What Was the World Like the Last Time UNC and Duke Were Unranked?

Heels, Blue Devils to meet coming off losses and unranked for first time in 70 years

North Carolina and Duke play on Saturday in this season’s first meeting of the sport’s best rivalry.

This year’s game will look a little different. First of all, Cameron Indoor Stadium will be empty, due to pandemic protocols. Secondly, for the first time since February 27, 1960, both Carolina and Duke enter the game unranked in the AP Top 25.

The game will snap a 153-game streak of at least one team being ranked.

Since the first AP poll was released in 1949, the game has featured the No. 1 team in the country twice as often (28 times) as it has featured two unranked teams (14).

Dean Smith was an assistant coach on that UNC team. The Tar Heels won the game, 75-50, led by Lee Shaffer’s 26 points. Doug Moe added 19. Doug Kistler led Duke with 19.

Freshmen weren’t eligible to play college basketball at the time, and the Duke-Carolina freshman game may have featured more talent than the varsity contest. Art Heyman scored 23 points to lead Duke to a 63-47 win over UNC freshmen, which the Daily Tar Heel and Chronicle both insensitively referred to as the “Tar Babies”. Larry Brown scored 16 for Carolina.

The student papers emphasize just how long it’s been since both teams were unranked. The Daily Tar Heel includes an ad for Camel Cigarettes, saying, “The best tobacco makes the best smoke!”

The Chronicle appealed to a classier way to smoke, offering ads for the top selling pipe tobacco (as well as slacks for $8.95).

If you’re looking for a car, you could also get a brand new Rambler for $1,795, or you could go to the car dealer that used beat poetry to hawk its vehicles.

Both papers offered the chance to sign up for a summer tour of Europe, including a 17-day trip to Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Scandinavia for $495.

Students who wanted to stay closer to home could get a room at the Biltmore Hotel in New York for a student rate of $8.00 a night.

The Belk’s department store in downtown Durham offered sport shirts on sale for $2.66, perfect “for the thrifty 60’s”

They could wear their new clothes to a night out at the movies.

Among the top news stories of the day—there was speculation that presidential candidate John Kennedy’s Catholicism might keep him from being elected.

And, of course, readers would want to be sure to try the paper’s crossword puzzle, brought to you by Kool, the cigarette to try when you start having problems with your throat.

This year’s Carolina-Duke game suffered another hit to the hype when both the Blue Devils and Tar Heels lost earlier in the week. Duke fell at Miami Monday night, while the Tar Heels lost at Clemson on Tuesday.

The last time both teams were unranked and coming off a loss when they played was Dec. 29, 1950.

Dean Smith was a sophomore at Kansas. Roy Williams was four months old. Mike Krzyzewski was a toddler at three.

The student papers at the time were concerned about the Korean War. Harry Truman had just recommended a second tax increase to help pay for the conflict, and there was speculation that the draft might soon be extended to college students.

In local news, the state was considering a law requiring car owners get their vehicles inspected regularly, and construction was about to start on a new highway to connect Durham and Chapel Hill.

Lucille Ball starred in a new movie. If it had done better, maybe she wouldn’t have tried TV the next year.

Student diets were a bit different, as local supermarkets offered specials on dexo, rutabagas, hot roll mix, dixie dew syrup and sparkle.

Or you could save your money to pay for your textbooks. The smart shopper went with used books, which, although a bit outdated were just 48 cents each.