The Mann in the Arena

By: Jordan Mann

September 8, 2023

Duke football's win over No. 9 Clemson on Monday marks the first time the Blue Devils have beaten a top 10 opponent since they knocked off No. 6 Clemson at home on September 9, 1989.

Other than the fact that both games were wins over a top 10 ranked Clemson team, there is another common denominator for those two games that you don’t know. Despite the 34 years separating the games, each time —

There was a Mann in the stands.  

My Pawpaw, Deual “Willard” Mann had season tickets for Duke football back in the 1980s, and he was in attendance at Wallace Wade Stadium to watch a 1-3 Duke team do the unthinkable against undefeated No. 6 Clemson. Little did my Pawpaw know, he would never see Duke beat a top 10 team for the rest of his life.

Willard was a hardworking man. He was painter and a wallpaper hanger, which was a successful business in the late 80s and early 90s. But one thing I did not know about him until he passed away was that he lived and breathed Duke football. My grandmother, aka “Neena”, jokingly told me one of the reasons for their divorce back in the 80s was because my Pawpaw would call off work on random weekdays and make the drive from Haw River, N.C., to Durham, N.C. — a good 40-50 minute drive — to go watch the Duke football team practice.

She’d laugh and say, “money was tight for a family vacation, but your Pawpaw could make a road trip with his best friend to Tennessee and watch Duke play the Volunteers."

I had no idea he was so passionate about Duke football. I knew he was a Duke fan and a sports guy, but I always figured he was mainly into Duke basketball when he was alive. I never knew he ultimately was the root of my Duke football fandom until about a decade after his passing.  

My Pawpaw passed away on Labor Day weekend in 2011. I was 17 years old at the time, and I still remember the pain of losing a loved one. We all do unfortunately. He was the first family member I ever lost, but I was lucky to have spent my childhood with him.

He got me into collecting sports cards, and every time I stayed the night, he would let me take a stack of cards with me — after he approved them of course. He was no dummy either. He wasn’t going to let 6-year-old Jordan take a Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card.

When it was time for bed he’d put on "The Little Rascals" or "Little Giants" for me on the VCR. There was one more Disney movie he'd often put on too, but I’ll come back to that.  

On the weekend of the 12-year anniversary of my Pawpaw’s passing, my three younger brothers and I sat in Section 20 and watched Duke beat a top 10 team for the first time since my Pawpaw saw it with his own eyes, in the same exact section against the same exact opponent.  

Unfortunately, my dad couldn’t watch either game. In 1989, he was at a wedding, and got score updates by sneaking into the car and listening to the radio. On Monday, he couldn’t watch due to the Spectrum blackout and had to get score updates via text from me.  

But I do know exactly what my dad did when that clock struck zero as his four boys stormed the field at Wallace Wade Stadium.

He cried.

His father and his sons got to experience the same joy and jubilation at different times of life, but in the same exact place for the same exact reason.

Duke had pivotal bounces go their way and I’d like to think that much like that Disney movie my Pawpaw would play — "Angels in the Outfield" — there was an angel on the field Monday night.

@DukeFBFans |@bigjlittlejshow | @CoachJMann