Sept. 26, 2007

By Jim Sumner
TheACC.com

Wes Chesson was a high school senior in 1966 and the star quarterback at Edenton (N.C.) High School. Recruited by Duke, Chesson asked the coaching staff if they were recruiting other quarterbacks in his class. Duke coach Tom Harp believed that the best high school athletes played quarterback and he told Chesson that he was recruiting several but most would be moved to other positions.

Anybody in particular? "Well, there's one kid from Kinston, a lanky guy named Leo Hart. We'll probably move him to wide receiver." "Good," replied Chesson. "I'll need someone to throw to."

Chesson and Hart ended up at Duke. They did become one of the most potent pass-catch tandems in ACC history, but not the way Chesson envisioned. It was he who was switched to wide receiver, while Hart revolutionized the ACC at quarterback.

If that seems like a strong statement, bear with me. Leo Hart did things that no ACC quarterback had ever done. It's not like the ACC didn't have good quarterbacks before Hart. Duke's Sonny Jurgensen, North Carolina State's Roman Gabriel, Wake Forest's Norm Snead, and Maryland's Dick Shiner were strong-armed throwers who went on to long and distinguished NFL careers. But ACC coaches adhered to the Woody Hayes axiom that "three things can happen when you throw a forward pass and two of them are bad." Jurgensen, for example, passed for exactly 371 yards as a senior in 1956. Gabriel for 937 in 1961, his senior campaign. Hart came into a ground-oriented league. He didn't leave it that way.

After the required year on the freshman team, Leo Hart became eligible for varsity competition in the fall of 1968. Fifth-year senior Al Woodall, the presumptive starter at quarterback, had been dismissed from school, leaving the starting spot wide open. Hart and fellow sophomore Dave Trice split playing time early before Trice was injured. By the time Trice recovered, Hart had solidified the starting spot; Trice became a defensive back. Hart says, "You never know when your number is going to be called but you had better be ready because if you're not, it might not be called again."

Hart exploded into the spotlight in Duke's fourth game, when he passed for 249 yards against Virginia, completing 20 of 38 passes. Chesson caught 11 of those, setting a single-game ACC record. But Duke lost, 50-20, setting up a pattern that would plague Hart's career. The following week Hart passed for 316 yards in a 39-22 loss to Clemson. This was the first 300-yard passing game in Duke history. Henley Carter broke Chesson's week-old record with 13 catches for 209 yards.

They weren't all losses. The highlight of the 1968 season was a 46-30 win over Georgia Tech, keyed by a 27-yard Hart-to-Chesson scoring toss and an 11-yard Hart touchdown run. Duke ended 4-6. Hart's 2,238 passing yards shattered the ACC single-season record of 1,676 set by Snead in 1960. He was voted first-team All-ACC.

Duke went 3-6-1 in 1969, ending the season with a 17-13 win over North Carolina. Hart figured in the game's key play, arguably the most famous play in ACC history. Ironically, he didn't even touch the ball. It was 7-7 late in the third quarter. Hart carried the ball on an option and was tackled close to the sideline. As the teams lined up for the next play, Hart bent down to tie a shoe. With the UNC defense huddled up, Duke end Marcel Courtillet picked up the ball and tossed it to Chesson, who ran down the sidelines 53-yards for the touchdown.

Duke did rehearse the "shoe-string" play in practice that week. Chesson says, "(Coach) Harp noticed that Carolina turned their backs when they were huddling on defense. So we thought we could exploit it. But we never thought it would work that well. Easiest touchdown I ever had."

A lot of things had to go right. The officials were alerted before the game. Hart had to make sure he didn't go out of bounds, stopping the clock. Duke had to have seven players on the line of scrimmage, they had to be set, the line had to be aligned properly. Hart says, "The signal was Marcel saying `Leo, are you okay?' We knew we could only try it once. I've had a lot of fun with it over the years."

Hart led the ACC with 1,642 passing yards and repeated as first-team All-ACC.

Seniors Hart and Chesson were poised for a big year in 1970. Star linebacker Dick Biddle was back after major knee surgery, sophomore Steve Jones gave Hart the best running back he had at Duke, and Ernie Jackson and Rich Searl anchored a top secondary. Expectations were high. Duke opened at Florida.

"We had circled this one all summer," remembers Hart. "Every workout we did, every weight we lifted, we thought about Florida, we talked about Florida. It was a chance to make a statement."

It was a tantalizing near-miss. Duke drove to the Florida three on its first possession, but Jones lost a fumble. Duke drove to the eight the next time it had the ball, but missed a field goal. Duke reached at least the Florida eight four of its first seven possessions, but had only a pair of David Wright field goals to show for it. It was 14-6 when Florida's Carlos Alvarez broke a 67-yard punt return for another touchdown.

Duke fought back. Hart hit Dennis Satyshur with an 18-yard touchdown pass but the two-point conversion failed. Jones scored from the nine but that was it for Duke, which fell 21-19. Hart went 21-of-36 for 228 yards against the Gators and passed Snead to become the ACC's career passing leader, with 4,108 yards. This was just the first game of his senior season. Hart says, "This was the most frustrating loss of my career. We moved the football all night but just couldn't cash in. We had so many opportunities."

Duke recovered to beat Maryland 13-12 on a last-second field goal, as Hart calmly engineered the game-winning drive. Virginia fell next, 17-7. After which, Duke went on a sadistic road trip. Top-ranked Ohio State was first. Duke trailed 6-3 at the half but Rex Kern, John Brockington and company turned it on after intermission for a 34-10 win. Hart says, "It was like we were playing an NFL team."

Hart and company had better luck the next week against Bobby Bowden's 11th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. Bowden had prepared all week for a passing onslaught but the teams woke up to a torrential downpour. Duke shifted gears, going to a running game that included 98 rushing yards by Jones. Biddle, a West Virginia native, had a spectacular game on defense. Hart passed only five times after intermission but completed them all. Fourth-quarter passes of 13, 14, and nine yards led to the deciding score in Duke's 21-13 win.

Hart says, "This was an exhilarating win, probably the best we had. After three years, we were learning how to play and win as a team. We had something going."

NC State and Clemson fell next. Hart passed for a career-best 318 yards against the Tigers in a 21-10 win. Chesson caught 13 of these passes, tying Carter's league record. Shortly after, Hart received a note from Clemson coach Frank Howard thanking him for finally graduating.

A tough 24-16 loss to Georgia Tech followed but that was a non-conference game. Tech's Stan Beavers sewed up the win when he picked off Hart and went 75 yards for a score. "A quarterback's worst nightmare," says Hart. Still, Duke was 4-0 in the ACC, with an ACC title on the horizon.

Surprisingly, Wake Forest stood in its way. Coming off a 3-7 season, the Deacons started the 1970 campaign by losing their first three games by a combined score of 98-33. That included a 43-7 rout at South Carolina - then in its final season in the ACC - but Wake responded by winning its next three ACC games, including a 14-13 win over North Carolina.

Wake had developed an effective running game, based on the option abilities of quarterback Larry Russell. Duke was banged up on defense and its chronic lack of depth had caught up with it. Russell, Larry Hopkins and Ken Garrett all rushed for more than 100 yards and the Deacons jumped to a 21-0 lead. Hart passed for 216 yards and scored on two short runs to make it 28-14. He drove Duke to the shadow of the Wake goal line in a desperate attempt to pull out the win. Then, "I got my bell rung good. I don't remember getting up, I didn't know where I was. I was knocked silly." His replacement threw an interception in the end zone and the game ended 28-14.

Hart notes that he received seven concussions during his athletic career but has no ill effects, good fortune that he attributes to "playing next door to one of the best hospitals in the world."

He recovered nicely. Duke was still tied with Wake with one loss but finished with the two Carolinas on the road. The game with South Carolina was the kind of game that would still be famous if it had been on television. It was a see-saw, physical contest, punctuated by a five-minute brawl after Duke hit South Carolina's Dickie Harris out of bounds after a kick.

After a scoreless first quarter, the two teams exploded. South Carolina jumped to a 17-7 halftime lead. Jones was out with an injury but Art Bosetti came off the bench to run for 138 yards for Duke. Hart completed 22-of-31 passes for 302 yards. He hit Chesson from 29 yards out for Duke's second touchdown and put them within 24-21 with a 37-yard strike to his favorite receiver. Duke went up 28-24, fell behind, regained the lead, fell behind once more, and went back up 42-38 on Bosetti's third touchdown, with two minutes left. Duke finally got a stop and a 42-38 win. Hart says, "(It) may be our biggest win because it was a conference win. It certainly was the most fun."

A trip to Chapel Hill ended the season. A win would have given Duke the league title--Duke played one more ACC game than Wake-- but it was never close. The depleted Duke defense put up little resistance to UNC's Don McCauley, who romped for 279 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-34 win. Hart threw two touchdown passes, including a 63-yarder to Chesson.

Hart ended the year with 2,236 passing yards and again was named All-ACC. Almost 40 years after the end of his college career, Leo Hart remains the only player to lead the ACC in total offense three times, the only player to lead the ACC in passing three times, and the only quarterback to be voted first-team All-ACC three times. He played in the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game and was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Falcons.

What made Leo Hart so good? Hal McElhaney was Duke's recruiting coordinator in those days. He says, "Leo was a big, strong-armed kid, but his intelligence was his biggest asset. He was a coach playing quarterback. We just turned him loose and let him throw the ball around the park. It worked because he was such a tremendous leader. His teammates would do anything he asked."

Chesson agrees. "He had all the tangibles and all the intangibles. He had a quick release and threw a very catchable ball. And he was tough. He would stand in there and take vicious hits and get up and do it all over again. That's something your teammates notice."

Hart says that Duke "ran the perfect system for me. I had lots of freedom. I called the plays. I wish more teams trusted their quarterbacks to play that way. The quarterback has a feel for the game, can see the tendencies. He can talk to his teammates, take advantage of weaknesses. A good game plan is essential but why not rely on the people in the game?"

Chesson adds, "We just didn't have that many plays. But we all had little signals, a nod, a tap on the leg, to let Leo know that we thought we had an advantage. And he would find a way to get us the ball."

Leo Hart was Duke's ACC Football Legend in the inaugural class in 2005.

Leo Hart spent a couple of seasons in the NFL, mostly carrying clipboards. But he certainly landed on his feet. He still lives in Atlanta, where he is a successful business executive. Among other things, he's responsible for the United States distribution of the Swiss Army Knife.

He became a Duke fan when he was a kid attending the Duke basketball camp and hasn't stopped. "Here I was a skinny 12-year-old and guys like Art Heyman and Jeff Mullins were paying attention to me. That made a big impression. I wasn't the hardest recruit Duke ever had."

Hart has been involved with his alma mater in a number of capacities, including co-chairing--along with the late Dr. Frank Bassett--Duke's fund-raising effort for the Yoh Football Center, an effort that he expects will spur a revival in Duke's football fortunes. "This gave me a chance to talk with a broad section of alumni and players, not just those of my generation. I was honored to be asked. I can't do enough for Duke."

Chesson is Duke's football radio analyst and has closely followed ACC football since the end of his playing days. He says, "Leo changed the way ACC teams approached football. He set the standard for modern passers. His record speaks for itself. His skills would translate to today's game. I have no doubt he would be successful today. I would have a hard time coming up with a quarterback I`d rather have. Best of all, he's such a great guy."

---

Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This article can not be copied or reproduced without the express written consent of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

E-mail Jim Sumner