.png&width=36&height=36&type=webp)
More UNC-Duke Stories
February 3, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2004
On And Off The Court
The 1992 game sticks out for me - not because of what happened on the court, but what happened to me and my family off of the court.
My Grandfather, EC Bodenheimer (Class of 1938), his wife Dot, my wife Megan and I (Class of 1986) went to the UNC-Duke game that year. My wife was six months pregnant. My Grandfather was recovering from open heart and cancer surgery the previous fall. About midway through the second half, Granddaddy started feeling nauseous and had a rapid heartbeat. I ran to the concession area and found a friend of mine who is one of the operations supervisors to get one of the EMT units. They were on the scene in no time. Granddaddy was assisted out of the arena and taken by ambulance to UNC Hospital, with his wife by his side. I assured him I would take his car and meet him at the hospital.
Remember my wife? The one who was 6 months pregnant? Well the stress was not settling on her too well. She was not up to going to the hospital. She needed to go home and go to bed. Luckily my friend in operations (we knew each other in high school and were in the same dorm at UNC), volunteered to take her home so I could help my Granddaddy. The class our teams show on the court extends to Tar Heels who work off the court too.
So after I have her taken care of, I head out to his car, parked next to the (Smith Center). It's blocked in! I am sitting there, in the car, listening to the final moments of the game on the car radio. We won! But I had no one to celebrate with. I just wanted traffic to start moving so I could get to the hospital. After convincing the parking attendants to let me head the wrong way along Manning to go to the hospital, I made it to the emergency room less than 30 minutes after the final buzzer.
I entered the emergency room to check in. I asked the lady at the desk how EC Bodenheimer is doing. She says she'll go to the back and check. She can tell I am very stressed! A minute or two later she comes back out and asks me to please come back with her. It seems my Granddaddy, upon learning I am there, wants me back there to answer just one question, "Who won?" It seems he has been badgering everyone for an answer, but then didn't want to believe them. But he told (the hospital staff), that if I could come back there and tell him, he would believe me and calm down. "Yes Granddaddy, Carolina won....75-73." Thank God I didn't have to lie!
EC Bodenheimer passed away in 1999 at the age of 85. He instilled in me a love of UNC that remains strong to this day.
Thanks for allowing me to share my story with you.
Regards,
Ben Freeman, Class of 1986
Wedding Decisions
I graduated from UNC in December 1996 and my wife graduated in May of 1997. I proposed in December 1996 and we scheduled a May wedding right after graduation which meant we had only five months to plan a wedding on a shoe-string, student-budget. I was able to get ticket along with my wife for the Duke game. We got row 10 right behind the basket and were psyched for a great top five matchup. On the Saturday before the game, we met with the lady who would prepare our cake and were quoted $600 for the cake we had picked. As we were headed into the game, someone approached us and offered us $300 each for our tickets. We both looked at each other and realized that was exactly what we needed to cover our cake. Then we looked at each other again and said, "Forget the cake, this is Duke!" As good as the cake turned out to be, I will never forget the taste of one final victory (91-85 on March 2) as a student over Dook! Go Heels!
Benjamin Ousley
Nogales, Mexico
First UNC-Duke Game In The Smith Center
My fondest memory of any game during my four years at Carolina had to be the first game at the Student Activities Center (SAC, what the arena was called initially). I convinced my dorm mates to sleep out 24 hours before tickets were given out. We ended up sleeping outside on the brick sidewalk in sub freezing weather. We played cards, music, danced...anything to keep warm. A bright spot was when Brad Daugherty ordered pizzas to be given out to the fans in line! A great gesture....since we were suffering to see him play. Fast forward to the day of game. Walking down the hill by Hinton James, several times we were offered up to $1,000 to sell our tickets! It was one and only time I sat up in the rafters but it was well worth it as we again conquered Duke!
Tony Kearney
Atlanta, Ga.
The Greatest Comeback
I'll never forget that Carolina-Duke game back in 1974. The game was being played at Carmichael Auditorium. Duke was up by eight points with 17 seconds left in the game. The Tar Heels mounted a furious comeback with a desperate defense that caused the Blue Devils into turnovers. I remember Bobby Jones coming up with a couple of huge plays to get us back in the game. Then came the unforgettable clincher with Walter Davis' infamous 28 footer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime. If I'm right, the shot banked in off the backboard to send everybody including myself into hysterics. Carolina went on to win the game in overtime for one of the all-time great UNC-Duke basketball games!
Joe Mendez
Sacrificing To Watch The Game
In 1997 when Carolina hosted Duke at the Smith Center I was at Fort Gordon, GA, going to school to learn my military job. I was living in the trainee barracks and there was one television in the dayroom that all the trainees could watch but by the time the game started everyone was supposed to be in their rooms for the night. I was desperate to see the game so I had to think creatively. The barracks had a cleaning schedule and one of the tasks was to strip, mop, and wax the floors in the barracks every few nights. Fortunately it was on the schedule to strip the froor in the dayroom the night of the game, but unfortunately I was not on the cleaning schedule that evening. I tracked down every person on the list that night and begged them to let me take their place unitil I found someone willing. So I was watching the entire game while steering a floor stripper around the room. It was worth it though, especially after the alley oop pass Ed Cota threw off the backboard to Vince Carter despite the fact that Vince missed the dunk. If anyone was sleeping before that play I am certain that they were not after it. Carolina-Duke is one of those occasions that you have to make sacrifices for sometimes.
SGT James Forney
