Duke Alumni Take “Super-Fandom” to New Level
By Greg Jenkins
In a record year for both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Duke, alumni reflect on the community they cultivated through the game when they were students.
Kim Reed ’86 | Potomac, Maryland | Co-founder of Krzyzewskiville
Kim Reed wasn’t trying to start anything; she was just trying to get great seats to the 1986 Duke-UNC basketball game at Cameron Indoor.
Little did she know that the plan she hatched with friends to line up early for the tickets would end with a U-Haul full of tents and an enduring legacy as a co-founder of Krzyzewskiville.
Now with decades of Duke basketball games enshrined in memory and more than 50 lucky Duke basketball T-shirts to wear, Reed continues the tradition of cheering on the Blue Devils with her family. San Antonio was her seventh Final Four. While it didn’t go as she hoped, she shared the experience with her daughter, Erika Pietrzak ’25, a Duke senior, and husband, Zbish Pietrzak ’86, along with many longtime Duke friends.
Reed said she probably won’t sleep in a tent for big games anymore, but she will continue to support Duke wherever they play. With any luck, she’ll get to enjoy another celebration like after the 2001 championship, when she stayed at the team hotel and the players came back to celebrate with fans and alumni.
“The team came in and high-fived everybody, and hung out with us for a while,” Reed says. “That was awesome.”
Patrick King M.Div.’04 | Knoxville, Tennessee | Speedo Guy
In 2003, Divinity School student Patrick King devised a plan to distract UNC players at the foul line by dancing wildly in a Duke blue Speedo.
The unconventional plan worked famously—the Carolina player missed both shots, and King was immortalized in Cameron Crazie lore.
Despite marrying into a family of University of Tennessee fans, King is still a devoted Duke basketball fan living in Knoxville and working as a director of business development.
Just how far might he go to help the Blue Devils?
“Speedos obviously help win games!” he says.
Kenny Dennard ’81 | Houston, Texas | Duke basketball letterman
If you follow Kenny Dennard on Instagram, you know the former Duke basketball star loves a colorful outfit.
A chartreuse camo hoodie.
A T-shirt with an abstract mosaic of rainbow colors.
Of course, a Duke blue pullover.
Dennard puts his fashion on rotation as a measure of good luck to the team. “I change wardrobes or color schemes after an in-person loss,” he says.
Dennard played in the 1978 Final Four, coming close to a title with his fellow members of The Brotherhood. In the stands, Dennard prefers to watch the Blue Devils with his fellow beloved former players.
But ask him about how he might celebrate a championship, and Dennard says there a good luck charm for that, too: “The first rule of winning championships is: Don’t talk about winning championships.”
Steve Veatch ’74 | Normal, Illinois | Former Blue Devil mascot
It was basketball season in 1972 when a fellow Duke classmate simply handed Steve Veatch a Blue Devil costume and told him: “You’re the new Blue Devil.”
In those days, the duties were simply passed down to someone else, and Veatch embraced the role with his own passion and purpose.
“The mascot was nothing like it is today,” Veatch says, “I wanted to grow the whole spirit of the Blue Devil—walk through the crowd, get to know little kids, have their parents take pictures with the Blue Devil.”
Today, although retired and far away from Duke, Veatch’s love for Duke basketball endures. Since the 1986 national championship game, Veatch hasn’t missed many games on television. And on special occasions, Veatch can be seen in his Blue Devil costume around his hometown.
At home, Veatch keeps the Blue Devil spirit alive. He sometimes wears the costume at home, along with a special Duke T-shirt, and pumps himself up with AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.”
“I always play the song five minutes before game, and at halftime, and after they win,” he says. “I have a very powerful stereo system, so the neighbors know when Duke’s playing basketball.”
Kimberly Dixon ’10 | Greenville, N.C. | Cameron Crazie
Kimberly Dixon and Jon Scheyer go way back. Their senior year, Scheyer led Duke to a national title, and Dixon celebrated on the Quad with her closest friends.
“I have a very distinct memory of skipping a class, maybe two, to go to the celebration in Cameron when they got back,” Dixon says.
Dixon laughs as she relates the story—she doesn’t actually know Scheyer, but she does stay in close touch with those same friends with whom she tented and celebrated.
Basketball created community for Dixon and her closest Duke friends, she says.
“We didn’t know we were going to be lifelong friends,” Dixon says. “But something about being in 30 degree weather and being frustrated that you’re in 30 degree weather and that you chose to be in 30 degree weather will really bond you and connect you.”