Editor's note: This story is the sixth entry in a series called Flashback, which The Chronicle will be running online weekly through the end of the summer. We welcome readers' input about old stories they would like to see featured. This article celebrates the 21st anniversary of the first Harry Potter book being published.
Duke’s gothic wonderland is as close as most muggles can get to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry—minus the broomsticks and butter beer.
While the University still doesn’t carry the wizarding world’s favorite drink, starting in 2008, Duke became home to Harry Potter’s favorite pastime: Quidditch. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Duke University Quidditch team.
This week, The Chronicle looks back at a feature story about the formation of the Quidditch team.
“For years, students have likened the Gothic architecture of West Campus to Hogwarts, the dazzlingly magical school of witchcraft and wizardry made famous by Harry Potter,” Emma Miller wrote in the article from October 2008. “But it's no longer just the stony buildings that help draw parallels between Duke and J.K. Rowling's iconic institution. Quidditch—the wizarding community's most popular form of recreation—is the newest sport on campus.”
Quidditch, the fictional flying sport in J.K. Rowling’s series, made its way from the pages of Harry Potter onto colleges campuses for the first time in 2005 at Middlebury College. In November 2007, the first Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup was held between Middlebury and Vassar College. In 2008, there were over 180 teams registered with the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association.
Malia Lehrer, Trinity ’12, spearheaded efforts to form a Duke team in order to participate in the Intercollegiate World Cup tournament, Miller wrote. However, before they could compete, they needed to acquire the right equipment.
As a part of the Intercollegiate Quidditch league, the team had to adhere to the official Intercollegiate Quidditch Rules and Guidebook, which mandated that all players have a broomstick and cape. Jenna Barbee, ’14, was appointed treasurer of the team to help secure the essentials.
“In the meantime, it's B.Y.O.B.—bring your own broom,” Lehrer told Miller.
The Muggle (non-Wizard) version of the sport replaces flying with running, and the enchanted balls—the Bludgers and the Snitch—are replaced with non-magical alternatives.
“The rules of Quidditch have been necessarily altered for Muggles. Instead of flying on broomsticks, players run across the field with brooms held firmly between their legs,” Miller explained. “Dodgeballs act as the violent Bludgers that zoom around knocking players to the ground, and the Snitch—the elusive gold ball with wings whose capture ends the game—is replaced by a cross country runner who darts around campus with a tennis ball hanging from his shorts.""
Lehrer noted that Duke students “who grew up alongside the Harry Potter characters” have responded positively to the formation of the team, Miller wrote.
Nonetheless, Lehrer added that collegiate Quidditch is “not just about the ‘The Boy Who Lived.’”
“None of us are really Harry Potter experts or whatever,” Lehrer said. “It's more that it's a really fun game and nothing like it is really done—it’s kind of handball-ish and kind of dodgeball-ish and kind of tag-ish. It’s unique and entertaining and anyone can play.”
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