Upcoming Event: Football versus Tulane on September 5, 2026 at 3:30 p.m.
Football
vs Tulane
Duke Football Strenghtens Bond With Local Community
8/10/2009 1:45:00 PM | Football
Durham, N.C. - No so long ago, Duke's incoming freshmen were
told that there was a 10-foot stone wall separating East Campus from
the city of Durham. When they arrived on campus and saw that the
barrier was considerably shorter than 10 feet, they were told, “most of
it is under ground.”
Nevertheless, there have been times over
the years when it seems like Duke and Durham have been separated by a
10-foot wall of misunderstanding. Both sides have been guilty of
erecting that barrier. The academically elite university often seemed
to be disconnected from the blue-collar Southern city that was its host.
At the same time, many at Duke and in Durham have worked to breach that wall. David Cutcliffe,
just starting his second season as the Blue Devils' head football
coach, has gone out of his way to smash the barrier and to strengthen
the Duke-Durham bonds.
“I love Durham ... I'm proud to be from
Durham,” he said recently. “Sometimes what people have trouble with is
not being familiar with each other. If you're not very familiar with
somebody, how do you trust them? I've just tried to let them get to
know us ... and I'm going to get to know them.”
Cutcliffe has taken time from his busy schedule to introduce himself to the Durham community.
“I've
been to a lot of community events and spoken to a lot of community
groups,” he said. “We're trying to go to churches, which is a great
place to reach out to a lot of people and a place to make a lot of new
friends. I've gotten up at the pulpit – for instance, at Union Baptist.
The pastor there is really good, but he's really conscious of his
time. I got about a minute and a half – that's about right for me.”
Cutcliffe has also thrown out the first pitch at a Durham Bulls' game.
“I made it to the mitt,” he said. “I won't call it necessarily a strike, but it wasn't going to be a bouncer.”
The
Duke coach has done his best to get his team involved in the community
and to remind them that they are not isolated either from the
university as a whole or from the city of Durham.
“We definitely don't put up a wall – we reach out to the Durham community,” senior Vince Oghobaase said.
He offered some examples.
“We
went to a school, maybe five minutes off campus [last week],” he said.
“There were about eight guys who went to the school and read to the
kindergartners and first graders. Just seeing their faces light up when
we go read to them is just a whole 'nother feeling. The laugh and joke
around with us ... they enjoy it too.
“We went out as a football
team to the Durham Rescue Mission. We go out and talk to the residents
there. When we sit down and eat with them and they like seeing us too.”
Thaddeus Lewis said Cutcliffe has encouraged the players to make their own connections.
“This
summer, what I'd do on my spare time is go to the John Avery Boys and
Girls Club,” the senior quarterback said. “I'd just hang out there and
talk to those kids and share life lessons. Some of them don't have the
opportunity to actually meet Duke players. They can't be brought to us,
so we have to go to them. I bring my roommate Leon Wright along with me. We try to get over there twice a week, spend about two or three hours with the kids.”
Visiting the Boys and Girls Club has special meaning to Lewis.
“I
grew up in the Boys and Girls Club,” he said. “People gave back to me.
I always said that if I made it or was in a situation where I could
help somebody else, then I would do that. I kind of found the Boys and
Girls Club on my own and went up there and met those guys. Last year,
we got them tickets for the first game and we're working on doing that
this year for an older group – 12 to 16 years old – just so they can
have the same opportunity that other kids, more fortunate than they
are, have.”
When Cutcliffe arrived in Durham, he found a number
of programs in place that he was able to build on. The athletic
department's “Reading with the Blue Devils” program had long been
sending Duke athletes to area schools to encourage youngsters to read.
Several football players were involved in a “Big Brother” program with
at-risk kids.
Senior running back Re'quan Boyette
was one of the players who mentored a “Little Brother.” And although
that was two years ago, he still appreciates the experience.
“I
know my little brother is doing well,” Boyette said. “His mother calls
me on occasion and lets me know. I think that was a great thing to get
into. I really like kids. That was something that's really helpful to
me because I have a little brother ... he's seven. Having a little
brother was able to help me with someone else and show them to lead by
example.”
Boyette also appreciates some of Cutcliffe's new
team-oriented initiatives, such as the visit to the Durham Rescue
Mission or the frequent campus cleanup days.
“With the Duke
community, we go out and pick up trash ... that shows we're not just
here for football,” he said. “We're here to help Duke and we're here to
help that connection. A lot of the employees at Duke are from Durham,
so I think that helps the connection there.
“We feel connected to the Durham community.”
Cutcliffe
acknowledges that there are some tangible benefits for his program in
improving the Duke-Durham relationship – especially in terms of
generating attendance and in recruiting. It's no coincidence that
attendance jumped by 9,000 fans a game last season or that Cutcliffe's
first full recruiting class included two coveted Durham prep products
(running back Desmond Scott and wide receiver Corey Gattis, both from Hillside High School).
But the Duke coach insisted that there is more to his fence-building efforts than selling tickets or recruiting.
“Yeah,
I'm trying to do it to generate crowds and to try and recruit, but I
want every day to be a good day,” he said. “It makes for a better
quality of life. I like living in Durham. Everything I do in Durham has
been great – whether it's our restaurants, our entertainment, the
ballgames ... our daughter's dance recital was downtown in the
[Carolina Theater] – what a fabulous venue that was!
“It's a pretty cool place to live. So I wanted the people to know that Duke is accessible, that we're interested in Durham.”
Cutcliffe
will showcase his interest in Durham next month in the first annual
Bull City Classic – when on Sept. 26, Duke will meet Durham neighbor
North Carolina Central University in Wallace Wade Stadium.
“I
had lunch with [NCCU football coach] Mo Risen the first spring I was
here,” Cutcliffe said. “I called him and we went and had lunch and we
talked about that game. It's happened much sooner than [we thought]
because of the administration. I think it's great for Duke and I think
it's great for Central. We won't be able to play in it every year, but
we're going to try and have a Bull City game of some type as often as
we can.”
The Duke coach already sounds revved up for the event.
“I
guarantee – you better come early to that game,” he said. “I've been in
a few barber shops and they're already arguing about who's going to win
and what's going to happen. I think a lot of people will experience
Wallace Wade Stadium for the first time. I think they'll have a good
time and realize it's a great place to go watch a football game.”
And maybe some residents of Durham will learn that they don't have to climb a 10-foot stone wall to visit Duke.
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
DT
/ Football
RB
/ Football
CB
/ FootballWednesday, May 27
Tuesday, April 28
Friday, April 10
Friday, April 03
