Duke History and Traditions: "Why a Blue Devil?" - The Answer Will Surprise You...

(The Original Blue Devil - from the Duke University Library's web site - University Archives, in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library)

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful-

Duke has a collegiate athletic tradition as rich as any in the nation. In this post, I'd like to answer one of the most logical questions to ask about Duke athletics - "Why a Blue Devil?"

Fortunately, the Duke library web site has a complete and thorough answer to the question of "Why a Blue Devil?"

The original link is above... and if you follow it, you can see the picture of the original "Blue Devils" that inspired the name, as well as the evolution of the Blue Devil mascot over the years. (Note: The school was originally named Trinity College, and was renamed Duke after a tobacco magnate by that name, donated an enormous sum of money to the school.)

This is not mentioned in the article, but the Blue Devil traditionally wears a white headband with a statement printed in giant capital letters, tailored to the particular game taking place - so I'll be curious to see what he'll be saying on Thursday...

According to the Duke Library, in an article by William E. King, which originally appeared in the Duke Dialogue on February 28, 1992...

Why a Blue Devil?

The Story of the Duke Mascot

During World War I the Chasseurs Alpins, nicknamed "les Diables Bleus," were well known French soldiers. They first gained attention when their unique training and alpine knowledge was counted upon to break the stalemate of trench warfare in their native region of the French Alps. Unfortunately the Vosges Campaign in March, 1915, failed to alter the status quo even though the Blue Devils won accolades for their courage. However, their distinctive blue uniform with flowing cape and jaunty beret captured public imagination. When the United States entered the war, units of the French Blue Devils toured the country helping raise money in the war effort. Irving Berlin captured their spirit in song describing them as "strong and active, most attractive . . . those Devils, the Blue Devils of France."

As the war was ending in Europe, the Trinity College^* Board of Trustees lifted its quarter-century ban of football on campus. After playing an intramural class schedule for one year, Trinity began intercollegiate competition in 1920. That first year the traditional nomenclature of the Trinity Eleven, the Blue and White or the Methodists (as opposed to the Baptists of nearby Wake Forest) described the team. In September, 1921, the student newspaper, The Trinity Chronicle, launched a campaign for a "catchy name, one of our own possession that would be instantly recognizable nationwide in songs, yells and publicity." At a campus pep rally to stir up enthusiasm it was pointed out that Georgia Tech was gaining recognition as the "Golden Tornados" and that rival North Carolina State College had recently adopted the name "Wolf Pack." There were numerous nominations including Catamounts, Grizzlies, Badgers, Dreadnaughts, and Captains which was in honor of the well-liked Coach W. W. "Cap" Card.

Believing a choice utilizing the school color of dark blue to be appropriate, the newspaper editors urged a selection from among the nominations of Blue Titans, Blue Eagles, Polar Bears, Blue Devils, Royal Blazes, or Blue Warriors. None of the nominations won strong favor but Blue Devils apparently had enough support to elicit the criticism that it would arouse opposition on the Methodist campus "for obvious reasons," and that it might prove risky and jeopardize football if a controversial name were used at that particular time. The football season passed with no official selection of a name.

As the campus leaders from the Class of 1923 made plans for their senior year, they decided to select a name since the desired results by democratic nomination and vote had been inconclusive. The editors of The Archive and The Chanticleer, two of the other student publications, agreed that the newspaper staff should choose a name and "put it over."

Thus William H. Lander, as editor-in-chief, and Mike Bradshaw, as managing editor, of The Trinity Chronicle began the academic year 1922-23 referring to the athletic teams as the Blue Devils. Their class had been the first post-war freshmen and the student body was full of returning veterans so the name needed no explanation. Acknowledging that it was somewhat unpopular, they nevertheless believed it to be the best name nominated. Neither the other publications nor the cheerleaders used the name that first year.

In fact, The Chanticleer made fun of the selection and process by quoting someone saying "We will use blew devvies even if no one else does." Much to the editor's surprise no opposition materialized, not even from the college administration. The newspaper staff continued its use and through repetition, Blue Devils eventually caught on.

Today the origin of the university mascot is virtually forgotten even though its instant, national recognition has long been established. With the popular Red Devil mascot frequently being challenged throughout the country, the origin of Duke's Blue Devil is one of the most often requested items of information in the University Archives. Questioners are universally surprised to discover its origin is more military and patriotic than religious.

Check back for more posts, both on the history of Villanova/Duke, and a comprehensive preview of Thursday's Sweet 16 contest, scheduled for around 10 PM in Boston...

You can also take a look at the Various Viewpoints on the right sidebar, for their takes...

Go Wildcats!

There are two ways you can contact Villanova Viewpoint. One is by commenting on this blog. Comments are encouraged. Also, you can e-mail villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com (Important note: This is a different e-mail address than before. Please use this new one.)

Villanova/Duke Rivalry History - Everything Up to the 1964 NCAA Tournament

To the Villanova Wildcats faithful-

Duke's basketball history is a marvelous tale, lasting over a century, filled with championships, lore, and characters that would fill volumes. In these posts, I'm trying to intersect Villanova's own unique history within it. The schools have met rarely - just ten times - but there's nothing better than seeing two great, storied programs battling in the NCAA tournament in March. So here's the beginning of the story, in Durham, North Carolina, at the dawn of the twentieth century...

Duke basketball predates Villanova basketball by 15 years. In fact, it even predates being named Duke. It was originally Trinity College, affiliated with the Methodist Church. The first game for Trinity was - fittingly enough - against Wake Forest, on March 2, 1906. It was not an auspicious beginning, however. Wake Forest won easily, 24-10.

The arrival of the sport on campus was due to the fact that a 1900 Trinity graduate, Wilbur Wade "Cap" Card, had done postgraduate work at Harvard, and New England was the birthplace of the sport. Card returned to Durham and brought the new sport with him in 1906.

In a remarkably prescient article, The Chronicle student newspaper made the following report, six weeks before the debut against Wake Forest:

"It is well-nigh a certainty that Trinity is to have another game added to her list of athletic sports in the near future. The game is question is basket ball [with a space between the words], one of the most fascinating and most intensely interesting indoor sports known today.

Anyone witnessing it will never forget it. The play is extremely fast and vigorous, yet open enough for an onlooker to follow the movement of the ball and the players."

The Duke media guide, the source for this quote and many of the facts in this article, accurately notes, "The assessment still holds true 103 years later."

Despite its defeat, the Trinity team was willing to give Wake Forest another try, and so the second game ever was a reciprocal trip to Winston-Salem. But two weeks after winning in Durham, Wake Forest won the second game, 15-5, to sweep the season series, so to speak. (It wasn't all bad the first year, though, as the team won two out of three games with "Trinity Park", to finish with a 3-2 record.)

So by the time Villanova got basketball rolling in 1920-21, Trinity/Duke was a veteran program, having played the sport for 15 years. But less than a decade after inaugurating the sport on the Main Line, Villanova faced Duke for the first time.

The Wildcats had decided to make a Southern road trip, to open their season. Their first four games were @ "Montclair A.C.", @ Wake Forest, @ North Carolina State, and @ Duke. After losing to Montclair AC, they defeated Wake Forest, lost to NC State, and wound up in Durham, NC, and faced Duke on December 19, 1930. It was the season opener for Duke. Cameron Indoor Stadium did not even exist yet; it wouldn't open until 1940. Fittingly enough, the Blue Devils - as they were already known by then - were being coached by Cameron himself. Eddie Cameron had become head coach in 1926, four years earlier.

The Blue Devils had become a powerhouse in the Southern Conference (the ancestor of the modern ACC and SEC), having posted a 18-2 record the previous year. The game took place in Card Gym, the predecessor of Cameron Indoor Stadium, and named after the Trinity/Duke alumnus who had brought the new sport from New England a quarter-century earlier. And Villanova defeated Duke, 22-21, in a thriller.

In spite of what was undoubtedly an exciting contest, the schools would not meet again for another quarter-century - and ironically, it would be Duke's first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. The first-round battle of the much-smaller tournament took place in Madison Square Garden.

In 1955, Villanova defeated Duke in the Blue Devils' first-ever NCAA tournament game - this year marks their 33rd appearance (and the 30th for Villanova). It was the NCAA tournament first round, on March 8 of that year, and the Wildcats escaped with a 74-73 victory in what also must have been an extraordinarily exciting game... It was just as much of a thriller as the 22-21 game in Durham, a quarter-century earlier, although with far higher offensive output, obviously. There was a great deal of scoring, particularly for a game taking place prior to the introduction of the shot clock and three-point shot.

Perhaps because the NCAA battle was such great entertainment, the schools decided to meet during the ensuing regular season, 1955-56. The Blue Devils made their first visit to the Palestra to face Villanova in particular (as opposed to Penn, and other Big Five schools), on December 17, 1955.

(Note to Duke fans who might not be familiar with it - Villanova played many home games, including most of its high-profile opponents, at the historic Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, prior to the construction of the on-campus Pavilion in 1986.)

Duke won the first non-cliffhanger game in the series, defeating the host Wildcats 86-76 in another high-octane game.

The series skipped the 1956-57 season, but resumed for the next two seasons with a home-and-home series. On December 14, 1957, Villanova traveled down to Durham for the first time since the initial meeting back in 1930. This time, the host Blue Devils won, 60-53.

When Duke returned to the Palestra on December 20, 1958, the Wildcats won 74-67. Unfortunately, the intersectional regular-season series died for some reason, and would not be revived until the 1990s.

The next meeting came in the 1964 NCAA tournament, the first time the teams had met in over five years. On March 13, 1964, Jack Kraft's Villanova team defeated Providence (the Big East did not exist yet) in the first round, but fell to the Blue Devils, 87-73, in the second round. (The Wildcats did defeat Princeton, in the consolation round that existed at the time.) The Wildcat players included Bill Melchionni, Wali Jones, George Leftwich, Richie Moore, Bernie Schaffer, and Jim Washington.

Check back for more posts, both on the history of Villanova/Duke, and a comprehensive preview of Thursday's Sweet 16 contest, at around 10 PM in Boston...

You can also take a look at the Various Viewpoints on the right sidebar, for their takes...

Go Wildcats!

There are two ways you can contact Villanova Viewpoint. One is by commenting on this blog. Comments are encouraged. Also, you can e-mail villanova.viewpoint@yahoo.com (Important note: This is a different e-mail address than before. Please use this new one.)