Author: Tricia Williamson, Digital Content Producer
On March 12, 1944, in a moment of defiance against the oppressive segregation laws of the era, the men’s basketball teams from what is now North Carolina Central University and Duke University’s medical school faced off in a secret matchup.
In 1944 North Carolina was governed by Jim Crow laws that mandated segregation in public places. Those who created the laws claimed Black and White people were “separate but equal,” but reality told a different story. Black people faced economic, educational, and social disadvantages. Black and White people were not allowed to eat together, use the same public restrooms, marry each other, or go to the same schools.
Defying these laws could mean arrest, jail time, fines, or violence. In the same year the secret game took place, Private First Class Booker T. Spicely was shot and killed in Durham County after protesting when told to give up his seat on a bus.
While living in such volatile and potentially violent times, you may wonder why these teams decided to organize and play, despite the dangers of what would happen if they were caught.
The answer was simple: Both teams were excellent, and they wanted to find out who would win if they faced off. Students from both colleges had begun to secretly meet at the YMCA in early 1944, and the challenge of a game between the schools was raised at one meeting.
The Duke medical team was made up of college athletes from all over the country, including Jack Burgess, a guard formerly of the University of Montana. Burgess was outspoken about his disdain for Jim Crow laws while playing in the South and helped convince his team to play against NCCU.
Meanwhile, the NCCU team had recently had a near-perfect season, losing only one game. The National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament did not allow Black colleges to participate, preventing Black players from testing their skills against White teams. When Coach John McClendon heard of the challenge, he readily accepted the idea. His team had been denied a postseason championship game, so playing the Duke team as a legitimate contest was an exciting alternative.
Coaches and players took extreme caution when planning the event. The game would be played on NCCU’s campus in Durham. They played on a Sunday, knowing that most of the city, including the police officers, would be in church.
While traveling to the venue, the Duke team took a roundabout route in borrowed cars to make sure their destination wasn’t found out. When entering the building, they put coats over their heads to hide their identities.
The only people present at the game were the players, coaches, and a referee. One reporter from The Carolina Times, Durham's Black weekly, found out about the game but swore he would not betray the secret. School administrators were not told about the game, there were no spectators, no photos were taken, and the doors were securely barred.
The game began slowly, with players nervous and apprehensive about playing against each other. They eventually warmed up to each other. By the second half, everything went smoothly. At the end of the matchup, the NCCU Eagles were victorious, with a score of 88 to 44.
After a break, the players then mixed up the teams and played a second game with skins and shirts. Before heading back to their school, the Duke players were invited to the NCCU men’s residence hall to socialize.
From a modern view, what seems like a simple game between two local colleges was actually a big risk for all involved. Had the teams been caught playing in the same space, they would have faced punishment for breaking the law. The Black players would have undoubtedly been punished more harshly than the White players, if the Duke team faced any consequences at all.
This risk is why the NCCU vs. Duke game stayed a secret from the public for 52 years.
Decades later, Duke graduate and historian Scott Ellsworth learned of the game while talking to McLendon. In 1996, after interviewing McLendon and some of the players who were there that day, Ellsworth published the first public account of the secret game in a New York Times article.
McLendon, who had played under basketball’s inventor James Naismith, went on to be a legendary coach. He helped to pioneer and popularize basketball strategy, such as the fast break, full-court press, zone press, and the four corners offense. He eventually became the first Black coach of a major sports league team (the American Basketball League’s Cleveland Pipers) in 1961. McLendon is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Duke desegregated the school in 1961 and admitted its first Black undergraduates in 1963. NCCU became part of the North Carolina University system in 1972. Officially, the secret game never happened. Unofficially, it may have been the first integrated basketball game in North Carolina. By coming together despite the risks, the coaches and teams from NCCU and Duke showed bravery, sportsmanship, and a willingness to subvert the laws that kept them apart.
When Jack Burgess wrote home to Montana, he told his family, “We sure had fun and I especially had a good time, for most of the fellows playing with me were Southerners. . . And when the evening was over, most of them had changed their views quite a lot.”
Sources:
North Carolina Museum of History North Carolina A to Z exhibit