Sports Most Dynamic Duos
Sometimes, two teammates are so similar in talent, physique and role that they become indistinguishable.
A cool, almost eerie sports phenomenon has gone unremarked. Occasionally, two teammates are so similar in talent, physique, role, history, and even uniform number that they become indistinguishable. I’ve named this concept “Luce-Ramsey” after its best exemplars, hockey players Craig Ramsey and Don Luce. Or was it Don Ramsey and Craig Luce?
The two played on the same Buffalo Sabres’ checking line and killed penalties together throughout the 1970s. Since they were a superb penalty-killing duo, and defended brilliantly against the other team’s best scoring line, every discussion about the Sabres noted “Luce and Ramsey.” Never just Luce or Ramsey – always “Luce and Ramsey” as a single unit with no differentiation between the members. One wore #10, the other #20, and apart from devout Sabres fans, no one knew which was which. I knew these two were really one when hockey maven Stan Fischler announced his post-season awards one season. Most underrated player: Don Luce and Craig Ramsey.
A spectacular NBA Luce-Ramsey came to an end in 1990 when Antoine Carr was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Sacramento Kings and Cliff Levingston left the Hawks to sign as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls. When Levingston contributed to a few Bulls’ championships and Carr became a force for the Kings and later San Antonio Spurs, they each established their own identity. Until then, Levingston and Carr were eerily intertwined.
They were both substitute forwards for the Hawks who could score, rebound, block shots and play defense but couldn’t pass or dribble. Carr is 6’9”, Levingston a non-discernible inch shorter. They were each first round draft picks by the Detroit Pistons (Levingston the 8th pick overall in 1982, Carr the 9th pick the following year) but traded – together – in 1985 to the Hawks, where they each spent five years. One of them wore #35, the other #53. I thought Levingston and Carr were an impressive Luce-Ramsey even before I learned that they both attended college at relatively obscure Wichita State!
Statistics? In college, Carr averaged 17 points on 56% shooting; Levingston 16 points on 54%. Their NBA statistics were similar too, with a few numbers popping out. Both shot exactly 50.6% in 1986-87. The following season, Levingston blocked 84 shots and Carr 83. No, they were not identical twins separated at birth – they were born six months apart.
The Luce-Ramsey concept occasionally applies outside the sports world as well. Remember Nixon’s close advisers, John Haldeman and Bob Ehrlichman, together known as the German Shepherds or Berlin Wall?
I’m herewith announcing a Luce-Ramsey contest. Please share a compelling Luce-Ramsey of your own, either in the comments here or in an e-mail to me at ahirsch@williams.edu. Winner receives a shout-out in a future column.
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