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Remembering the legend of Walter Dukes

With the passing of time, the legend of Walter Dukes faded – except in the hearts and memories of Seton Hall basketball fans.

By Mohamad Mirghahari & Scott Shepard

A concerted effort to whitewash American history comes as so much of African American history is only now coming to light. One of the newly discovered jewels in the treasure trove of our country’s Black History is Walter Dukes, a college basketball legend of the 1950s, a decade that gave birth to the modern civil rights movement. Dukes’ mythical career on the basketball court and his extraordinary life off it bear witness to the power of character and faith.

Walter Dukes rose to national prominence in 1953 as the star center for the Seton Hall University Pirates. America learned of Walter Dukes the year before Brown vs. Board of Education, three years before the Montgomery bus boycott, 10 years before enactment of the sweeping Civil Rights Act, and a full dozen years before Texas Western broke the color barrier by winning the NCAA national championship against all-white Kentucky.

Unfortunately, with the passing of time, the legend of Walter Dukes faded – except in the hearts and memories of Seton Hall basketball fans. And now, as much of America attempts to confront our country’s racial history instead of burying it, the story of Walter Dukes is being told again. It is a story that should inspire all of us – no matter what color our skin.

March 14 will mark the 70th anniversary of the Seton Hall Pirates championship victory over St. Johns Redmen in the 1953 National Invitational Tournament. Throughout most of that magical season, the Pirates were the No. 1 ranked team in the country. Like most championship teams, the Pirates were well-coached and solid at every position, but their undisputable leader was Walter Dukes, the NIT MVP and a 1953 All American.

Dukes was a gentle and quiet giant who spoke with his basketball talents. But at 7 feet tall – a rarity in those days of college or pro basketball – he could not be ignored. And as an African American in an almost exclusively white world, his mere presence provoked irrational anger and startling violence.

Life Magazine documented what it was like for Dukes and his Seton Hall teammates under the headline: “ROUGH GAME. ROUGHER SEQUEL.” In a four-page article in the March 16, 1953, issue, Life recounted much of the Pirates season. The article and accompanying photographs memorialized one of the ugliest moments in college basketball – an angry mob of whites attacking Dukes and his teammates following a game in Kentucky against the University of Louisville.

It was a rare loss by Seton Hall in that game against Louisville – the Cardinals won 73-69 – but victory on the court was not enough for the Louisville players or their fans. They could not bear the sight of a black man on the court. But their attempt to intimidate Dukes or his teammates failed, as such attempts almost always do.

Failure does not stop the efforts to intimidate and to erase the tales of those who triumphed over it.  We see that so vividly today in Florida where books have been removed from classrooms for a “review” mandated by politicians. Among the 176 books under such review are two written for children about baseball legends Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente, both of whom were subjected to the same kind of racial vitriol that stalked Walter Dukes.

The inspiring stories of Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente aren’t the only ones Florida politicians want banished. Books about Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Jim Thorpe, and Ibtihaj Muhammad (the first American Olympian to compete wearing a hijab) are also on the hit list. Who’s next – the Tuskegee Airmen, Thurgood Marshall, Barack Obama?  Or maybe Walter Dukes, who challenged the conscience of the nation when Hank Aaron was still playing minor league ball in Florida, and when Roberto Clemente was playing in Puerto Rico, still dreaming of coming to America?

All these stories should be celebrated – not banned. They should be shared with every new generation – not confined to the past. They should be remembered – never forgotten. Otherwise, they will be lost forever, and there are few things more tragic than that. Because these are stories of underdogs, the longshots who win against all odds. They tap into our capacity to overcome, to hope and to dream. And no one – certainly no politician – has the right to deny any of us those rights.

Mohamad Mirghahari is a Seton Hall University alum, a University fellow at the University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, and a lifelong fan of the Seton Hall Pirates.

Scott Shepard was a longtime journalist with the Associated Press and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with extensive experience in coverage of civil rights issues and national politics.  

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