys who weren’t middle class and/or big city basketball stars.

For a guy from Drewry, he certainly sweated with and influenced an impressive group of people, many of of whom are currently running the game of basketball.

His Duke teammates included Tommy Amaker, Jay Bilas, Johnny Dawkins, Chip Engelland, Danny Ferry, Billy King, and Quinn Snyder.

During his 3 years as a Duke assistant, Henderson coached Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Elton Brand, Jeff Capel, Chris Carrawell, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Nate James, Trajan Langdon, Jay Williams, and Steve Wojciechowski.

By all accounts, he’s a terrific guy. I don’t know how exactly he’d gain support for a retired jersey when we have had so many great players, but when I think of the Brotherhood, I’d view him as one of the founding members—both through his basketball prowess and through his demonstration that the Duke basketball program (like the larger University) is both enormously selective and enormously inclusive. For that, he’d get my vote.

[johnb]

One correction: as everyone on the internet knows (or at least some sections of the internet), Amaker arrived on campus in 1983, not 82.

[Daddylawman]

As a member of his class I'll just point out something that isn't retirement jersey related. He was one of the nicest guys on campus, always had a nice word for everyone and a smile a mile wide.

And a little footnote for you stats folks, the Class of '86 had two 2,000 point scorers (Dawkins, Alarie) and two other 1,000 point scorers (Henderson, Bilas). I'm guessing that hasn't been replicated very often.

[WillJ]

David Henderson is one of my all-time favorite humans.

[OldPhiKap]

Hendu!!!!!

[DrChainsaw]

Thanks for this thread. It's a pleasant contrast to the Heyman thread.

[Dopeshop]

Visit to Drewry
I loved David and his story
Duke was after Curtis Hunter .Hunter chose UNC and David came on board immediately after . A wonderful twist of recruiting fate.
In the late 80’s I decided to check out Drewry ,
Pretty much as described-I recall a single General Store .Outside was a big 7 up sign , a Duke logo and
“WELCOME TO DREWRY
HOME OF DAVID HENDERSON”

[JasonEvans]

In a recent DBR podcast, the group discussed Duke’s policy on retired jerseys. Jay Bilas made a couple of interesting comments about how Coach K’s use of external standards (accolades voted on by non-Duke people) is fraught with potential bias/error, since why should Duke care who won some award voted on by, say, national sportswriters. They also discussed the OAD problem that will keep the most likely candidates from even getting to a sophomore year, much less the now-required graduation. Listen away.

Anyway, Jay suggested careers after Duke might be taken into consideration and briefly mentioned a couple of candidates who might be considered, including David Henderson, which surprised me.

For folks who did not listen: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/duk...=VMP1449474979

I love Henderson -- I was a freshman in 1986 so that team holds a special place in my heart -- but I don't see how you can even consider retiring his jersey until you have already retired Alarie's. Mark was simply a better and more impactful player than David. That's just the truth. Heck, you can probably argue quite convincingly that Amaker, he of the elite defensive presence, should go ahead of Hendu in the retirement pecking order among guys who were around at the start of K's career and Duke's ascendance.

[OldPhiKap]

For folks who did not listen: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/duk...=VMP1449474979

I love Henderson -- I was a freshman in 1986 so that team holds a special place in my heart -- but I don't see how you can even consider retiring his jersey until you have already retired Alarie's. Mark was simply a better and more impactful player than David. That's just the truth. Heck, you can probably argue quite convincingly that Amaker, he of the elite defensive presence, should go ahead of Hendu in the retirement pecking order among guys who were around at the start of K's career and Duke's ascendance.

Or Billy King.

I guess I was just a year ahead of you, but share the same views. The 1986 team is still my favorite. Hendu was the best sixth man in the country my freshman year, and he started every game (IIRC) in the ‘85-‘86 season.

But certainly, as far as Duke career is concerned (which is what the criteria should be it seems to me), Alarie’s number should be (re)retired before anyone else on that team.

[kidA]

I like the idea of looking at a player’s post Duke career to determine whether to retire his (or her) jersey number. If the guy is on the border, like Henderson might be (OK maybe little far from the border), being a solid citizen (or even having a solid pro basketball career) *after graduation* should tip the scales in favor of the honor. Personally, I think that makes the honor more substantial than just basketball stats while in college
Hey OPK (Bill). Need to get together one of these days soon

[jimsumner]

If we're giving a bump to anyone for shattering Duke recruiting paradigms in a good way, then Gene Banks should go to the head of the class.

[arnie]

If we're giving a bump to anyone for shattering Duke recruiting paradigms in a good way, then Gene Banks should go to the head of the class.

Absolutely, and Gene stayed 4 years when leaving early may have yielded more $$$.

[JasonEvans]

Or Billy King.

Cannot even tell you how much I would love it if Duke retired Billy King or Amaker or possibly even Wojo. It would be firm, hard evidence of how much we value defense.

As an aside, I went to the National DPOY wiki page to see how many times each of these guys was judged the best defensive player in the country and I noticed a strange thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NABC_D...er_of_the_Year

Next to Wojo's name it says he was a shooting guard. Shane is listed as a small forward. Shelden Williams is a PF.

Sorry, but Wojo played PG his entire career and especially his senior season when he was NDPOY. Shane may have played a bit of SF early on, but he was almost exclusively a PF the final couple years of his Duke career (unless you think Nate or Dunleavy were playing PF, which they weren't). And Shelden was Duke's center.

Seems strange that none of those have been corrected.

[OldPhiKap]

I like the idea of looking at a player’s post Duke career to determine whether to retire his (or her) jersey number. If the guy is on the border, like Henderson might be (OK maybe little far from the border), being a solid citizen (or even having a solid pro basketball career) *after graduation* should tip the scales in favor of the honor. Personally, I think that makes the honor more substantial than just basketball stats while in college
Hey OPK (Bill). Need to get together one of these days soon

Any time, Kid Charlemagne.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Cannot even tell you how much I would love it if Duke retired Billy King or Amaker or possibly even Wojo. It would be firm, hard evidence of how much we value defense.

As an aside, I went to the National DPOY wiki page to see how many times each of these guys was judged the best defensive player in the country and I noticed a strange thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NABC_D...er_of_the_Year

Next to Wojo's name it says he was a shooting guard. Shane is listed as a small forward. Shelden Williams is a PF.

Sorry, but Wojo played PG his entire career and especially his senior season when he was NDPOY. Shane may have played a bit of SF early on, but he was almost exclusively a PF the final couple years of his Duke career (unless you think Nate or Dunleavy were playing PF, which they weren't). And Shelden was Duke's center.

Seems strange that none of those have been corrected.

I don't mean to hate on Wojo but even though they won the same award, his defense was nowhere near King or Amaker. Perhaps my mind is just suffering from 24 year old recency bias of Wojo getting abused by Wayne Turner in his final game against Kentucky (I just did a google search to confirm my memory of that game). He always looked like he was trying hard and he was generally a good defender, but he was nowhere near the other guys. It has been discussed here before - Billy King on Mark Macon was a master class in defense.

[DieHard]

If we're giving a bump to anyone for shattering Duke recruiting paradigms in a good way, then Gene Banks should go to the head of the class.

This!!! He was a dude. Dunk over Ralph. Hugs with Dennard pregame. Shot over Perkins to put in overtime, and then won it in overtime. He was the man...

He is also really nice. Has been very awesome with my family through Facebook.

[tommy]

I loved Henderson and Amaker and King and many others whose numbers aren't in the rafters. And I personally have a high standard for things like jersey retirements and HOF's etc. As far as Duke goes, the issue as far as retiring a lot more jerseys is simply a practical one: we're running out of numbers. Unless I'm missing someone, I think the following numbers are retired:

4, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24, 25, 31, 32, 33, 35, 43, and 44.

So unless guys are allowed to start using digits above 5, that only leaves the following:

0, 00, 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 30, 34, 40, 41, 42, 45, and the 50's. That's only 24 numbers. Most guys, especially non-centers, aren't all that jazzed about a number in the 50s, and many aren't keen on the 40s either (obviously there are exceptions to both of those) but if you take those out, then that leaves us with only 14 numbers. That's probably why walk-ons and other practice players usually get those awkward-looking 40s and 50s numbers. If we were to start retiring more of the popular numbers, it's gonna get really tight.

The other option is to let guys use digits above 5. The NBA refs have figured out how to make recognizable numbers with both hands when a player has a high digit, so I'm sure the NCAA refs could figure it out too. That would open the whole thing up.

[Daddylawman]

I like the idea of looking at a player’s post Duke career to determine whether to retire his (or her) jersey number. If the guy is on the border, like Henderson might be (OK maybe little far from the border), being a solid citizen (or even having a solid pro basketball career) *after graduation* should tip the scales in favor of the honor. Personally, I think that makes the honor more substantial than just basketball stats while in college
Hey OPK (Bill). Need to get together one of these days soon

I wholly disagree. Getting in the rafters at Duke should be about what you did in school. Period. If you earned in while you were there, you get it regardless of anything else. If you didn't earn it by the time you left, you are out.

[jv001]

There's no doubt that these three players should have their numbers retired. Matter of fact 2 of their numbers are retired, just not in their names. I'll go with the one that's not retired, #20. At the time, Gene Banks was probably Duke's highest rated high school recruit and he lived up to his ranking. He's a no-brainer in my opinion. The other two are, Bob Verga and Mark Alaire. Verga was ALL-ACC in 65', 66' and '67. He was All-American in '66 and '67. He averaged 26.1 ppg and it would have been over 30 ppg if there had been a 3-point line. Duke's record was 64-18 in his 3 years. He is in the Duke HOF('84). Verga's #11 is already in the rafters in honoring Bobby Hurley, the greatest point guard in Duke history. Alarie's #32 is hanging in the rafters in honor of Christian Laettner, the greatest Duke player in history. Of course there are 3 women's jerseys that have been retired; #1 Elizabeth Williams, #10 Lindsey Harding and #20 Alana Beard, the greatest Duke Women's player. The greatest is my opinion only but is the only one that counts. If I had to rank the three I listed in order of importance it would be 1) Bob Verga, 2) Gene Banks and 3) Mark Alarie.

GoDuke!

[OZZIE4DUKE]

There's no doubt that these three players should have their numbers retired. Matter of fact 2 of their numbers are retired, just not in their names. I'll go with the one that's not retired, #20. At the time, Gene Banks was probably Duke's highest rated high school recruit and he lived up to his ranking. He's a no-brainer in my opinion. The other two are, Bob Verga and Mark Alaire. Verga was ALL-ACC in 65', 66' and '67. He was All-American in '66 and '67. He averaged 26.1 ppg and it would have been over 30 ppg if there had been a 3-point line. Duke's record was 64-18 in his 3 years. He is in the Duke HOF('84). Verga's #11 is already in the rafters in honoring Bobby Hurley, the greatest point guard in Duke history. Alarie's #32 is hanging in the rafters in honor of Christian Laettner, the greatest Duke player in history. Of course there are 3 women's jerseys that have been retired; #1 Elizabeth Williams, #10 Lindsey Harding and #20 Alana Beard, the greatest Duke Women's player. The greatest is my opinion only but is the only one that counts. If I had to rank the three I listed in order of importance it would be 1) Bob Verga, 2) Gene Banks and 3) Mark Alarie.

GoDuke!

Yes on Banks and Alarie (which wouldn't shorten the list of available jersey numbers), but Jim Spanarkel's #34 has to go up there too, and I've been lobbying for that for literally decades. He was the bright light at the end of a dark tunnel my senior year ('75-'76), when he as a freshman. How many players have had a style of play named after them by a sportswriter? "He (the opposing player) was Spanarkeled! Out played, out hustled and out thought!" And his being on the team was likely instrumental in gaining commitments from Mike Gminski the next year and Banks and Dennard the following year.

I have posted before that I lobbied Nan to have a double (34) ceremony the following year after Mike Dunleavy was named NPOY the next year. Of course, MD torpedoed that idea by declaring for the draft after his junior year.

34 to the rafters!