During the week preceding the game, Clemson alumni from across the country return to campus. Student organizations build Homecoming displays and construct a house for Habitat for Humanity on Bowman Field. Tigerama began in and has drawn a crowd of Tiger fans ever since for skits, fireworks and the crowning of Miss Homecoming. In the s, graduating seniors began raising money to build sidewalks, imprinting their names and, thereby, their legacy in them. Today, the names of more than 53, alumni have been engraved.
In , the curing process was moved to the Agricultural Center in Newman Hall. History Traditions Military Heritage. Clemson Traditions Join the Clemson Family, and you join a tradition of tremendous impact. Clemson traditions celebrate determined spirit. Another era ended January 28, , when Howard died at the age of 86 and forever silenced a voice that had been synonymous with Clemson for nearly 65 years.
Although he retired from all official duties in , he never quit coming to the office and he never stopped representing Clemson in a manner which continued to win friends for the place that was so dear to his heart.
It was only the third time that a building or installation had been named by the trustees for a living person. In the summer of he was inducted into the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame. The bald veteran came to his first coaching post under Jess Neely as a line tutor. In my spare time I cut grass, lined tennis courts and operated the canteen while the regular man was out to lunch. Howard held the line coaching post until Neely went to Rice University as head coach in Sam Rhodes, a council member, nominated Howard to be the new head coach.
When he retired, he was one of five active coaches with or more victories. The Country Gentlemen were champions on their first three bowl ventures. Boston College fell, , Missouri was nipped in the Gator, Howard said this is the best football game he ever witnessed , and Miami felt the Tiger claws, The total point spread in these three bowl wins was five points. Miami downed Clemson, in the second Gator Bowl trip and Colorado led Clemson, , then trailed , before finally defeating the Tigers, , in the second Orange Bowl.
The Tigers then played in the Sugar Bowl and held No. The invitation to play in the first Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston in December, , was the eighth bowl that Howard had been a part of either as a player, assistant coach or head coach. It was the seventh bowl trip for a Clemson team and the sixth in 12 years.
Clemson was the first school to play in two bowls in the same calendar year. In all seven Clemson was the established underdog. He coached in the Hula Bowl, which was his ninth postseason all-star game. And now, it has been broken. A nice chunk of The Rock broken off in an act of cowardice and vandalism. Coach Howard, I hate to tell you this, but someone has put their filthy hands on your rock, and it is sickening.
College traditions are wonderful, but there are always a small handful of fans that take it to the extreme and ruin something special for the rest of us. They are a coward, a criminal and an idiot. They might be a fan of any team out there, one that Clemson plays this season, or they might just be your common, run of the mill coward.
Clemson players took to Facebook and Twitter expressing their outrage late Wednesday. We are all outraged, we are saddened. But most of all, we are mad. I hate the fact that someone had access to damage it, and I wish it never happened. And while I am not big on themes or slogans for a football team — just go out and play the game — I can sense something rising up out of this sad situation.
Protect The Rock at all times. Even when we have the quiet of summer and the downtime before football season begins, Protect The Rock. Whoever did the damage just might know that Clemson is on the verge of something special, and used the defacement of The Rock to send some sort of twisted message or exact some kind of sadistic and evil enjoyment out of doing harm to something that Clemson fans, coaches and players hold dear.
Heck, take a miniature version on the road to road games and know that even in hostile environs, they must Protect The Rock. The origins of The Rock make it special in the annals of college football traditions, even though it had an inauspicious beginning.
It is named for Howard, who received it as a gift from his close friend, Samuel C. Jones, in the early s. Jones found the two-and-a-half pound rock while traveling through Death Valley, California, and thought Howard might find some use for it back at Clemson. The rock didn't make a great first impression, however, as Howard is said to have used it originally as a doorstop.
There the rock remained until the summer of , when, according to Clemson legend, Howard stumbled across it while cleaning his office.
Willimon did what he was told. But instead of tossing the rock away, Willimon placed it on a pedestal at Memorial Stadium, in a spot where he knew Clemson players would pass.
The rock was still sitting on that pedestal when, a few weeks later, Clemson roared back from an point deficit to beat Virginia, , in the season opener.
Then the Howard's Rock legend was officially born when the coach later gave the message to his team about rubbing the rock, and a legend was born.
Because people have tried to steal or otherwise harm the rock in the years since, it is now tradition for Clemson's Army ROTC to guard Howard's Rock in the 24 hours leading up to every home Clemson-South Carolina game. However, maybe that kind of protection needs to extend to all-year long. Place it inside the WestZone if at all possible, and only bring it out for special occasions and football games.
Maybe there could be an honor guard to take it to The Hill on game days. I think so. But that one rock is it, there are no replacements and there can be no substitutes.
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