YouTube Gold: An Epic Cameron Upset From 1976
In the 1970s, Duke had hit hard times. Then this happened.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - 1978: Tate Armstrong #14 of the Chicago Bulls poses for a portrait circa 1978 at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1978 NBAE (Photo by NBA Photos/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images B etween the resignation of embattled coach Bucky Waters in 1973, and the arrival of Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard in 1977, there wasn’t a whole lot to celebrate for Duke Basketball. Bill Foster took the job after a ludicrous plan to bring Adolph Rupp out of retirement didn’t work out, and Foster was a builder.
In his first class, he got what players he could, but in his second, he found Jim Spanarkel, who would become the first ACC Rookie of the Year. He also found Duke’s first (and only) JUCO transfer, 6-5 George Moses, and had some players that Waters and interim coach Neil McGeachy left behind. Among those were Willie Hodge, a talented but erratic center, Tate Armstrong, who would emerge as a great college guard and who would be on the 1976 Olympic basketball team, and Terry Chili, a modestly gifted big man who would nonetheless carve out a role in Duke history.
In 1976, the ACC powers were UNC, NC State, and Maryland. After the David Thompson era, UNC re-emerged as the dominant power, and Maryland was not far behind. And when the #7 Terrapins came to Cameron on February 21st, 1976, Duke fans saw an improbable upset.
It was a tight game that night, and when it got down to winning time, Duke found an unlikely hero: Chili. Terry Chili was a 51% free throw shooter, and in the closing minutes, he went to the line, and, sure enough, was 1-1. But Chili had a sort of secret weapon: he was in superb condition.