Athletic Director Joe Alleva's continuation of the University's ban on cheerleading stunts maintains a policy in place since 1986.
That year, Athletic Director Tom Butters grounded the squad after a rash of injuries incurred by other schools' cheerleaders.
In 1978, at a Duke football game, Georgia Tech cheerleader Duane Sanders broke his neck after an attempted flip off a mini-trampoline. Duke cheerleading coach Teresa Ward, then a high school senior, witnessed Sanders' fall.
"He did a perfect back tuck on the mini-tramp, absolutely perfect," she said. "The crowd really got into it and when he attempted to do another one, he fell."
Alleva also witnessed the accident at the Georgia Tech game.
"I have worked at Duke for 22 years," he said. "I watched a Georgia Tech cheerleader break [his] neck and I am never, ever going to let that happen here."
The sport went through even tougher scrutiny after 1984, when a junior varsity North Carolina cheerleader, Robin Renee Davidson, fell from a pyramid and spent more than two months in the hospital. After physical and speech therapy, Davidson graduated from UNC in 1989, according to The News & Observer of Raleigh.
The next year, a North Dakota State cheerleader was killed and a Kentucky cheerleader was paralyzed using mini-trampolines.
Those accidents, and threats from insurance companies, prompted the NCAA to re-examine the sport. Since then, mini-trampolines have been outlawed and stricter safety regulations have been implemented.
Duke's ban on cheerleading is unique among Atlantic Coast Conference schools and rare in the nation. Before his retirement, Butters remained steadfast in his opposition to stunting.
"We have been told that as long as [Butters] is here the policy will not change," former cheerleader Sandra Duncan said last year.
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