How freshman Mark Mitchell ended up wearing retired No. 25 Duke basketball jersey

A Duke men’s basketball jersey number not worn in more than three decades, one that’s hanging in Cameron Indoor Stadium’s rafters, is returning this season.

Mark Mitchell is already sporting No. 25 in practices and will use the jersey during his freshman season for the Blue Devils.

Duke honored Mitchell’s request to wear the number even though it retired No. 25 to honor Art Heyman on March 4, 1990.

Mitchell, a 6-8 forward, wore No. 25 while playing at a pair of Kansas high schools — Wichita’s Sunrise Christian Academy and Bishop Miege in suburban Kansas City — and also at the McDonald’s All-American game.

A three-time, All-American during his three-year Duke career from 1960-63 and the No. 1 overall pick in the 1963 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, Heyman died Aug. 27, 2012. Though Heyman has few living relatives, Duke officials did speak with former teammates and made contact with a distant relative about letting Mitchell use his number.

Former Duke head coach Bucky Waters, who coached Heyman as an assistant for head coach Vic Bubas, told The News & Observer he believes Heyman would agree to letting Mitchell wear the number. That’s keeping in mind Heyman, who was renowned for his feistiness on and off the court, expressed bitterness toward Duke late in his life over how long it took for his jersey to be retired.

“I believe, looking at it through his eyes, he’d be fine with it,” the 86-year-old Waters said.

To celebrate Hyman’s impact on the program, Duke plans to hold an Art Heyman day at a home game this season. The full schedule has yet to be completed as the ACC works with ESPN to set the games.

“As much as any other human being, Art was responsible for Duke University becoming a national power in college basketball,” Bubas, who died in 2018, said at the time of Heyman’s death. “I always told him that he was a true pioneer in modern Duke basketball.”

A North Carolina commit originally, Heyman famously switched to Duke the summer before his freshman year. Heyman averaged 25.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game during his career, helping Duke to its first Final Four in 1963 when he was named national player of the year and the Final Four’s most outstanding player.

Heyman was inducted into the Duke Sports Hall of Fame in 1978.

Thomas Hill was the last Duke player to wear No. 25, using the jersey during his freshman season in 1989-90 when the Blue Devils advanced to the 1990 Final Four. After the number was retired, he changed to No. 12 for the 1990-91 season and wore it the remainder of his Duke career.

Gary Melchionni (1971-73), Mark Crow (1974-77) and Greg Wendt (1982-83) also wore Duke’s No. 25 jersey after Heyman did but before the number was retired.

This is the second time Duke has allowed a player to use a retired number during his career. During the 2017-18 season, Marvin Bagley wore No. 35 after receiving permission from Danny Ferry to wear his retired number.

Duke has 13 retired numbers in its program history, starting with Dick Groat’s No. 10 on May 1, 1952. In addition to Heyman’s No. 25, Ferry’s No. 35 and Groat’s No. 10, the other players who saw their numbers retired are Jeff Mullins (No. 44), Mike Gminski (No. 43), Johnny Dawkins (No 24), Christian Laettner (No. 32), Bobby Hurley (No. 11), Grant Hill (No. 33), Shane Battier (No. 31), Jason Williams (No. 22), Shelden Williams (No. 23) and JJ Redick (No. 4).