DURHAM -- Cameron Indoor Stadium has served many purposes over the 75 years since its completion.



There have been many memorable concerts and several important political speeches in Duke's famous arena. It has hosted PE classes and intramural competition for the general student population. Bad weather has moved graduation from nearby Wade Stadium to Cameron on a number of occasions. Quite a few varsity sports have held competion in Cameron – including women's basketball, wrestling and volleyball.



But the arena was designed and built with one particular purpose in mind—to host the Duke men's basketball program. It was conceived by Eddie Cameron to be the finest on-campus arena in the country. Under his direction, Philadelphia architect Julian Abele modified – and improved – on the design of The Palestra, creating what Sports Illustrated voted the world's fourth greatest sporting venue of the 20th Century – and the only basketball arena to make the top 10.



Cameron has hosted dozens of memorable men's basketball games over its 75-year history. Each Sunday, check back with GoDuke.com to learn more about 75 of the legendary contests that took place in one of the nation's most historic venues, in chronological order.

For now, we bring you the first ten, beginning with the Eddie Cameron era and a Duke vs. Princeton game from 1940.



EDDIE CAMERON ERA



1. Jan. 6, 1940 – Duke 36, Princeton 27



Duke played its first six games of the season on the road, so that the Blue Devils could open Duke Indoor Stadium against Eastern power Princeton. The game drew a just-short-of-capacity crowd of 8,000. The score was tied at 16 at the half, but Glenn Price, a 5-10 junior forward, led Duke to victory in the first game ever played in the new arena.



2. Feb. 20, 1941 – Duke 35, North Carolina 33



The 1941 Blue Devils were 7-8 and on a four game-losing streak after a loss to Washington and Lee in mid-February. But Eddie Cameron's team turned it around and entered the regular season finale against defending Southern Conference champion UNC on a three-game winning streak. The Devils made it four straight with a dramatic 35-33 victory – Duke's first win over its biggest rival in the new building – then beat the White Phantoms again in the Southern Conference Tournament to give Cameron his second conference title in four years. Duke closed the season with a seven-game winning streak.



3. Feb. 27, 1942 – Duke 41, North Carolina 40 (OT)



His roster infused by three stars from Durham High's great prewar basketball team, Cameron enjoyed his greatest season in 1942. Duke was 18-2 entering the regular season finale. But North Carolina forced overtime and Duke, getting more than half its points from the Durham High trio of Robert Gantt and twins Cedric and Garland Loftis, pulled out the overtime win. Duke would complete the season 22-2 by sweeping the Southern Conference title and giving Cameron his second title in a row and third in five seasons.



GERRY GERARD ERA



4. Feb. 16, 1946 – North Carolina 54, Duke 44



The first basketball sellout in stadium history turned out to watch the two best teams in the Southern Conference finish the regular season. Duke, bolstered by the mid-season addition of pre-war star John Seward – back after spending 71 days in a Nazi POW camp – had stunned favored UNC in Chapel Hill. But the White Phantoms got their own reinforcements before the rematch as former Durham High star Bones McKinney got out of the service and joined an already powerful team. McKinney made the difference as UNC won the rematch. But Duke got the last laugh, winning the Southern Conference title a week later after UNC was upset by Wake Forest in the semifinals.



5. Mar. 8, 1947 – N.C. State 50, North Carolina 48



When the late-season UNC at N.C. State game was cancelled because too many fans jammed into tiny Walter Thompson gym in Raleigh, Wolfpack coach Everett Case called Duke's Eddie Cameron and suggested that they move the Southern Conference Tournament from the 4,000-seat Raleigh Auditorium to Duke's huge arena. A sellout crowd watched the Pack edge UNC in the championship game. Afterwards, Case showed the fans an old Indiana high school tradition – his team celebrated by cutting down the nets. That's believed to be the first net-cutting in college basketball history.



6. Feb. 4, 1949 – Duke 73, No. 15 NYU 44



The first college basketball polls were issued in 1949 and No. 15 ranked NYU was the first ranked team to visit Duke Stadium. A fairly average Duke team (that would finish 13-9) led by two at the half, then blew the favored Violets out with a 41-14 second-half run, led by two sport star Corren “Creep” Youmans.



7. Jan. 7, 1950 – Duke 58, No. 7 N.C. State 55



Duke beat Everett Case the first time the Devils faced the legendary coach at N.C. State, but lost the next six meetings (including the 1948 Southern Conference Championship game). It was not supposed to be any different when the first top 10 team to ever play at Duke visited soon after the New Year. But Corren Youmens outplayed State All-American Sammy Ranzino and sophomore Dick Groat outscored future Duke coach Vic Bubas 16-3 to give Duke the narrow victory.



HAROLD BRADLEY ERA



8. Dec. 1, 1951 – Duke 85, Temple 48



The game was billed as a matchup between the nation's two highest scorers from the year before – Duke's Dick Groat and Temple's Bill Mvlky (The Owl without a Vowel). But the matchup fizzled as Groat dominated and Mlvky struggled. However, the real significance of the game turned out to be Temple sophomore Sam Sylvester, an African-American who started for the Owls – making it the first integrated college basketball game in North Carolina history. Its believed to be the first integrated official college game in the South.



9. Feb. 29, 1952 – No. 15 Duke 94, North Carolina 64



Duke was headed for a showdown with powerful N.C. State in the next week's Southern Conference Tournament and North Carolina was struggling through its second straight 12-15 season, so the game itself had little hype. But it was the last home game for Dick Groat, a two-sport All-American and at that point, the greatest basketball player in Duke history. Groat responded to the moment with a career-best 48 point performance. That would stand as Duke's single game scoring record for 36 years (and is still the home record). Coincidentally, teammate Bernie Janicki would also set a record that day, pulling down 31 rebounds – a single-game record that still stands.



10. Mar. 8, 1954 – No. 18 N.C. State 75, No. 9 George Washington 73



The one and only NCAA Tournament game played at Duke was originally scheduled for Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum, but Southern Conference champ George Washington objected to playing its former conference rival on its own home court. So the game was moved to Durham. GW star Corky Devlin set an NCAA scoring record with 41 points, but Phil DiNardo scored the game-winner with a tap-in and then the sophomore reserve blocked Devlin's last-second lay-up to preserve the win.



