Honored Jersey Numbers
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Retired Jerseys at Duke
Coach Scheyer - Media Availability 7/8/25
“Coach, since you arrived here 19 years ago, there’s obviously been a ton of success, but the one interesting thing that’s been missing is the next retired jersey number. In fact, it’s the longest streak….that there’s not been a retired jersey. So I’m just curious, do you think that’s still a realistic goal and what would the retired jersey player look like in your mind?”
Here is Coach Scheyer’s response:
If you’re unable to watch, Coach Scheyer called Duke “the most difficult place to get your number or jersey retired” while noting that a player must either win a national player of the year award (or awards), break an NCAA record, and the player must graduate. If you need a refresher, here’s the current list of retired jerseys at Duke (date retired):
#10 - Dick Groat (5/1/52)
#43 - Mike Gminski (2/20/1980)
#24 - Johnny Dawkins (2/22/86)
#35 - Danny Ferry (2/18/89)
#25 - Art Heyman (3/4/90)
#32 - Christian Laettner (2/26/92)
#11 - Bobby Hurley (2/28/93)
#33 - Grant Hill (2/27/94)
#44 - Jeff Mullins (12/6/94)
#31 - Shane Battier (2/21/01)
#22 - Jason Williams (2/5/03)
#23 - Shelden Williams (1/28/07)
#4 - J.J. Redick (2/4/07)
Honored Jerseys
I’ve heard this topic brought up in previous press conferences, so I thought it’d be a fun exercise to consider how to recognize some additional players while also keeping the current retired jerseys special. If Coach Scheyer and the program ever do decide to recognize some more former jersey numbers, I’m sure it will be done correctly, and with much class and consideration.
Here’s my idea:
1) The 13 retired jerseys remain a separate group. A player could, in theory, be added to the list but the criteria remains the same. And as Coach Scheyer mentioned, this is unlikely given the trajectory of college basketball over the last decade plus.
2) To compliment the retired jerseys, the next group could be honored jersey numbers for players who met certain accomplishments during their time in Durham. These would still be active numbers for future players, and it’s also notable that two retired jersey numbers have actually been worn again in recent years. Marvin Bagley wore Danny Ferry’s retired #35 during the 2017-2018 season, and Mark Mitchell wore Art Heyman’s retired #25 during his two seasons (2022-2024).
3) More than one player can have the same jersey number honored. Furthermore, a number can be both retired and honored - examples of each to come. Also, for the purposes of this article, I only went back to 1950.
4) Finally, I used a combination of criteria for a jersey number to be honored. A player must check off three of the following accomplishments: graduate from Duke; consensus National Player of the Year; consensus 1st or 2nd Team All-American; ACC Player of the Year; Final Four Most Outstanding Player; 2,000+ career points; or National Defensive Player of the Year.
Based on that, here’s my list of honored jersey numbers (numerical order):
#1 - Zion Williamson (NPOY, 1st Team All-American, & ACC POY)
#2 - Cooper Flagg (NPOY, 1st Team All-American & ACC POY)
#2 - Nolan Smith (graduate, 1st Team All-American, ACC POY)
#11 - Bob Verga (graduate, 1st Team All-American, ACC POY)
#12 - Kyle Singler (graduate, 2k pts, MOP)1
#23 - Chris Carrawell (graduate, 1st Team All-American, & ACC POY)
#30 - Jon Scheyer (graduate, 2nd Team All-American, 2k pts)
#34 - Jim Spanarkel (graduate, 2nd Team All-American, 2k pts)
#42 - Elton Brand (NPOY, 1st Team All-American, & ACC POY)
This would add nine more numbers to the rafters in Cameron (more on that in a second), and all thirteen retired jerseys can also check off at least three of the accomplishments I used.2 This brings the total number of recognized jerseys to 22, and includes a good mix of guys throughout the years. Of the nine newly honored jerseys, eight of the guys made it to the Final Four (Zion was so close), and six guys won ACC Player of the year. Jerseys #11 and #23 would be both retired (Hurley & S. Williams) and honored (Verga & Carrawell), and #2 would be honored twice (Smith & Flagg).
In the interest of being thorough, I wanted to mention all the players from each category I used, so here’s every Duke player to accomplish the following:
Consensus National Player of the Year3
Art Heyman (1963); Christian Laettner (1992); Elton Brand (1999); Jason Williams (2002); J.J. Redick (2006); Zion Williamson (2019); Cooper Flagg (2025)
2,000 Career Points
J.J. Redick (2,769); Johnny Dawkins (2,556); Christian Laettner (2,460); Kyle Singler (2,392); Mike Gminski (2,323); Danny Ferry (2,155); Mark Alarie (2,136); Gene Banks (2,079); Jason Williams (2,079); Jon Scheyer (2,077); Jim Spanarkel (2,012)
ACC Player of the Year
Art Heyman (1963); Jeff Mullins (1964); Steve Vacendak (1966); Mike Gminski (1979); Danny Ferry (1988 & 1989); Christian Laettner (1992); Grant Hill (1994); Elton Brand (1999); Chris Carrawell (2000); Shane Battier (2001); J.J. Redick (2005 & 2006); Nolan Smith (2011); Jahlil Okafor (2015); Marvin Bagley (2018); Zion Williamson (2019); Tre Jones (2020); Cooper Flagg (2025)
Consensus 1st Team All-American
Dick Groat (1952); Art Heyman (1963); Bob Verga (1967); Mike Gminski (1979); Johnny Dawkins (1985 & 1986); Danny Ferry (1989); Christian Laettner (1992); Bobby Hurley (1993); Grant Hill (1994); Elton Brand (1999); Chris Carrawell (2000); Shane Battier (2001); Jason Williams (2001 & 2002); J.J. Redick (2005 & 2006); Shelden Williams (2006); Nolan Smith (2011); Jabari Parker (2014); Jahlil Okafor (2015); Marvin Bagley (2018); Zion Williamson (2019); RJ Barrett (2019); Cooper Flagg (2025)
Consensus 2nd Team All-American
Dick Groat (1951); Art Heyman (1962); Jeff Mullins (1964); Jack Marin (1966); Bob Verga (1966); Jim Spanarkel (1979); Mike Gminski (1980); Danny Ferry (1988); Christian Laettner (1991); Grant Hill (1993); Trajan Langdon (1999); Shane Battier (2000); Mike Dunleavy (2002); Jon Scheyer (2010); Mason Plumlee (2013); Luke Kennard (2017); Vernon Carey (2020); Paolo Banchero (2022); Kyle Filipowski (2024)
National Defensive Player of the Year
Tommy Amaker (1987); Billy King (1988); Grant Hill (1993); Steve Wojciechowski (1998); Shane Battier (1999-2001); Shelden Williams (2005 & 2006)
Final Four Most Outstanding Player
Art Heyman (1963);4 Christian Laettner (1991); Bobby Hurley (1992); Shane Battier (2001); Kyle Singler (2010); Tyus Jones (2015)
Honored Jerseys Banner
I’d make one banner with all the honored numbers on it, and hang it in Cameron with the retired jerseys. Envision how the Boston Celtics do theirs, but I would add last names.
This is as low-tech as possible, but just so you get the idea:
What next?
After the addition of those nine numbers, I’d like to see Duke revisit honoring some more jerseys periodically - maybe every ten years? Some guys could have joined the group checking off three of the accomplishments mentioned above. I would also be in favor of at least considering some other accomplishments that could be added to the list. Possibilities include ACC Tournament MVP or multiple time All-ACC 1st team, adding any other All-American honors (3rd team or honorable mention), or even expanding it to consider guys who have made an All-NBA team or won an Olympic gold medal.5
Will we ever see another retired jersey at Duke? It seems unlikely given the existing criteria, but it’d be cool to see some more guys have their jersey numbers honored in the meantime. And to be clear, these 22 numbers along with the guys listed in each category are nowhere near exhaustive in terms of how I view the history of Duke Basketball.6 Chris Duhon is second in career minutes at Duke, started on two Final Four teams, and was an All-American as a senior. Tre Jones is the only player to ever win ACC Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Jeff Capel, Chris Collins, and Nate James were all-conference, played in the Final Four, and went on to become assistant coaches at Duke. Gene Banks, Jay Bilas, David Henderson, Quin Snyder, Brian Davis, Thomas Hill, and Antonio Lang. Cherokee Parks, Marty Clark, Ricky Price, Roshown McLeod, Will Avery, and Corey Maggette. From Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy, and Dahntay Jones, to Luol Deng, Gerald Henderson, Brian Zoubek, and Lance Thomas. The Plumlee brothers. Kyrie Irving, Jabari Parker, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, and Paolo Banchero. The Jones (Stones) brothers. JRoach, DLive, Flip, Tyrese, Kon, Khaman, and Sion more recently. Quinn Cook was almost the only four-year player under Mike Krzyzewski to never win an ACC regular season, ACC Tournament, or go to a Final Four. Instead, Quinn captained a team of just eight scholarship players, including four freshmen (Jahlil, Tyus, Justise, and Grayson) to the 2015 National Championship.
I could keep going, but I’d only continue to leave guys out. It was fun to look back through the Duke record books and reminisce over all the names that have come through Cameron, all the players I loved watching - the guys who brought intangibles, the veteran leaders, and the most improved, along with the All-Americans, players of the year, MOPs, and National Champs. It goes without saying, but man, some great players have donned the Duke jersey over the years and I can’t wait to watch the 2025-2026 team tip-off the season in one month.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
I haven’t seen or heard any updates on Kyle Singler since the concerning videos in November of 2024, but I continue to wish him well. I was actually researching his career numbers for another project around that same time. Kyle arrived in Durham and basically spent his whole career on the floor (148 consecutive games with 147 starts). Singler is the ACC career leader in minutes played (4,887) - and ranks in the top seven in both points (4th) and rebounds (7th) all-time at Duke. Kyle went 65-2 in Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is second in home wins behind Amile Jefferson (67-2).
Groat - (1st Team, 2nd Team, graduate)
Heyman - (NPOY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, ACC POY, MOP, graduate)
Mullins - (ACC POY, 2nd Team, graduate)
Gminski - (ACC POY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, 2k pts, graduate)
Dawkins - (1st Team, 2k pts, graduate)
Ferry - (ACC POY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, 2k pts, graduate)
Laettner - (NPOY, ACC POY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, 2k pts, MOP, graduate)
Hurley - (1st Team, MOP, graduate)
Hill - (ACC POY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, NDPOY, graduate)
Battier - (ACC POY, 1st Team, 2nd Team, NDPOY, MOP, graduate)
J. Williams - (NPOY, 1st Team, 2k pts, graduate)
Redick - (NPOY, 1st Team, ACC POY, 2k pts, graduate)
S. Williams - (NDPOY, 1st Team, graduate)
Shane Battier missed consensus NPOY by one award in 2001. His teammate Jason Williams won the NABC honor, making them the only teammates in history to win an NPOY award in the same season.
Art Heyman (1963) is one of eleven guys to win MOP despite his team not winning the National Championship. The others are Jimmy Hull (Ohio State - 1939); B.H. Born (Kansas - 1953); Hal Lear (Temple - 1956); Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas -1957); Elgin Baylor (Seattle - 1958); Jerry West (West Virginia - 1959); Jerry Lucas (Ohio State - 1961); Bill Bradley (Princeton - 1965); Jerry Chambers (Utah - 1966); Akeem Olajuwon (Houston - 1983)
Trajan Langdon would join the honored list as a three-time member of the All-ACC 1st Team, along with being a 2nd Team All-American and Duke graduate. Mark Alarie was two-time All-ACC 1st team to go along with his 2,000+ career points and Duke degree. Carlos Boozer would fall under ACC Tournament MVP (2002), All-NBA, and gold medal (he also came back and completed his degree in 2020).
The names that follow are in no way meant to be exhaustive. There are over 80 different former Duke players mentioned at least once in this article, and I initially included about another 60 names in this footnote but there were still guys I felt like I left out.