This Week in Duke Athletics History (Dec. 28-Jan. 3)

December 28

1998 – Women's Basketball – Duke collected an 85-80 victory on the road at ninth-ranked UCLA led by a game-high 22 points from Georgia Schweitzer. Hilary Howard added 11 assists and 10 points in the victory.

December 29

2010 – Men's Basketball – Head coach Mike Krzyzewski surpassed Dean Smith for second place on the all-time wins list with his 880th victory – 108-62 versus UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum behind 27 points from Kyle Singler and 26 from Nolan Smith.

January 1

1945 – Football – In a game that sportswriter Grantland Rice called, "one of the greatest thrillers of all time," the No. 11 Blue Devils were forced to come from behind twice in the 1945 Sugar Bowl against Alabama. Despite its 5-4 record, Duke was cast in the favorite's role and went on to defeat the Crimson Tide, 29-26. Duke's explosive offense, nicknamed the "Whiz Kids" for its speed and wide-open style of play, was led by running backs Tom Davis and George Clark as Davis picked up 105 yards on 27 carries and Clark 122 on 14 with each adding two touchdowns. The Blue Devils started a fourth quarter drive at the Tide 44-yard line when Cliff Lewis, looking to pass to Gordon Carver, threw wildly and was intercepted by Alabama's Hugh Morrow who ran it back 78 yards for a score. Then he hit the extra point to make it 26-20. Alabama took possession with just under three minutes to play and elected to take a safety on first down to avoid any gambles on a bad pass from center. The result was disastrous as Clark took the ensuing free kick and brought it all the way back to the Alabama 39. Jim LaRue followed with a 19-yard gain on a reverse to set the stage for a dramatic, game-winning 20-yard run by Clark for the 29-26 final score. The score was not ultimately settled until the final play when Carver pulled down an Alabama receiver on the 25-yard line as the clock expired. The win marked Duke's first ever postseason victory.

1955 – Football – Seeing their first bowl action in 10 years, the No. 14 Blue Devils, champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, represented the league in the Orange Bowl and came away with an impressive 34-7 win over Nebraska. It was Duke's rushing game that proved too tough for the Cornhuskers as the Blue Devils tallied 297 yards to Nebraska's 87. Duke gained 379 total yards to the slim 114-yard attack that Nebraska mounted. Many of the record 68,750 spectators started leaving the stands when Duke made it 27-7. That was of little concern to head coach Bill Murray, however, as he completely cleared his bench and allowed all 36 players who dressed for the game to play in it. "I knew we'd have to play our best to stand a chance of beating Duke," said Nebraska head coach Bill Glasford. "But we came up with a stinking performance and got spanked. That Duke line outcharged us. Those linemen were on top of our ball carriers before they got started."

January 2

1939 – Football – The No. 3 Blue Devils played in their first ever postseason event: the historic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., against No. 7 Southern California. Duke's famed "Iron Dukes," with co-captains Dan Hill and Eric Tipton leading the way, entered the Rose Bowl having completed the regular season unbeaten, untied and unscored upon, but Southern Cal ruined that perfect season in the final minute of Duke's first bowl appearance, taking the win 7-3. Head coach Wallace Wade said, "I hated to see the boys lose it when they played such a great game. We did well as long as they used only two teams, but when they put in those third and fourth teams, they were too much for us." Anthony J. McKevlin, sports editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, reported that "the fans who jammed the huge Rose Bowl got more than they expected. They were treated to a football battle worthy of the setting. Long will they talk about this game, and always the talk of the great play of the Blue Devils will be words of praise."

1961 – Football – No. 10 Duke won its fourth ACC football title in 1960 and landed squarely in its first Cotton Bowl. But don't get the impression that the Blue Devils and their 7-3 record rolled into Dallas on a high note. Coach Bill Murray's team lost its last two regular season games and had plenty to prove when it met No. 7 Arkansas. Two of the nation's premier passing teams were to showcase their aerial talents, but defense proved to be the final factor. Quarterback Don Altman led the Blue Devils' attack as they captured a narrow 7-6 victory over Arkansas in Duke's only trip to the Cotton Bowl. The first ever tilt with the Hogs marked one of Duke's all-time great comeback victories. The Blue Devils didn't have far to come back from but they waited until the very end and did it in a dramatic fashion. After a scoreless first half, Arkansas' great back, Lance Alworth, ended the shutout with 2:53 remaining in the third period by returning a Duke punt 49 yards for a touchdown. Duke stopped the extra point when Dave Unser broke through the line to smother the attempt. Duke's game-winning touchdown drive came in the face of this defense and can only be called remarkable. With determination, the Blue Devils marched 73 yards into the teeth of the Razorbacks and scored with just 2:45 to play. Altman engineered the drive, which featured no long gains and took 18 snaps to accomplish. Two of those plays were fourth down conversions and six were passes hauled in by All-America end Claude "Tee" Moorman. The tying touchdown pass involved just a little tomfoolery. The play went down in the scoring summary as a nine-yard pass from Altman to Moorman, but there were two spur-of-the-moment wrinkles on this play. The play, 31-rollback, had been used before with Altman pitching it to the halfback who then pitches it back before entering the line and Altman peels left to find his receiver. Altman called the play and got the ball back but curled to his right where he found a wide open Moorman who had faked Alworth with a look in and a cut out — the opposite of the usual play. Captain Art Browning then came in to kick the extra point — perfect.

2017 – Women's Basketball – Lexie Brown hit four key free throws in the final 17.9 seconds as No. 13 Duke downed eighth-ranked Louisville, 58-55, in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Brown finished with 17 points and extended her school-record streak to 45 consecutive made free throws.

January 3

2107 – Women's Golf – Lindy Duncan claimed the 79th Annual Dixie Amateur Championship at the Heron Bay Golf Club in Coral Springs, Fla.

The games noted above are not meant to be a complete listing of Duke's events on these dates, but a sampling of great moments as determined by the GoDuke.com staff.

#GoDuke

This Week in Duke Athletics History (Dec. 28-Jan. 3)

Related News

Related Videos

Duke information