Not since Hakim Warrick '01 laced up his basketball shoes representing Syracuse University in the 2003 tournament, has Friends' Central had a graduate playing in the NCAA National Championship game. In 2003, Syracuse won the National Championship with Warrick credited with final second heroics by blocking the tying shot attempt at the buzzer. Jamie Sundheim '02 is another FCS alum with this coveted recognition, as she was a member of the 2003 Princeton Women's Lacrosse National Championship team. Amile Jefferson '12 is the third FCS alum to win a National Championship, as he and his Duke Blue Devils won this year's National Championship over Wisconsin by the score of 68-63. 

On Saturday, April 4, co-captain Jefferson scripted his own memories on center stage for Duke University. He helped lead his Blue Devils in a Final Four semi-final game against the Spartans of Michigan State. Jefferson pulled down seven rebounds in the 81-61 dismantling of the Spartans, earning a berth to the 2015 National Championship game.

On the evening of April 6, Jefferson and his Duke team won the 2015 NCAA Men's National Championship over Wisconsin by a score of 68-63. Jefferson contributed mightily as Duke's phenom freshman, Jahlil Okafor, encountered foul trouble throughout the game. The assignment of guarding Wisconsin's 7' Naismith Award winner Frank Kaminsky came to co-captain Amile Jefferson, who did a tremendous job limiting Kaminsky's effectiveness.

A history major, Amile Jefferson '12 has been named to the All-ACC Academic Men’s Basketball team all three of his years at Duke. Learn more about Amile in our video "Basketball the Quaker Way" and in the article "Leaving His Mark," written by his FCS basketball coach and FCS alumnus Jason Polykoff '02, which appeared in the Spring 2012 issue of Quaker Works, the Magazine of Friends' Central.

Congrats to Amile Jefferson '12 and his Duke Blue Devils. What a season!