"Tent check for Carolina!"
DUKE STUDENTS WHO WANT A SEAT AT ONE OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL’S BIGGEST RIVALRIES, DUKE VERSUS
UNC, CAMP OUT FOR WEEKS TO BE AMONG THE FIRST IN LINE FOR THE GAME.
"Carolina tent check!"
WHEN HEAD LINE MONITOR WILL Bobrinskoy SOUNDS HIS SIREN, STUDENTS HUSTLE OUT OF THEIR TENTS
AND CHECK IN, SECURING THEIR SPOT IN LINE.
“If someone’s not here, they get a miss. If it’s their second miss, they get bumped
to the end of the line or to the end of the waitlist.”
"Their favorite time is like 4 am when you’re sound asleep. It’s a killer.”
THE PROCESS MIGHT SOUND A LITTLE CRAZY TO SOME.
“We don’t get grace until it goes 25 degrees or below, so we are out here sometimes in
26 degree temperatures.”
FOR TENTERS, THERE’S NO QUESTION BRAVING THE COLD IS WORTH IT.
“I’ve been a big Duke fan my whole life. So being able to be at the Duke-UNC game is
going to be a great thing honestly.”
“The UNC-Duke game is always the best time of the year. Last year was the most fun I
had ever had in my life. And the second most fun I had ever had in my life was the year before that."
IT’S A TRADITION THAT STARTED THIRTY YEARS AGO.
“I’m thrilled and honored to have been just a little part of the first one.”
KIM REED WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL TENTERS BACK IN 1986.
"It's over!"
“Then to beat Carolina was really a David and Goliath moment.”
AS REED LOOKS AT OLD PHOTOS, SHE RECALLS HOW TENTING GOT STARTED.
IT WAS THREE NIGHTS BEFORE THE DUKE-UNC GAME HER SENIOR YEAR WHEN REED AND HER FRIENDS
WERE DEBATING WHAT TIME THEY NEEDED TO LINE UP TO GET GOOD SEATS.
“Well you know six o’clock in the morning probably isn’t going to do it. We need to
get up in the middle of the night. And then that became well let’s go out the night
before and that became let’s go out right after classes end on Friday and that became
let’s just go now.”
THEY LOADED UP ON TENTS FROM A NEARBY U-HAUL STORE.
“We took all the tents they had. The next day we just walked over to Cameron and pitched
them right up against the door. That was it!”
THEIR TENT CITY NEEDED A NAME, AND KRZYZEWSKIVILLE WAS BORN.
“Someone wrote it on a card and a I can’t remember to this day who wrote it. But it
was just kind of funny. First of all because still so many people around the country couldn’t
even pronounce Krzyzewski and would always mess up the spelling. So it was kind of an
homage to him that we know the spelling of your name and we respect you and honor you with this."
“It’s a supreme honor to have it named Krzyzewskiville. I kid with all my Polish
family and Polish friends that a lot of people have buildings named after them but we have a tent city."
WHILE SOME STUDENTS LINED UP IN A SLEEPING BAG OR OCCASIONAL TENT PRIOR TO 1986, THE
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVIST SAYS THAT YEAR WAS SIGNIFICANT.
“1986 is the first year that the Krzyzewskiville name was given to the encampment if you will.
So that’s the first year that K-Ville really became its own entity, its own named thing.
By the time the game started, there were 75 tents out there, outside of Cameron, people
waiting to go in. And at last, the camping out, waiting out had a name. And it became a tradition."
“You look out and say, ‘How lucky am I to be the Duke coach.’”
FROM THE OUTSET, COACH K HAS EMBRACED K-VILLE, DROPPING BY TO VISIT TENTERS.
“It’s the students saying, ‘You know, that thing that happens in Cameron is so important
that we’re willing to do this to be in there and be part of it. Kind of remarkable.”
THE EXPERIENCE BRINGS BACK FOND MEMORIES FOR ALUMNI.
“Here’s the picture of me standing in front of the K-Ville sign.”
AARON DININ WAS A SENIOR IN 2005 WHEN HE DECIDED TO WRITE A BOOK THAT GIVES AN ORAL HISTORY
FROM TRUE BLUE TENTERS OF WHAT LIFE IS LIKE LIVING IN K-VILLE.
“The history of K-Ville is really about being a story-teller. Just recounting your
experience. That great night you had where a basketball player showed up and hung out
and had pizza with you or drinks with you. On the outside it’s a bunch of people spending
two months waiting in the tent in the freezing cold of winter trying to get into a single
basketball game. And to understand that is to actually do it.”
FOR DUKE PLAYERS, K-VILLE PROVIDES MOTIVATION.
“To me, K-Ville is a constant reminder that we have the best fans in the world. To have
that kind of dedication to camp out there for long periods of time when they have school
work going on, trying to have a social life at the same time, and not to mention the weather
can drop below freezing at points, I think that’s supreme dedication to our team and
it makes me feel fortunate to be a blue devil.”
THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF CHANGES IN K-VILLE OVER THE YEARS. AS TECHNOLOGY IMPROVED, K-VILLE
EVOLVED WITH THE TIMES.
“1999 was the first year that the internet was available in Krzyzewskiville. They put
Ethernet outlets into the lampposts so that students could plug in, send email, check
library resources, do all that kind of stuff. So K-Ville sort of came online in 1999.”
POLICIES GOVERNING THE TENTING PROCESS HAVE ALSO BEEN UPDATED.
“The most dedicated fans start at the beginning and that’s where the most demanding rules
apply. So ten out of 12 tenters need to be in their tent every night.”
“The length of time that people do it now is astounding, and the bureaucracy. On the
other hand, I think it’s so cool that there’s this experience that Dukies of all different
ages can share.”
ONE THING THAT REMAINS CONSTANT IS THE WAY THE EXPERIENCE CONNECTS ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT.
“I don’t think tenting will ever die. I am really looking forward to coming back
in future years and seeing everybody out here.”
“Great relationships are developed not just personally but with Duke, with Cameron and
with our basketball program. So that when those kids come in after they graduate and
they look up, and hopefully we’ve won a banner or two, they can look up and show their
kids and say, ‘We won that.’”