Duke University will enshrine nine new members into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 25, announced Tuesday by Vice President and Director of Athletics Nina King. Slated for induction are Monique Currie (women’s basketball), John Danowski (coach), Matt Danowski (men’s lacrosse), Anna Grzebien Vanderlinde (women’s golf), Abby Johnston McGrath (women’s diving), Quinton McCracken (baseball & football), Chris Port (football), JJ Redick (men’s basketball), and Becca Ward (women’s fencing).
Currie, the first player in Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball history to register 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 steals in a career, was a two-time Associated Press All-America and four-time All-ACC selection who earned ACC Player of the Year honors in 2005 after averaging 17.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. The Washington, D.C., native played in 140 career games and helped the Blue Devils to a record of 123-17 (.879) including a 55-5 (.917) ledger in ACC action as Duke won three league regular season championships. Currie, who missed the 2002-03 season due to injury, was instrumental in Duke’s postseason success, earning ACC Tournament MVP honors in 2002, a quartet of ACC All-Tournament Team citations (2002, 2004, 2005 & 2006) and a spot on the 2006 NCAA All-Final Four Team as the Blue Devils captured a pair of ACC Tournament titles and twice advanced to the NCAA Final Four. After closing her collegiate career with 2,122 points, 874 rebounds, 413 assists and 228 steals, she was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft by the Charlotte Sting. A WNBA All-Rookie pick in 2006 and All-Star choice in 2010, Currie played 14 professional seasons and compiled career averages of 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
Named Duke’s head men’s lacrosse coach on July 21, 2006, John Danowski has guided the Blue Devils to 253 wins, nine ACC regular season championships, four ACC Tournament titles, 16 NCAA Tournament appearances including 12 Final Four berths and three national crowns in 2010, 2013 and 2014. The first NCAA Division I head coach to reach the 400-win plateau in men’s lacrosse history, doing so in 2019, he has received ACC Coach of the Year accolades four times while garnering National Coach of the Year honors in 2010 following the Blue Devils’ national championship run. With 472 career coaching victories compiled at Long Island University-C.W. Post (27-16; 1983-85), Hofstra (192-123; 1986-2006) and Duke (253-80; 2007-present), the East Meadow, N.Y., native is the NCAA Division I all-time leader for wins. In addition, John Danowski served as the head coach of the United States National Team for an unprecedented two terms, guiding Team USA to gold medals at the Federation of International Lacrosse Championship in both 2018 and 2023. A 1976 graduate of Rutgers University where he lettered four seasons in lacrosse and set school single-game, season and career records for assists, John Danowski was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2023.
Matt Danowski was a three-time first-team All-America pick and two-time recipient of the USILA’s Lt. Raymond J. Enners Award as the nation’s top player during a career in which he concluded as the NCAA’s all-time leader in scoring with 353 points on 170 goals and 183 assists. From 2004-08, he helped Duke to 63 wins, three ACC regular season titles, two ACC Tournament championships and three NCAA Tournament bids with three trips to the Final Four. He was the 2004 ACC Rookie of the Year before becoming the first three-time ACC Player of the Year honoree (2005, 2007 & 2008) in league history. Additionally, Matt Danowski was honored with the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2007 as the national player of the year and twice received the Lt. Col. J.I. (Jack) Turnbull Award as the top attackman in the country, earning the recognition in both 2005 and 2007. In the postseason, he was a four-time ACC All-Tournament Team selection – coupled with ACC Tournament MVP honors in 2007 – and two-time NCAA All-Tournament pick. The Farmingdale, N.Y., native was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse Draft by the New Jersey Pride and went on to earn MLL All-Star honors seven times. During an 11-season tenure in the MLL, he totaled 232 goals and 156 assists before closing his professional career in the Premier Lacrosse League, playing one season with Chrome LC.
Grzebien Vanderlinde was an integral part of three consecutive NCAA Championship teams in 2005, 2006 and 2007. As a sophomore in 2005, the Narragansett, R.I., native headlined Duke’s national title-winning squad by claiming the NCAA individual championship with a four-round total of 286 at the Meadows Golf Course in Sunriver, Ore., and earned the Honda Award as the nation’s top player. A four-time All-America choice with a pair of first-team nods, Grzebien Vanderlinde registered 20 top-10 finishes and 10 top-five placements on her way to a 73.70 career stroke average as the Blue Devils captured four ACC championships during her time in Durham. In addition, her six-year career on the LPGA Tour included 15 top-50 finishes, highlighted by the 2009 season when she posted four top-20 placements.
From 2009-13, Johnston McGrath set the standard for Duke diving, excelling in both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard disciplines. As she earned All-America recognition four times, the Upper Arlington, Ohio, native captured five ACC gold medals along with the NCAA individual 3-meter springboard championship in 2011. In addition, she was a four-time All-ACC selection, two-time ACC Most Valuable Diver and two-time ACC Women’s Diver of the Year honoree. Johnston McGrath’s accomplishments extend far beyond the pool as she garnered Academic All-America honors in both 2009 and 2011 and was awarded a postgraduate scholarship by the NCAA. Along with her collegiate success, the two-time Olympian paired with Kelci Bryant to claim the silver medal in the synchronized 3-meter springboard competition at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and again represented the United States at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio where she finished 12th in the individual 3-meter springboard event.
McCracken was a two-sport standout on both the diamond and gridiron for the Blue Devils between 1988-92. As a second baseman on the baseball team, he earned first-team All-ACC and third-team All-America accolades in 1992 and graduated as the program’s career leader in hits (236), runs scored (187), walks (108), triples (22), stolen bases (98) and on-base percentage (.432). His list of accomplishments, which includes a career batting average of .349, landed the Southport, N.C., native on the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team in 2003. In football, McCracken was a three-year starter at cornerback and member of Duke’s ACC Championship squad in 1989, finishing his career with 158 tackles, five interceptions and 24 pass breakups. In addition to setting Duke’s single-game record for pass breakups with six in a 35-26 win over N.C. State on November 11, 1989, he was a standout on special teams by returning 54 career kickoffs for 1,230 yards, good for a 22.78 yards per return average which was the second highest in school history upon his graduation. A 25th round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies in the 1992 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, the switch-hitting outfielder enjoyed a 12-year MLB career from 1995-2006 with the Rockies, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds. In 999 career games, McCracken batted .274 with 118 doubles, 32 triples, 21 home runs, 244 runs batted in and 89 stolen bases. In 2002, he helped the Diamondbacks to the postseason and batted .364 with an on-base percentage of .417 as Arizona fell to St. Louis in the National League Division Series.
A linchpin on Duke’s league championship team in 1989, Port established himself as one of the nation’s premier offensive tackles as a senior by earning first-team All-America honors and the prestigious Jacobs Blocking Trophy, an award presented annually to the top blocker in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A Freshman All-America pick by Football News in 1986, the two-time first-team All-ACC choice and three-time ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week selection was instrumental in the Blue Devils’ offensive success in the late 1980s as quarterbacks Steve Slayden (1987), Anthony Dilweg (1988), Billy Ray (1989) and Dave Brown (1989) hurled touchdowns to the likes of All-America wide receiver and future College Football Hall of Fame inductee Clarkston Hines. With Port anchoring the offensive line, Duke’s 1988 and 1989 squads were the first in school history to amass 5,000-plus total offensive yards and post consecutive seasons with 300-plus points as the Blue Devils totaled 15 victories, marking the program’s best two-year win total in over 25 seasons. A native of Wanaque, N.J., Port was a 12th round pick of the New Orleans Saints in the 1990 NFL Draft and played in 69 games with 50 starting assignments over his five-year professional career.
Redick, one of the most prolific scorers in NCAA history with 2,769 career points as a Blue Devil, was a two-time National Player of the Year pick in 2005 and 2006 while helping Duke to a four-year record of 116-23 with two league regular season championships, three conference tournament crowns and four NCAA Tournament berths including a march to the Final Four in 2004. During his sophomore campaign, the two-time team captain set the ACC record for consecutive free throws made (54) en route to establishing the league single-season standard for free throw percentage (.953). The three-time All-America, three-time All-ACC, three-time ACC All-Tournament, two-time ACC Tournament MVP and two-time ACC Player of the Year honoree graduated from Duke as the NCAA all-time leader in three-point field goals (457) and the ACC career leader in total points. The Roanoke, Va., native and two-time ACC scoring leader capped his collegiate career with the 2006 Sullivan Award, an honor presented annually to the nation’s top amateur athlete and had his jersey No. 4 retired by Duke on February 4, 2007. Redick was a first-round selection (No. 11 overall) of the Orlando Magic in the 2006 NBA Draft, and compiled totals of 12,028 points, 1,903 rebounds, 1,862 assists and 1,950 three-point field goals over 15 seasons with the Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans, Milwaukee Bucks and Dallas Mavericks. The league leader in three-point field goal percentage (.475) during the 2015-16 season, Redick closed his career ranking among the top 20 players in NBA history in both three-point field goals made and three-point field goal percentage (.415).
A member of the USA Fencing Hall of Fame Class of 2015, Ward compiled a collegiate record of 272-7 (.975) during her Duke tenure as she became the first sabre fencer to win three NCAA individual championships in 2009, 2011 and 2012. The four-time All-America selection helped the Blue Devils to top-10 national finishes in each of her final three seasons, and as a senior garnered first-team Academic All-America honors along with the Mary Garber Award as the top female student-athlete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. On the international fencing landscape, the Portland, Ore., native earned a pair of bronze medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing — individual sabre and women’s team sabre — and was the first fencer to hold Senior, Junior and Cadet World titles in the same year as a 16-year-old in 2006.
The group will be inducted at the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, Oct. 25. Event details including ticket information will be announced in July.
There are currently 154 members in the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame, dating back to the inaugural ceremony in 1975. Voting is conducted by current members of the Hall along with the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame committee.
