Duke in Pics: Scenes from the 2025 Duke Football Employee Appreciation Game
Annual event draws employees to pregame tailgate and game
Extra Scenes
Check out more images from Saturday's event on Working@Duke's Instagram page and while you're there, follow us.
Saturday’s game didn’t go Duke’s way as visiting Virginia took a 34-17 victory in front of 27,215 fans at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium.
But with Duke staff and faculty and guests enjoying a sunny afternoon, free food and family fun, the Duke Football Employee Appreciation Day was a win.
Check out some scenes from the event with staff and faculty who attended the pregame tailgate and game.
Duke University President Vincent Price and Duke Football Honorary Employee Captain James Hinton Jr. embrace in front of Duke Vice President for Human Resources Antwan Lofton and Kathy Dury, Senior Program Coordinator for Duke Human Resources Staff & Family Programs.
Ann Rhyne, right, had just posed for a photo with Duke President Vincent Price at the pre-game festivities for the Duke Employee Appreciation Game, but her husband, Chris Rhyne, was the one who couldn’t stop smiling.
Sporting a Duke Santa hat and a bright Duke blue T-shirt, Chris explained that it was a dream-come-true when his wife began working at Duke a little more than a year ago as a Clinical Services Nurse in Pediatrics.
When the couple moved to the area in 1989, Chris Rhyne was advised to “Choose your ‘blue.’” He did. And now he can wear all his Duke gear for a reason and with a destination.
Rhyne grinned at her husband’s giddiness as she relished the opportunity to meet Price.
“It's nice to be able to meet upper-level leadership,” Rhyne said. “And it's wonderful that Duke offers this opportunity for its employees to partake in some of the sports.”
And as Price posed for photos with Duke staff and faculty who stopped by Working@Duke’s booth, he said he appreciated every opportunity to personally thank those who work at Duke.
“A university like Duke is only as innovative, only as accomplished as our people,” Price said. “Having this moment to express our appreciation for all of our employees means so much at a time when higher education is facing so many challenges. We know that our fabulous Duke faculty and staff have never been more dedicated to our mission, and our employees have shown over and over again they are the heart and soul at this university.”
James Hinton Jr. relished his moments on the field at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium before kickoff Saturday as the Duke Football Honorary Employee Captain.
Since the story announcing his honor last week, Hinton, a phlebotomist at Duke Executive Care, said he’s been flooded with congratulations.
“I have gotten so many emails and messages from people who have known me from working here,” Hinton said. “They’ve just given me my flowers. It’s been an emotional time. It’s meant a lot.”
Hinton also got to visit Blue Devil Tower for Duke Coach Manny Diaz’s weekly media availability. While there, he toured the Blue Devil Network control center and studio and the suites that overlook the field.
On Saturday, he checked out the field prior to the game, enjoyed the pre-game tailgate and visited with Duke University President Vincent Price.
“It’s surreal,” Hinton said. “It’s just been great to know that people appreciate you.”
Dr. Tiarrah Salvi-Jackson has been in Durham for three months, but she already feels at home. Part of the reason is that Salvi-Jackson, an Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology, earned her undergraduate degree at Duke about 15 years ago.
Attending the Employee Appreciation Game with her husband and two children was an opportunity to show her family part of why Duke has always been special to her.
“It’s kind of nostalgic bringing the family back,” she said, as she and her husband, Louis, watched 8-year-old daughter Tiegan and 5-year-old son Louis III have temporary tattoos affixed to their cheeks before they dashed off to inflatable children’s game. “This is a fun event. It feels like a community. I think on our own, we might never have come to a game, but we felt like we were welcome and we belong.”
Lou Rutledge and Erin Dillard have probably missed only one Employee Appreciation Game in the past 15 years. Their ties to Duke are strong, with Rutledge earning her undergraduate degree at the university before spending 45 years working at Duke until she retired two years ago, and Dillard working at Duke for the past 21 years, now in Student Affairs.
“The only times we’ve missed this family part is if we already had obligations where we couldn’t get here in time to enjoy it,” Dillard said.
The mother-daughter duo are football season-ticket holders, but the joy of attending the pre-game mingling at the employee game is the opportunity to see colleagues they typically don’t see at games.
“It’s nice to see other colleagues outside of work and talk with them as people and not just as colleagues,” Dillard said.
As they got ready to leave the pre-game employee tailgate, Ben and Cheryl Anderson added a free Duke Football poster to the considerable load they were carrying. They had their free meals in their hands, Ben held the couple’s 2-year old daughter Madeline and Cheryl, a Physician Assistant at the Duke Cancer Center, had their infant daughter, Lilah Reese, in a baby carrier.
It was the first time the family has been to the event and the first live football game for both children. They said they were keeping their expectations for how long the game would keep the attention of their little ones.
“I think making it to the end of the first quarter would be a best-case scenario,” Cheryl said.
“She does like the marching bands,” Ben said about Madeline, “so I don’t know.”
Tim Osso had a pair of small shoes in each hand as he waited at the end of the long, inflatable obstacle course. It took a few moments, but eventually he heard the giggles of his two sons Connor, 8, and Ryan, 6, as they scrambled over and slid down the final wall.
Tim’s wife, Jessica Osso is a Population Health Nurse at Duke Primary Care Riverview. It’s the third time the Osso family has been to the Duke Employee Football Day game. As he helped his sons get their shoes back on, Tim said it’s a family tradition they plan on continuing.
“We love it,” Tim said. “he kids get to run around. We get to watch some Duke football. It’s a great time.”
During the pregame employee tailgate, staff, faculty and their families stopped by the Working@Duke table to snap photos and chat with members of the team. Seen here with Duke University President Vincent Price are Working@Duke team members, left to right, Travis Stanley, Sonja Likness, Stephen Schramm, Leanora Minai, President Price and Jodie Valade.
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