Durham Burghs

When Jeff Capel came to Pittsburgh this past March to take the reins of the Pitt basketball program that had fallen fast from a lofty perch he was quoted as saying “It just felt right.” He was the latest North Carolina athlete to beat a path to Pittsburgh. 

There were others.  In 1998 the Steelers signed cornerback Dewayne Washington as an unrestricted free agent.  The former No. 1 draft pick out of NC State played here for 5 years.

Going back further us older fans remember the Bucs had a pretty good catcher from NC for 5 years between 1959 and 1964 – Smokey Burgess.

And it was only a few weeks ago that Carolina native Chris Archer beat a path the Burgh by way of Tampa Bay.

The road between the Burgh and North Carolina is an old one.  For all the NC athletes who made it up to the Burgh, they can never match the impact that local athletes had who traveled south from western PA – particularly to Durham, NC and the campus of Duke University.

Durham, NC is in the heart of Tobacco Road.  Genuine Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco is a local brand that dates to the 1850s. James B. Duke inherited a fortune in tobacco and in 1924 provided a $40 million endowment to what was then Trinity College.  That’s worth about $570 million in 2018 and that was enough for the Trinity powers to change the name to Duke University.

James B. Duke statue at Duke University

Two years later Duke started to build a football program.  They hired the head coach from nearby Washington and Lee University - Jimmy DeHart.  DeHart was an All American QB from Pitt.  He played for legendary Pitt Head Coach Glenn “Pop “Warner from 1914 through 1918. Pitt football proudly and rightly proclaims that it has accumulated nine (9) National Championships.  The first of three of those nine came were in 1915, 1916 and 1918 with Jimmy DeHart as QB.

Jimmy DeHart, Duke University Head Football Coach

While at Washington and Lee, DeHart had a fullback from Norwin High School in Irwin, PA.  He rose to become Captain of the Washington and Lee football team and in 1923 he lead the NCAA in scoring.  His name was Eddie Cameron.  When DeHart was hired by Duke he brought Cameron over with him to coach the Duke freshmen.  Thus began a long career at Duke University where his impact was profound.  Cameron served variously as head football coach and head basketball coach, but his greatest impact was as Duke’s Athletic Director (1951 – 1972).  He is considered one of the founders of the Atlantic Coast Conference.  Upon his retirement in 1972 Duke University renamed their basketball facility in his honor – Cameron Indoor Arena.

Cameron Indoor Arena

Eddie Cameron - Washington and Lee University 

DeHart would coach the Duke football team through the 1930 season.  In 1929 he convinced his old Pitt offensive line teammate and now Head Coach of the Pitt Panthers, Dr. John "Jock" Sutherland, to bring his powerhouse football team down to Durham to dedicate their new football stadium.  Pitt won that game 52-7 on their way to their 4^thNational Title and first without Jimmy Dehart as their QB.  

Duke would hire Alabama head football coach Wallace Wade to replace Dehart for the 1931 season.  They would rename Duke Stadium in his honor in 1967.  Duke still plays in Wallace Wade Stadium to this day.

In the early 1950’s Eddie Cameron helped recruit a local Pittsburgh kid from Swissvale High School to play at Duke. Dick Groat was an All American on the hard court in 1951 and 1952.  Upon graduation, Duke retired his number 10.  It was the first number ever retired at Duke and would remain that way until 1980 when Duke retired the basketball jersey number of Mike Gminski.

And finally, there’s the guy who shares his 1964 Topps rookie baseball card with Bob Priddy, the subject of my last Morningsider blog post.  Tom Butters was a central Ohio native who played college ball at his hometown Ohio Wesleyan University team in Delaware, OH.  He was signed by the Pirates Branch Rickey no less in 1957. Rickey was also an alum of Ohio Wesleyan.  A right-handed pitcher he made it to the major leagues as a September call-up in 1962 and again in 63.  In 1964 he came north with the team out of spring training and was used both in the bullpen and as a spot starter. On the way to Spring Training in 1965 he was involved in a car accident in North Carolina.  He suffered severe whiplash which essentially ended his brief major league career.  He was released in July 1965.  

Upon retiring after the 1967 season Dick Groat was contacted by Eddie Cameron who was now the Athletic Director at Duke.  Cameron offered Groat head baseball coach at Duke.  Groat declined the offer but recommended his old Pirates teammate Tom Butters.  By then Butters had been working at Duke as Assistant Director of Development.  Cameron hired the 29-year old Butters for the baseball job.

Using his prior experience in development Butters started one of the most successful alumni fundraising groups in college athletics – the Iron Dukes. In 1977 he ascended to Vice President and Athletic Director at Duke.  In 1980, against the wishes of many alumni he hired a then little known head basketball coach at Army to take over the program at Duke. Mike Krzyzewski is still the head coach 38 years later.

Butters retired in 1997. In 1999 Duke placed his name on a new athletic center building located next to Cameron Indoor Arena and across from Wallace Wade Stadium. He died in 2016.  In his Post-Gazette obituary, his long-time friend Steve Blass was quoted: “He was my friend, my teammate and my hero.”

 Alan D. Schwartz and Tom A. Butters Athletic Center at Duke University