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Thread: The Secret Game - March 12, 1944

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    Post The Secret Game - March 12, 1944

    I had never heard of this before watching the OSU/IOWA game the other night. Ohio State wore shirts "This Game is No Secret" and the announcer gave the history.



    Kent State worse the same shirts Friday night. So, naturally, I had to satisfy my curiosity.

    Just before 11 A.M., the Duke team piled into a couple of borrowed cars. "To keep from being followed, we took this winding route through town," Hubbell recalls. They pulled their jackets over their heads as they walked into the small brick gym. Inside, stomachs had been churning all morning. "I had never played basketball against a white person before, and I was a little shaky," Stanley says. "You did not know what might happen if there was a hard foul, or if a fight broke out. I kept looking over at Big Dog and Boogie to see what to do. They were both from up North."

    The game began with a sputter. Both teams botched routine plays, and shots caromed off the rims. One of the Duke players made a gorgeous pass -- right into the hands of a North Carolina College player. "On that particular morning, you didn't exactly need to play skins and shirts," Hubbell says with a laugh.

    As the nervousness subsided, the Duke team found its game: give-and-gos and three-man weaves, two-handed set shots off screens. Burgess fed Thistlethwaite the ball inside and Hubbell shot from the wings. But the Eagles warmed up, too. Big Dog knocked down four-footers, while George Parks, a towering Kentuckian, swept the boards. Boogie and Cootie ran cutaways and reverse pivots, whipping down-court passes after crisp steals. Stanley was only 16, the Eagles' youngest player, and had grown up under Jim Crow. "About midway through the first half," Stanley says, "I suddenly realized: 'Hey, we can beat these guys. They aren't supermen. They're just men like us.' "

    By the second half, the Eagles were scoring on nearly every possession. Running one fast break after the next, they were skirting a wide-open style of play that wouldn't flourish for another two decades. The Duke players had never seen anything like it. By the end of the game, the scoreboard told the story: Eagles 88, Visitors 44.

    Photo: Aubrey Stanley, David Hubbell, John McLendon, Jack Burgess and Edward Boyd. (Ann States/Saba, for The New York Times)



    Then came the day's second unlikely event. After a short break, the two teams mixed their squads and played another game, an even more egregious violation of Jim Crow. This time, it was skins and shirts. "Just God's children, horsing around with a basketball," says George Parks. Word had spread, meanwhile, that something was afoot in the gym. McLendon had bolted the doors, but a few students climbed up to the window ledges. Pressing their faces to the glass, they saw this second game -- a segregationist's nightmare and a scene that college basketball in the South would not know for years to come. Afterward, the two teams adjourned to the men's residence hall for a bull session. A few hours later, the Duke students drove home.

    The Durham police never found out what happened. Nor did the city's two daily newspapers, and the black reporter kept his word.
    No scorecard exists, and as far as official basketball recordkeeping is concerned, the game never took place.




    https://www.chicagotribune.com/enter...319-story.html



    https://nccueaglepride.com/sports/20...308110905.aspx


    Full disclosure: The Buckeye game was interrupted by The Wiggles for the granddaughter.
    Last edited by DGUtley; 02-06-2021 at 09:46 AM.
    Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect. -- Woody Hayes​

  2. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to DGUtley For This Useful Post:

    Cotton1 (02-06-2021),Daily Bread (02-06-2021),Private Pickle (02-06-2021),stephenpe (02-06-2021)

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    Quote Originally Posted by DGUtley View Post
    I had never heard of this before watching the OSU/IOWA game the other night. Ohio State wore shirts "This Game is No Secret" and the announcer gave the history.



    Kent State worse the same shirts Friday night. So, naturally, I had to satisfy my curiosity.

    Just before 11 A.M., the Duke team piled into a couple of borrowed cars. "To keep from being followed, we took this winding route through town," Hubbell recalls. They pulled their jackets over their heads as they walked into the small brick gym. Inside, stomachs had been churning all morning. "I had never played basketball against a white person before, and I was a little shaky," Stanley says. "You did not know what might happen if there was a hard foul, or if a fight broke out. I kept looking over at Big Dog and Boogie to see what to do. They were both from up North."

    The game began with a sputter. Both teams botched routine plays, and shots caromed off the rims. One of the Duke players made a gorgeous pass -- right into the hands of a North Carolina College player. "On that particular morning, you didn't exactly need to play skins and shirts," Hubbell says with a laugh.

    As the nervousness subsided, the Duke team found its game: give-and-gos and three-man weaves, two-handed set shots off screens. Burgess fed Thistlethwaite the ball inside and Hubbell shot from the wings. But the Eagles warmed up, too. Big Dog knocked down four-footers, while George Parks, a towering Kentuckian, swept the boards. Boogie and Cootie ran cutaways and reverse pivots, whipping down-court passes after crisp steals. Stanley was only 16, the Eagles' youngest player, and had grown up under Jim Crow. "About midway through the first half," Stanley says, "I suddenly realized: 'Hey, we can beat these guys. They aren't supermen. They're just men like us.' "

    By the second half, the Eagles were scoring on nearly every possession. Running one fast break after the next, they were skirting a wide-open style of play that wouldn't flourish for another two decades. The Duke players had never seen anything like it. By the end of the game, the scoreboard told the story: Eagles 88, Visitors 44.

    Photo: Aubrey Stanley, David Hubbell, John McLendon, Jack Burgess and Edward Boyd. (Ann States/Saba, for The New York Times)



    Then came the day's second unlikely event. After a short break, the two teams mixed their squads and played another game, an even more egregious violation of Jim Crow. This time, it was skins and shirts. "Just God's children, horsing around with a basketball," says George Parks. Word had spread, meanwhile, that something was afoot in the gym. McLendon had bolted the doors, but a few students climbed up to the window ledges. Pressing their faces to the glass, they saw this second game -- a segregationist's nightmare and a scene that college basketball in the South would not know for years to come. Afterward, the two teams adjourned to the men's residence hall for a bull session. A few hours later, the Duke students drove home.

    The Durham police never found out what happened. Nor did the city's two daily newspapers, and the black reporter kept his word.
    No scorecard exists, and as far as official basketball recordkeeping is concerned, the game never took place.




    https://www.chicagotribune.com/enter...319-story.html



    https://nccueaglepride.com/sports/20...308110905.aspx


    Full disclosure: The Buckeye game was interrupted by The Wiggles for the granddaughter.
    Took my kids to a Wiggles show once. It was actually entertaining and enjoyable. I was sorry to hear about their lead guy.
    I find your lack of faith...disturbing...

    -Darth Vader

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    DGUtley (02-06-2021)

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    Great story. I read once about games like this. I think Maravich and some fellas used to play against blacks when he was young. btw I have been to a live Wiggles concert in Jax Fla. My son was into it back 14 yrs ago. I used to could sing most of their songs start to finish. Hot potato hot potato..........cold spagetti cold spagetti. talented fellas and filthy rich I heard.

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    I played ball like this all the time and believe it or not we didn't know it , we didn't realize one guy was black and another was white .
    Race relations is something those intellectual journalist in media drummed up to help their narratives and now the bridge we built between the so called colors has been destroyed .... By the same people that bring it up .

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