Haskell “Hack” Tison, a mainstay of Duke’s first Final Four teams in 1963 and 1964, has passed away. A war baby, Tison was born on November 16, 1942, and came to Durham early in the Vic Bubas era.
He was a freshman in 1962-63, but the rules of that day would not allow him to compete on the varsity until he was a sophomore.
Duke went with an unusually large team for that era, starting Tison and Jay Buckley, both 6-10. It worked great until the Blue Devils ran into UCLA in the NCAA championship game,
and the much smaller Bruins pressed Duke relentessly, winning with relative ease, 98-83.
Tison and Duke would get back to the Final Four the next year, but in 1965, NC State won the ACC tournament and got the sole conference bid.
This was when State legend and recently retired coach Everett Case was dying from cancer, and the Wolfpack, understandably, wanted to send him out with a championship.
Tison was then taken in the 6th round by the Boston Celtics. However, he said he was tired of the travel, and ended his playing career.
A couple of points here. While on the one hand, he had the chance to join the greatest sports dynasty of all time, the NBA didn’t really pay much then. He said he got a better offer from IBM, and he took it.
And second, the sixth round sounds low, but it’s not. There were only nine teams in the NBA in 1965. Tison was the 56th player taken, which would be a second-round pick today. He had a feasible career path: back up Bill Russell and then transition into a starter (playing against Russell for several years would make the rest of the NBA look easy).
He just didn’t want to take the paycut.
We understand that Tison was in failing health for some time, and the end is inevitable for all of us. It’s just a question of when. From what we understand, Tison was well-loved by his teammates, with at least one visiting him in his final days.
If you’d like to sign his Tribute Wall, please go here. We’re sure his family would be glad to know that Duke fans remember.
- From Duke’s Past to Present: The Tison Legacy of Overcoming
- Catching Up With the Players From the 1964 NCAA Championship Game
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