The Blue Divide by Johnny Moore

Author:Johnny Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triumph Books
Published: 2014-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

7. Blood and Roses

On practice day of the 1989 ACC Tournament in Atlanta, I witnessed two separate conversations involving Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski within minutes. Both were fascinating talks and personified each of the Hall of Fame coaches. And both conversations involved an incident at the UNC-Duke game in Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 18, a full seven weeks earlier.

Smith was incensed over a sign in the Duke student section about the intellect of one of his players, a sign he considered subtly racist. It had bothered Smith all season and on the pre-ACC Tournament teleconference—a few days after the Tar Heels lost Jeff Lebo’s senior game to Duke—Smith mentioned the sign again and called it not only racist, but also wrong. He said two of his African American players had a higher combined SAT score than two of Duke’s comparable white players. “And I know,” Smith said sharply, “because I recruited both of them.” In doing so he had seen their academic records. He also started a media hailstorm.

So there I was, walking through the tunnel of the old Omni arena and into the bowels of its bottom floor. In the distance I saw Smith talking with Bill Brill, the veteran and very partial sportswriter to Duke. Brill was a Duke graduate and made no apologies for his affection for all Blue Devil teams.

As I approached them, I heard Brill say to Smith, “You can’t do that. You can’t go public with private information about any students—even yours.”

“Why not?” Smith said to Brill. “I never said the particular score of any one player. I knew exactly what I was doing.”

Smith was defending one of his players, something he had done in the past after the rowdy Duke students had crossed what he considered a line of decency. Smith was quick to jump on a legitimate cause and especially one that involved race.

I kept walking and thought about what Smith had done and I figured he needed a combination of two scores, instead of just one score, to prove his point. As a mathematician Smith was always thinking that way: analytical, thoughtful, almost never saying something he regretted, no matter how opinionated.

As I entered the court area at the Omni, Duke happened to be working out on the playing floor. It was basically a shoot-around because the public always watched the practice day. The Duke assistant coaches ran the shoot-around while Krzyzewski stood just outside the baseline with a small group of media. Among them were two sportswriters I expected to see, Duke alum and best-selling sports author John Feinstein and Durham Morning Herald sports editor Keith Drum, who had befriended Coach K just after he arrived at Duke.

I wasn’t going to join in but had to pass the group on my way to the press room on the other side of the building. No one noticed me as I walked by. All eyes were glued to what Krzyzewski was saying. And what was he saying as I passed

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