The Athletic Director plans, administers, and directs intercollegiate athletic activities at Duke University including staff, publicity, promotion, ticket sales, and assures the University's adherence to appropriate rules, regulations, and guidelines. Collection contains records relating to the operations and activities of the Duke University Athletic Director, 1939-2007, bulk 1968-2007. A majority of the material was accumulated during Tom Butters' tenure as Athletic Director. Materials present include general correspondence, seven subject files arranged by accession, and contracts and schedules. Major subjects include National Collegiate Athletic Association, Atlantic Coast Conference, Duke University team sports, scholarships, fundraising, Iron Dukes, Athletic Council, and facilities and grounds.
Contains material pertaining to the daily activities of the Duke University Athletic Director. The collection is divided into nine series: general correspondence, contracts and schedules, and subject series arranged in accession order. A majority of the material was accumulated by Tom Butters as Assistant Director of Athletics (1972-1975), Associate Athletic Director (1976), and Athletic Director (1977-1998). However, a small amount of material was created by Butters' predecessors, Carl James (1972-1976) and Eddie Cameron (1942-1972).
General correspondence is divided into two subseries: alphabetical and chronological. Alphabetical correspondence documents communication with other university offices, faculty, staff, alumni, and students; colleagues at other educational institutions and professional organizations; and various fundraising and promotional campaigns and events. Chronological correspondence contains primarily outgoing correspondence concerning similar topics.
Subject files contain material relating to Butters' work with the University and various regional and national athletics organizations. Prominent subjects throughout include the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). NCAA material includes correspondence, memoranda, and minutes concerning rules and regulations; annual conventions and special meetings; various committees including Division I Basketball Committee and Television Committee; and printed material. ACC material includes correspondence, memoranda, and minutes concerning annual meetings, workshops, and clinics; news and press releases; tournaments and bowl games; legislative proposals; and several committees including Television Committee and Restructuring Committee. Also present are materials relating to Butters' fundraising activities; work with the Iron Dukes and Alumni Association; Duke University Sports Hall of Fame nominees, inductees, and speeches; Athletics Council minutes and memoranda; and athletic facilities maintenance and upgrade projects including several made to Wallace Wade Stadium and Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Other material relating directly to Duke University athletics are sports files and scholarship athletes. Sports files contain rosters, stats, and contest reports for numerous men's and women's revenue and non-revenue sports. Scholarship material contains letters of intent, and correspondence concerning scholarship renewal and terms and conditions of acceptance. Additional noteworthy subjects include Title IX, College Football Association (CFA), Raycom, North Carolina Amateur Sports, National Association of College Athletic Directors (NACAD), and National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NAIAW).
The Contracts and Schedules series contains contracts and agreements between Duke University and other colleges, universities, and academies, travel itineraries for road contests, game schedules, and lists of lettering athletes for several revenue and nonrevenue sports.
An addition (Accession UA2019-0087) contains correspondence and subject files, mostly dated 1996 to 2007.