The Dukes (Was It The Shoes?)

It was big sports news earlier this week when the Duquesne University Dukes made the cut to participate in the NCAA men's basketball tournament for the first time in decades.  It was even bigger news when they won their first round game, upsetting 6-seeded BYU.  It was the first Dukes victory in the NCAA tourney since 1969.  

But when I was growing up in western Pennsylvania in the 1950s and 60s, and learning the game, the Dukes were the very definition of the best college basketball.  They participated in the NCAA tourney six times in the 1950s, and won the national championship in 1955. This was a whole different era, with set shots and some players still shooting foul shots underhanded. The dunk was not even a distant dream, let alone the three pointer.  From the time I could read headlines in the sports section of the local paper to later when I could read the stories, Duquesne was dominant.

On Thursday, the Dukes ran at the BYU team with athleticism and a 9-0 run to begin the game, and even after BYU took a brief lead, the Dukes went on another run and were up by 12, and maintained that lead throughout the first half.  They kept the pressure on with steals, a characteristic of their game (so of course they've been called the Pittsburgh Stealers.)  BYU came back but the Dukes edged ahead again and held on for the victory.  

Before the game (as ESPN reported Friday), the Dukes team received new shoes from LeBron James, because the Dukes' coach had previously coached LeBron for two years in high school.  So...was it the shoes?

Duquesne University was founded as a Catholic college in Pittsburgh in 1878, and became the first Catholic university in Pennsylvania.  It's a peculiarly Pittsburgh name, going back to the time before the French and Indian War when France claimed the city, guarded at the point of its three rivers by Fort Duquesne (renamed Fort Pitt when the English took over.)  A number of towns and townships in Western Pennsylvania still have their French names, though no one from France would recognize how they are locally pronounced.  Back in those 1950s, sports events on radio and TV were sponsored by both Duquesne Beer (Have a Duke, Have a Duke, Have a Duquesne Beer) and Fort Pitt Beer (Fort Pitt--That's It!)

The beers are gone (though the Duquesne brand was revived) but the Dukes still have a strong sports program for a relatively small school.  Now there must be many wondering "the what Dukes?"  They've already made a national splash.  Perhaps there's more to come.