Rose Bowl Hall of Fame
2004 Inductee
Wayne Duke, a graduate of the University of Iowa, served as the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference for 18 years. After serving for 11 years as assistant to Walter Byers, the first executive director of the NCAA, Duke became commissioner of the Big Eight conference in 1963. He took over as Big Ten commissioner in 1971 and retired in 1989.
Duke guided the Big Ten and college sports through the first stages of great growth in revenue from television coverage of football and basketball.
Duke was the first full-time employee of the NCAA, hired by Byers in 1952. He was considered a groundbreaker on affirmative action and the growth of women's sports in the 1970s.
Duke went into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. He passed away in 2017.
