If there was a such thing as a Blue Devil Flea Market, it would look a lot like the surplus sale held in Duke's Card Gym this past Friday and Saturday. As I enter the gym, the first thing I see are tables lined up with piles of t-shirts being sorted by eager customers.
I expected that, but this wasn't a simple t-shirt sale: Around me was a customer with three boxes of size 17 football cleats, a woman with a Duke fencing jacket, and a man grabbing for several Duke baseball jerseys.
They were all taking advantage of Duke's third annual athletics surplus sale, where apparel from every sport at Duke imaginable was marked down to low prices.
"We had a huge rush," says Gerald Harrison, associate director of athletics. "It's a great opportunity for families to get Duke items at a price that works for them."
Harrison and Dave McClain, director of athletic equipment came up with the idea of having a surplus sale. "It was just so much stuff," says Harrison. "We even had stuff dating back to '86! We decided that having a surplus sale wasn't only the best way to recycle the items, but to benefit the Duke community as well."
To confirm Harrison, a large turnout filled Card Gym. Students, staff, alumni and non-Duke associates came to try on hats, sweatpants, belts and jackets while looking to buy for family, friends, and themselves.
"I'm here for the summer, and I thought I'd find some cheap clothes," said sophomore Ibe Algzie. "It's funny seeing all these intramural championship t-shirts. I've been trying to earn a shirt like that after the season and here are people buying it on sale!"
"I'm after the golf shirts," said alumni Michael Caines. "Once I got an email about this sale, I made sure I was here." Many of the most popular items and sizes were sold out by early Friday afternoon.
If you missed the sale, there's always next year around this same time. Make sure you come early though!
Gabriel Aikens and Thomas Leak are North Carolina Central University students working as interns this summer in the Duke Office of News and Communications.