Richard Dukeshire Obituary

Richard "Duke" Dukeshire, 78, former Northeastern University Basketball Coach, of Hingham and a former resident of Framingham, died Saturday May 5, 2012, with his family at his side. Duke was born in Somerville and grew up in Southampton, MA. He coached for 38 years in the high school, college and professional ranks. He graduated from American International College and was elected into the Hall of Fame in both baseball and basketball. On the diamond, he broke the single-season hit record as a freshman and served as team captain as a senior. In basketball, he was the team's leading scorer as a freshman and was a member of 3 NAIA tournament teams. In 1956, he recieved the Mahoney Award as the outstanding senior athlete at AIC. At the age of 21, Duke became head freshman football, basketball and baseball coach at Northeastern University. Two years later, he became varsity basketball coach at NU where he amassed over 200 victories while leading the Huskies to 6 NCAA appearances and twice was named New England Coach of the Year. In his 13 years at NU, Duke was 204-100 and set the NU Basketball win record with a percentage of .671. Duke also scouted for the St. Louis Cardinals (baseball) from 1957-1962. Coach Dukeshire then moved on to direct and coach the Greek National Olympic Basketball Program from 1972-1980. During that time, he also led Panathinaikos, the professional basketball team of Greece, to a championship. He later coached at Hellenic College (1980-1985) where his squads posted 2 unbeaten seasons, and at Salve Regina College (1985-1987). He founded and served as the first commissioner of the Commonwealth Coast Conference, which includes 10 Division III colleges throughout New England. Duke created New England High School Sports (now known as TCP) to help local college coaches find high school student athletes with the right academic and athletic ability. TCP has helped more than 14,000 high school students in their college recruiting process. He is survived by his son Curt of Hingham and granddaughter Elissa; his daughter Kim and husband Derek Vachon of Stoneham and granddaughters Hannah and Gabrielle; his sister Ruth Madsen of Southampton and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. He was pre-deceased by his former wife and friend, Ellen Dukeshire; his sisters: Ella, Eileen and June and brother, Clarence. A gathering in his memory will be held Saturday, May 12 from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Boyle Bros. Funeral Home, 173 Union Ave., Framingham. Instead of flowers, the family requests memorial donations in Duke's name be made to the Northeastern University Husky Athletic Fund, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA. 02115 or online at www.northeastern.edu/giveonline.