The Worst Part Of The Laettner Era
Christian Laettner drove everyone insane, so Duke haters latched on to this rumor to attach him. Didn't work.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 6: Duke University forward Christian Laettner holds up the net after his team's 71-51 victory over the University of Michigan which earned Duke the NCAA Photos via Getty Images National Basketball Championship title at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN. ( Photo by Rich Clarkson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images Photo via Getty Images) | NCAA Photos via Getty Images T he Laettner era was amazing for Duke fans in many ways.
Obviously, Christian Laettner’s competitive flame burned incredibly bright. He developed a mystique like no one else in college basketball history: other fan bases truly hated him, but they also feared him, because Laettner was absolutely ruthless. He gutted everyone: UNC, Connecticut, Kentucky.
They all hated him, but they knew that he was also going to steal their competitive souls. Ask Kentucky. The Shot was in 1992, and despite winning three national championships since, they’ve never gotten over it.
Partly because they couldn’t rattle him on the court, a rumor sprang up that Laettner was gay. He talks about that here, how it started, how he reacted to it (he didn’t much care and in fact encouraged it by holding hands with Brian Davis at one point). The rumor spread across the country, and when the Blue Devils visited Shaquille O’Neal and LSU, fans tried to taunt him with various crude expressions.