University of Richmond Athletics
AlOng Came the Spiders
June 18, 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA 15282
Founded: 1878
Enrollment: 9,400 (private)
Nickname: Dukes
School Colors: Red and Blue
President: Dr. Charles J. Dougherty (St. Bonaventure)
Director of Athletics: Brian Colleary (Fordham, 1974)
Dept. of Athletics Address:
Duquesne University, Department of Athletics
A.J. Palumbo Center
600 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15282
Most Recent A10 Championships: 1977 Men's Basketball (Eastern Eight Champions which
evolved into the Atlantic 10)
Year joined the A10: 1977 (left in 1992 and rejoined in 1994)
Driving Distance from Richmond: 345.4 miles
Official Athletics Website: www.godukes.duq.edu
Sports:
Men's: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football (MAAC), Golf, Soccer, Swimming,
Tennis, Track & Field, Wrestling
Women's: Basketball, Cross Country, Lacrosse, Rowing, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track &
Field, Volleyball
A 10 item list about Duquesne:
1) A little more about Duquesne... Duquesne University, once named Pittsburgh Catholic College of the Holy Ghost, is located in downtown Pittsburgh, just minutes from PNC Park (the Pirates new ballpark), the University of Pittsburgh, Mount Washington (offers a great view of the city), and Point State Park (where the three rivers meet, the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio). The Dukes play home basketball games in the A.J. Palumbo Center (left), which has a seating capacity of 6,200.
Thanks for the question and congratulations to Richard M. Bing of Richmond, VA who will receive a Spider PrizePack for sending an email asking about Duquesne and the Dukes' basketball arena.
2) Notre Dame, Penn State, Florida State, Alabama, and Duquesne... Few know that Duquesne has had a rich and colorful football history. In fact as a competitor at the Division I level in the 1930s and '40s the Dukes appeared in and won a pair of New Year's Day bowl games. DU defeated Miami 33-7 in the 1934 Festival of Palms (later the Orange) Bowl and Mississippi State 13-12 in the 1937 Orange Bowl. In fact, from 1933-45, Duquesne had the sixth-highest winning percentage in the nation behind Alabama, Tennessee, Duke, Fordham and Notre Dame. DU was one of the first schools to cancel football to help out with the World War II effort. Duquesne currently competes in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Football League at the I-AA non-scholarship level. In fact, over the last six years, no I-AA has a higher winning percentage than DU (53-12, .815).
3) Beat `em up, beat `em up, rah, rah, rah... Duquesne's biggest rival is one of its closest Division 1 competitors, the University of Pittsburgh. Although Pittsburgh no longer competes in the Atlantic 10 the two remain bitter rivals due to their close proximity to each other. The teams compete in most sports every year in non-conference battles to continue this heated, cross-town rivalry.
4) Nee New Coach... The Dukes have a new men's basketball coach this coming year. Danny Nee, a Brooklyn, New York native, has coached at Ohio, Nebraska and Robert Morris. He owns a 568-278 (.570) career coaching record, has been to 7 NCAA's, and 7 NIT's. From 1976 to 1980 Nee was an assistant to ESPN personality Digger Phelps at Notre Dame. Nee has been named MAC coach of the year twice (1983 and 1985) during his tenure at Ohio. Nee also led the 1991 Nebraska Cornhuskers to an impressive #11 ranking
5) March Madness... Duquesne will host the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA Tournament this coming year. Games will be played at Mellon Arena, home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and played March 17th and 19th.
6) Isn't Pittsburgh just a bunch of steel mills??? Hardly! Visitors and locals enjoy spending time on Pittsburgh's historic South Side, known as Pittsburgh's Boardwalk. This 10+ block stretch of the city features unique shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars. The South Side is the place to be for nightlife during any visit to the "Steel City." Many also enjoy supporting Pittsburgh's professional teams: the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. With two brand-new stadiums, Pittsburgh is the place to go for state-of-the-art athletic facilities. Another famous landmark of the area is Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece Fallingwater (left). Located in near-by Mill Run the house was designed in 1935 for the family of Pittsburgh department store owner Edgar J. Kaufmann and was turned over to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1963. The house sits over a waterfall and is truly an amazing piece of American architecture.
7) Study Buddies... Since the inception of the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll in 1996, no school has had as many honorees as Duquesne's 1,002. Nearly 65 percent of all DU student-athletes were named to the Director of Athletics Honor Roll (GPA of 3.0 or better) this past year.
8) Lookout Tinsel-town... Silence of the Lambs, The Deer Hunter, Flashdance, Wonder Boys, Kingpin, Gung Ho, Inspector Gadget, All the Right Moves, Night of the Living Dead and Hoffa are just a few of the movies that have been shot in the Western Pennsylvania area.
9) I'm sooo hungry... So where should I eat when I go to Pittsburgh? Fat Heads South Shore Saloon located on the South Side (across the Monongahela River from campus) was voted best wings and beer. Primanti Brothers Restaurant (multiple locations around the city), known for its famous "cheese steak" sandwiches. It's not Philly style, but actually a burger, not shaved steak, and is listed as "the No. 2 favorite." The Primanti way of making a sandwich may not be famous world-wide, but it's certainly known citywide. Served on wax paper, meat, french-fries, tomato, and coleslaw are stuffed between two slices of Italian bread. They call it a sandwich, but it goes down like a meal.
10) We said Dukes, not Duke... Duquesne is the only school to have back-to-back first picks in the NBA Draft (Dick Ricketts by Milwaukee in 1955 and Sihugo Green by Rochester in 1956). The 1939-40 Dukes, who finished with a 20-3 record, appeared in both the NIT (second place) and NCAA Tournament (Final Four). Former Dukes All-American Chuck Cooper (1947-50) was the first black player drafted by the NBA when the Boston Celtics chose him in the second round of the 1950 draft.
11) Right next door... The City of Pittsburgh is located within 500 miles of more than half of the United States' population. New York is 368 miles away, Philadelphia is 295 miles from the `burgh, and Chicago is 452 miles away. Those are three of the five largest cities in America. When you consider that Washington D.C., Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Richmond, and Indianapolis are all within 500 miles of Pittsburgh you realize that it makes an ideal traveling destination or starting point.
12) Gentlemen, start your engines... President of Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Chip Ganassi is one of many famous alumni of Duquesne University. Ganassi's start in racing began in 1977 when he attended Bob Bondurant Driving School. In 1982 he entered his first Indy race at Phoenix, but a broken camshaft kept his from completing the race. 
He continued to race and succeed until he suffered serious injuries in an accident with Al Unser Jr. at the 1984 Michigan 500. Ganassi then moved to team ownership. In 1998 he purchased a part of Patrick Racing and by the following year the team won four races, including the Indy 500 and won the championship. In 1990 he gained sponsorship from Target stores to form a new racing team, Target Chip Ganassi Racing. The team has seen nothing but success winning an unprecedented four consecutive CART titles from 1996 to 1999. Other famous alumni include: Dan Rooney (President, Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL Hall of Fame), Norm Nixon (view right),(Former L.A. Laker, Clipper and NBA All-Star), Robert Dickinson (President and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines), and William Schultz (President and CEO of Fender Musical Instruments).
NEXT WEEK: Along Came the Spiders...to Fordham
Pictures from...
Arena: www.godukes.duq.edu
Pittsburgh Logo: www.pittsburghpanthers.com
Sandwich: www.primantibros.com
"Fallingwater": www.faywest.com/fayette/fallingwater
Race car: www.targetracing.com