12 Former Blue Devils Named to SoCon’s 100th Anniversary Teams

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced Thursday that 12 former Blue Devils were named to its 100th Anniversary Teams.

Dick Groat (baseball and men's basketball) and Steve Lach (football and track & field) were multi-sport honorees, while Skip Alexander (men's golf), Fred Crawford (football), Tom Davis (football), Al DeRogatis (football), Dan Hill Jr. (football), George McAfee (football), Ace Parker (football), Cliff Perry (men's golf), Grover Poole (men's golf), and Eric Tipton (football) were also acknowledged for their respective sports.

Duke was a member of the conference from 1929-1953 prior to joining the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Among the criteria that merited selection to the teams were the common benchmarks of:
- Member of the collegiate hall of fame for that sport
- Member of the SoCon Hall of Fame
- National player of the year
- All-America honors in two different academic years
- SoCon Male or Female Athlete of the Year
- Two-time SoCon Player of the Year

Other benchmarks varied by sport. The teams included all honors bestowed through the 2020-21 academic year, which was the SoCon's 100th.

To view the full list of honorees, click HERE.

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Duke Honorees
Baseball
Dick Groat | Shortstop
College Baseball Hall of Fame 2011
All-America 1951, 1952
SoCon Male Athlete of the Year 1950-51, 1951-52

Men's Basketball
Dick Groat
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame 2007
SoCon Hall of Fame 2009
Helms Foundation National POTY 1950-51
All-American 1950-51, 1951-52
SoCon Male Athlete of the Year 1950-51, 1951-52

Football
Fred Crawford | Tackle
College Football Hall of Fame 1973
All-America 1932, 1933

Tom Davis | Back
1st-team All-SoCon 1942, 1943, 1944

Al DeRogatis | Tackle
College Football Hall of Fame 1986

Steve Lach | Halfback
College Football Hall of Fame 1980

George McAfee | Halfback
College Football Hall of Fame 1961

Ace Parker | Back
College Football Hall of Fame 1955
All-America 1935, 1936
1st-team All-SoCon 1934, 1935, 1936

Dan Hill Jr. | Center
College Football Hall of Fame 1962

Eric Tipton | Halfback
College Football Hall of Fame 1965

Men's Golf
Skip Alexander
SoCon champion 1938, 1939

Cliff Perry
SoCon champion 1934, 1936

Grover Poole
SoCon champion 1941, 1942

Track & Field
Steve Lach
ITK shot put champion 1940, 1941, 1942

#GoDuke

12 Former Blue Devils Named to SoCon’s 100th Anniversary Teams

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