The World was Much Different When St. John’s and Duke First Played

St. John's once beat Duke 44-28. That was nearly eight decades ago. What has changed since then?

On Feb. 4, 1938 at Madison Square Garden, St.John’s and Duke squared off for the first time. The Johnnies, or whatever their nickname was back then, defeated Duke 44-28. That was 79 years and 364 days prior to their meeting on Saturday.

The world was a lot different back then. World War 2 hadn’t started yet and the United States was still in the midst of The Great Depression. FDR was only a year into his second term as president and Fiorello La Guardia was the mayor of New York City. The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released, oddly enough, on Feb. 4 and was a huge success. The music…