Duke, NC Central Volleyball Forge Community Connections
Unique partnership brings Durham community together
Meredith Rieder, GoDuke The Magazine
This story originally appeared in the 15.2 issue of GoDuke The Magazine – September 2023
At a time when many were stuck at home away from friends, family and co-workers and feeling their most disconnected, the Duke University and NC Central University volleyball programs were at the nascence of what has grown into a beautiful partnership.
It all started with an idea from current associate head coach and former Blue Devil All-American Kellie Catanach Johnson in the summer of 2020. With many staying at home due to the covid pandemic, eyes were glued to television and social media where they were witnessing civil unrest all over the world amidst a civil rights movement the United States had not seen since the transformational 1960s.
During this time, Catanach Johnson took inspiration from a social media trend she saw and realized Duke volleyball could and should join in. Through thought and opening communication lines a collaborative “Share the Mic” series between the volleyball programs at Duke and NC Central — one of 12 historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in North Carolina — was born.
“I saw on social media a bunch of white female celebrities handing their platforms over to black female activists, entrepreneurs and people who are doing incredible work, but maybe didn’t have the platform in terms of number of followers,” said Catanach Johnson. “I thought, we have that. We have 60,000 followers on our social media accounts so why not lend our platform to someone else to give them some visibility, especially in the volleyball world.”
Duke volleyball turned over its Instagram account to the Eagles for “Instagram takeovers,” allowing the Eagles to utilize Duke’s large national and international brand and platform to give people a glimpse into their lives as NCCU student-athletes. The “Share the Mic” series since has expanded to include other HBCUs across the country.
Head over to our Instagram (@DukeVB) to see what our friends at @NCCUVolleyball are up to today!#ShareTheMic | #GoDuke pic.twitter.com/tqtctkEf5i
— Duke Volleyball (@DukeVB) October 23, 2020
Three years, countless IG takeovers by the Eagles, one match in Cameron Indoor Stadium between the schools, continued education and communication culminated in Duke scheduling a match on the campus of NC Central — the first time a Duke varsity team has played on NCCU’s campus since the 1970s.
“I know I didn't understand the scope of what it would mean for us to go over to NC Central and the fact that no one from Duke has really done it before,” Catanach Johnson said.
“I think the notoriety is huge,” said NCCU head coach Jody Brown. “We’re a small school and we have these big giant schools all around us and for Duke to be the first one to come in here and play … I thought was really cool.”
NC Central, first founded in 1910, is a pillar of the Durham community. In the early 1900s when Black Wall Street in Durham was thriving, colleges open to educating African Americans in North Carolina were few. The lack of opportunities in higher education inspired Dr. James E. Shepard, thought to be one of the wealthiest African Americans in the United States in the early 1900s, to open the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, Inc., July 5, 1910.
In 1923, the North Carolina state legislature converted the institution into the North Carolina College for Negroes and dedicated it to liberal arts education and the preparation of teachers and principals, thus making it the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for black students.
“We’re in such a unique situation here in Durham to have NC Central that’s such a deeply ingrained part of the community and then to have Duke, which is also such a world-renowned brand and everything that comes with that,” Catanach Johnson said. “It’s about being able to come together and being able to put (sports) aside and acknowledge it’s bigger than us and it’s bigger than history. It’s about how we can impact the future.”
Catanach Johnson’s husband Dezmond Johnson has a unique perspective as a former Duke football student-athlete and the current assistant athletic director for compliance at NC Central. An extended member of the Duke volleyball team — the players are always petitioning for him to be a volunteer assistant coach — Johnson loves to see a sport like volleyball gaining so much notoriety and he hopes the Blue Devils playing at the Eagles’ home gym extends to other sports at Duke. It’s an all-around win.
“(In football, HBCUs) go play at (Power 5 schools) and if we're being real, it's a money game when you're going there to play,” said Johnson. “But you don't really get those opportunities for Power 5 programs to come to your campus and play. So, I think in a sport like volleyball, for them to be able to come across the street and play at an HBCU campus is huge. I don’t think it happens a lot and I think a game like this will help broaden the spectrum of HBCUs versus Power 5 universities. Hopefully, something like this can continue and we can make it an annual thing not only in volleyball but have it bleed into other sports.”
With the game firmly set on both schools’ schedules for the middle of September, NCCU head coach Jody Brown planted the idea of making it a full community event by engaging the Boys & Girls Club of Durham and Orange Counties.
"Being able to reach out to the Boys & Girls Club and have our student-athletes visit the facility, meet the kids, and interact with them was a win-win for both sides,” said Duke head coach Jolene Nagel.
The Blue Devils and Eagles came together as one to visit the young kids at the Boys & Girls Club for a volleyball clinic, a question-and-answer session and overall bonding. The match at McDougald-McLendon Arena on NCCU’s campus also served as a fundraiser for the local organization.
“When Jolene and I first started talking about playing I said, ‘Let’s make it something cool,’” Brown said. “I don’t know how much money it raised, but I think a lot of the people around here don’t even know the Boys & Girls Club exists, so I thought it was well worth it.”
“Well worth it” doesn’t even begin to describe the impact the Blue Devils’ and Eagles’ visit had on the youth. The looks on the faces of the young boys and girls as they sprinted to their new friends from Duke and NCCU for a pregame photo was all you had to see to comprehend the impact of the two universities joining forces. Seeing one young girl race into the open arms of Duke junior Rachel Richardson as they made eye contact was enough to bring a tear to your eye.
“We just love getting people who are achieving their dreams into our club space,” said Boys & Girls Club director of resource development Andrew Borresen. “Our youth can’t bump up against enough positive role models, especially at that next step for our teens thinking about that transition to college. We celebrate every partnership we can build out with Duke University, Duke Athletics and with NC Central and NCCU athletics.”
The visit may have started with some friendly booing of the Blue Devils from the Boys & Girls Club members, but it ended with bonding through sport, music and of course the latest TikTok dances.
“There definitely was a lot of booing for Duke (at first) and I hope we won them over (by the end),” said Duke captain Gracie Johnson. “Someone also asked, are we friends? And I think that was a really interesting point in that they realize we should be natural enemies. Rachel (Richardson) answered (by saying) that on the court when we're playing each other, we're not going to be friends, but off the court, we're always going to be supporting each other wanting the best for each other, especially coming from Durham.”
Gallery: Duke, NC Central Boys & Girls Club Event
Not only were the kids able to engage with outstanding role models, but it was through a diverse representation within both programs that the young people were able to see themselves in the Blue Devils and Eagles. Because, and it can’t be emphasized enough: Representation matters.
For Duke redshirt sophomore Ngozi Iloh, who is black, representation affirms to young people they belong in a particular space.
“Representation is really important, because if you don't see anyone who looks like you or has a personality or characteristics like you, it kind of makes it feel like you can't do something that you obviously can do,” said Iloh.
Young kids are sponges, soaking in so much of what they see and hear all around them, so to have role models like the Blue Devils and Eagles team up to spend time with them is priceless.
“We just know young people take notice,” Borresen said. “They see a lot. Representation matters. When they see someone who is in their spot achieve their dream of college volleyball or attending Duke University or attending North Carolina Central University, it’s huge.”
For Iloh, she had not only her mom, but also her “Aunt Carla” as Iloh’s mother called her and her sister paving the way. She spent many weekends with Aunt Carla and her kids, gaining exposure to the world through various expeditions and small field trips. Iloh’s sister provided her inspiration and a road map to achieving goals.
“(Aunt Carla) was always making sure we had such a good environment around us even though we weren't staying with our parents for a Saturday,” Iloh said. “(My sister is) about 10 years older than me and she's someone I always look up to. She's really inspirational. Whatever she’s set her mind to, she's done it. She achieves a goal then she'll set a new goal and she'll always keep working hard for that goal.”
Iloh, a former Boys & Girls Club member herself, understands the importance of the organization. She treasured the few years she spent time there and how much she learned that she couldn’t learn at school.
“I thought (the Boys & Girls Club) was really influential,” Iloh said. “That’s where I learned to socialize with other kids my age and older kids. Overall, it was just a fundamental part of my childhood and I remember of all the activities they had us do and how fun it was.”
This time it was Iloh and the Blue Devils providing the fun through volleyball, a sport loved by all the players and coaches in the gym. But it was the spontaneous fun that played out after the volleyball piece ended that was the most magical.
“The volleyball session finished, and someone turned on some music, and suddenly the latest TikTok dance was happening all around the gymnasium and handshakes as they were all dapping each other up,” Borresen said about the teams’ visit. “Group dances were breaking out and to see members of the Duke volleyball team, the NCCU volleyball team and our club kids interspersed around the gym — it was beautiful. It was beautiful.”
Borresen said the impact was so great that for the next few days leading up to the match at NCCU the kids kept asking when their friends from Duke and NCCU were coming back. Brown, who along with assistant coach Fiona Cunningham, did much of the legwork organizing the visit to the club, also got a reminder of the bonds created by the collaboration between the two programs.
“I think it was great,” Brown said. “I was walking in a grocery store the other day and a little kid came running up to me and said ‘Coach, coach coach.’ I said ‘Hey, how are you? Were you at the Boys & Girls Club?’ He said ‘Yeah. Where’s your girls?’ I thought it was fantastic.”
Fantastic. Beautiful. Exciting. Inspirational. Impactful. Whatever adjective you use to describe the partnership formed between these two volleyball programs can’t capture its importance.
“Hopefully this is just the beginning of the partnership between Duke and NC Central and not just the volleyball programs,” Catanach Johnson said. “Maybe this can be a jumping off point on a larger scale moving forward.”
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