Duke, NC Central Volleyball Forge Community Connections

Three years, countless IG takeovers by the Eagles, one match in Cameron Indoor Stadium between the schools, continued education and communication culminated in Duke scheduling a match on the campus of NC Central — the first time a Duke varsity team has played on NCCU’s campus since the 1970s.

“I know I didn’t understand the scope of what it would mean for us to go over to NC Central and the fact that no one from Duke has really done it before,” Catanach Johnson said. 

“I think the notoriety is huge,” said NCCU head coach Jody Brown. “We’re a small school and we have these big giant schools all around us and for Duke to be the first one to come in here and play … I thought was really cool.”

NC Central, first founded in 1910, is a pillar of the Durham community. In the early 1900s when Black Wall Street in Durham was thriving, colleges open to educating African Americans in North Carolina were few. The lack of opportunities in higher education inspired Dr. James E. Shepard, thought to be one of the wealthiest African Americans in the United States in the early 1900s, to open the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, Inc., July 5, 1910. 

In 1923, the North Carolina state legislature converted the institution into the North Carolina College for Negroes and dedicated it to liberal arts education and the preparation of teachers and principals, thus making it the nation’s first state-supported liberal arts college for black students. 

“We’re in such a unique situation here in Durham to have NC Central that’s such a deeply ingrained part of the community and then to have Duke, which is also such a world-renowned brand and everything that comes with that,” Catanach Johnson said. “It’s about being able to come together and being able to put (sports) aside and acknowledge it’s bigger than us and it’s bigger than history. It’s about how we can impact the future.” 

Catanach Johnson’s husband Dezmond Johnson has a unique perspective as a former Duke football student-athlete and the current assistant athletic director for compliance at NC Central. An extended member of the Duke volleyball team — the players are always petitioning for him to be a volunteer assistant coach — Johnson loves to see a sport like volleyball gaining so much notoriety and he hopes the Blue Devils playing at the Eagles’ home gym extends to other sports at Duke. It’s an all-around win. 

“(In football,…