Following a trend of non-permitted fires, in 1986, Duke University sponsored a bonfire with no idea that it would kickstart a beloved tradition. Over the years, students insisted on commemorating games with bench bonfires, but student-administration tensions increased. To ameliorate tensions, Duke Student Government assisted the Occupational & Environmental Safety Office in the creation of the A-Team, composed of students, faculty, and administrators.
Duke Student Government is proud to be a part of the basketball tradition. On gameday, undergraduates are assigned one of three roles: stoker (responsible for oversight of the benches and starting the fire), roamer (student safety), or extinguisher (working with the Durham Fire Department to put out the fire). The A-Team burns a bench for men’s and women’s basketball victories over the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as for men’s and women’s National Championship wins.
A-Team begins recruiting at the beginning of each spring semester — sign up and join the tradition.
