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Duke, UNC Students Plan to Beat World Basketball Record

Students to extend oncourt rivalry to raise funds for nonprofit

The Duke-UNC basketball rivalry is considered one of the best in college sports.

Students at the Newman Catholic Student Centers at both schools hope to capitalize on that competitive fact when they stage the "Duke-Carolina Basketball Marathon."

The proposed event calls for a 58-hour-long basketball game between Duke and UNC students on Jan. 14-16, 2006, at UNC's Fetzer Gym. The goal is to raise $80,000 for the HoopDreamsBasketballAcademy. Hoop Dreams, founded in Durham in 2003, is "a nonprofit organization that teaches life skills through athletics to children with life-threatening illness."

If the marathon goes off as scheduled, the participants will also enter the Guinness Book of World Records; the current record for a basketball marathon is 30 hours and 12 minutes

Last week, David Walker, the head of this yearlong project at Duke, and his counterparts at UNC held an information session on the Duke campus. Walker said if the fundraiser is successful, organizers will try to make it an annual event.

This idea evolved from a desire by the Newman Catholic Centers at both schools to collaborate on a project.

"We thought something service-related would be kind of neat," said Gregory Richmond, head of the project at UNC. "We wanted to get the different communities' student organizations involved. Basketball is something we both share and it would be absolutely amazing if we do something with that."

To date, UNC has about 50 students on leadership teams helping to organize the marathon. Duke has about 20 students involved, and is trying to recruit more.

The challenge so far at Duke is publicity, Walker said. "Everyone I have spoken to has been really enthusiastic. Our main struggle is just getting the word out," he said.

The basketball game will consist of two teams, each with 12 players representing their respective schools. Each player and his support team of 10 members will try to raise $1,100. There will also be cheerleaders, or "moralers," to cheer on the players because a 56-hour basketball game is going to take a lot of spirit and adrenaline. Each of the moralers is expected to raise $35.

During the basketball marathon, there will also be many other games and events.

"We are also going have a 'Tobacco Road Jamboree'" modeled after K-ville, with Duke students camped out on one side and Carolina students camped out on the other, Richmond said.

The organizers hope the event will attract a lot of media attention.

"We are definitely hitting all the local TV stations. There is talk of 60 Minutes or ESPN being there," Malone said.