CLEMSON TIGERS

Clemson University is a member of the NCAA's Division I and is in the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. In 1896, football coach Walter Riggs brought with him from Auburn University the Tiger nickname. The Clemson Tigers field nineteen athletic teams. In men's sports there are: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, golf, track and field (indoor and outdoor), cross-country, and swimming and diving. For women's sports, there are: basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, track and field (indoor and outdoor), cross-country, swimming and diving, and rowing. The South Carolina Gamecocks are Clemson's in-state athletic rival. The two institutions compete against each other in many sports, but the annual football game receives the most attention.

Contents

Tiger Paw logo

Facilities

Football

Basketball

Baseball

Soccer

Other Sports

Carolina-Clemson Rivalry

Other Rivalries

Fight Song

National headline

Footnotes

Tiger Paw logo

The Tiger Paw logo was introduced at a press conference on July 21, 1970, and was developed by Helen Weaver of Greenville, South Carolina, from a mold of a Bengal Tiger in the St. Louis Zoo. The tell-tale hook at the bottom of the paw is a sign that this is the official licensed trademark for the university[1]. The SC Beta Chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity also has retained the exclusive rights to paint the logo on many of the highways that lead into Clemson.

Facilities

The most prominent of Clemson's facilities is Memorial Stadium, Frank Howard Field, and home to the Clemson University men's football team. Memorial Stadium is also known by its nickname, "Death Valley".
The men's and women's basketball teams play at Littlejohn Coliseum, an arena offering over 11,000 seats. The Coliseum also acts as a venue for a variety of campus functions throughout the year including concerts and graduation ceremonies.
Recently renovated Doug Kingsmore Stadium is home to Clemson's men's baseball team. The men's and women's soccer teams play their home games at historic Riggs Field.
Other home venues for these sports are: Walker Golf Course, Hoke Sloan Tennis Center, Jervey Gym, Rock Norman Track Complex, and McHugh Natatorium. Women's rowing holds home events on nearby Lake Hartwell.

Football

The Tigers football program has won 59.0% of its games through the 2006 season, placing it 37th on the all-time winning percentage list. Clemson is also currently the leader among ACC schools for conference championships at 13, having last won a title in 1991.[2] Clemson also won three Southern Conference titles before joining the ACC. The program has participated in 29 bowl games over the years, winning 15. The 1981 squad, led by Head Coach Danny Ford, became the first athletic team in school history to win a national championship. Clemson defeated Nebraska 22-15 in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida to win the 1981 NCAA Football National Championship. Stars of the game included Homer Jordan (QB) and Perry Tuttle (WR). Clemson finished the year 12-0 and ranked #1 in the Associated Press and Coaches polls. Some of the most notable coaching names in Clemson football history are John Heisman (also coached at Akron, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Penn, Washington & Jefferson, and Rice; the Heisman Trophy is named after him), Jess Neely, Frank Howard (whom the playing field at Death Valley is named after), and Danny Ford. Tommy Bowden, son of famed coach Bobby Bowden, is the current head coach for the Tigers.
2007 Clemson Tigers football team

2006 Clemson Tigers football team
Before each home game, the team ends pre-game warm ups and proceeds to the locker room. With 5 minutes to go before game time, 2 buses leave the street behind the West Endzone both full of Clemson football players. The buses pull to a stop at the gate in front of The Hill, and the Tigers gather at the top, where each player proceeds to rub "Howard's Rock" (which is an imported rock from Death Valley, California that was presented to Frank Howard in 1967). While Tiger Rag is played and a cannon sounds, the Tigers run down the hill onto the field in front of over 80,000 screaming fans. This tradition has been dubbed "the most exciting 25 seconds in college football" by sportscaster Brent Musburger[3]. On game day, Death Valley can be considered the third largest city in the state of South Carolina.

★ Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Champions - 1900, 1902 (co-champion)

★ Southern Conference Champions - 1939, 1940, 1948

★ ACC Champions - 1956, 1958, 1959, 1965 (co-champion), 1966, 1967, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991

★ Bowl victories - 1940 Cotton Bowl, 1949 Gator Bowl, 1951 Orange Bowl, 1959 Bluebonnet Bowl, 1978 Gator Bowl, 1982 Orange Bowl, 1986 Gator Bowl, 1988 Florida Citrus Bowl, 1989 Citrus Bowl, 1989 Gator Bowl, 1991 Hall of Fame Bowl, 1993 Peach Bowl, 2001 Humanitarian Bowl, 2004 Peach Bowl, 2005 Champs Sports Bowl

★ NCAA National Champions - 1981

Basketball

The Clemson Men's Basketball team is currently coached by head coach Oliver Purnell. Purnell has guided the Tigers to more wins than in the previous season each year he has been the Tigers coach. Recently, the team lost in the finals of the NIT to the West Virginia Mountaineers to conclude the 2007 season.
Accomplishments include:

★ 1939 Southern Conference Tournament Champions

★ 1990 ACC Regular Season Champions

★ 3 Sweet 16 Appearances

★ 1980 Elite 8 Appearance,

★ 1999 & 2007 NIT Runner-Up
The Clemson Women's Basketball team is currently coached by head coach Cristy McKinney. In 2007, the team made it to the ACC tournament, but lost in the first round to the Virginia Cavaliers.
Accomplishments include:

★ 1981 ACC Regular Season Champions

★ 1996 and 1999 ACC Tournament Champions

★ 4 Sweet 16 Appearances, 1991 Elite 8

Baseball

''See Main Article: Clemson Tigers baseball''
As of 2007, the Tiger baseball team has posted a combined 28 ACC regular season and tournament championships (most in the conference), 33 NCAA Tournament appearances, 21 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, 16 NCAA Regional Titles, 3 NCAA Super Regional Titles, and 11 College World Series appearances. Much of the baseball program's success occurred under Bill Wilhelm during his 35 seasons as Clemson's head coach. Jack Leggett has been the Tigers' head coach since 1994 and has led Clemson to unparalleled heights.

★ ACC Regular Season Champions - 1954, 1958, 1959, 1967, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2006

★ ACC Tournament Champions - 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2006

★ CWS Appearances - 1958, 1959, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006

Soccer

Men's soccer was the second program to ever win a national championship, winning the NCAA Tournament in 1984 and again in 1987.[4][5] In their 26 appearances in the NCAA tournament, the teams has garnered a runner-up finish in 1979 and 7 appearances in the Final Four, with the 2005 squad being the most recent team to accomplish that feat.[6] In addition to their NCAA titles, the men's program have won 16 combined ACC regular season and tournament titles, with the last one coming in the 2001 ACC Tournament.
The women's soccer program won the 2000 ACC Regular Season Championship and has participated in the NCAA Tournament every year since the start of the program in 1994.

Other Sports

The Tiger golf team has won 9 ACC titles in the program's history. In 2003, Clemson defeated runner-up Oklahoma State to win its first National Championship in golf and the 4th overall for the school. In addition to that victory, Clemson also won the ACC and NCAA East Regional titles, making the Tigers the first program in NCAA history to win its conference, regional, and national championship tournaments in the same year. In addition, the 1998 and 2001 teams finished second at the NCAA tournament.
Clemson's track and field teams have combined for 26 ACC Championships (12 men's indoor, 11 men's outdoor, 1 women's indoor, 2 women's outdoor). In addition, the men's indoor track team finished second at the NCAA Championships in 1992 and 1993.
Men's cross-country claimed ACC titles in 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, and 1988. The women's team captured the ACC title in 1986.
Men's tennis have garnered 11 ACC titles and made 24 appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Women's tennis have won 7 ACC titles and made 15 appearances in the NCAA tournament. The 2004 and 2005 teams made the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Women's volleyball won the 1997 ACC Tournament and 1999 ACC Regular Season championships.
Men's swimming and diving won the 1986 ACC championship, while the women's team won ACC titles in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1997.
The Rugby Club is also very successful, and was founded in 1967.

Carolina-Clemson Rivalry

Main articles: Carolina-Clemson Rivalry

Other Rivalries

Clemson's intra-conference football rivalries include Georgia Tech (GT leads 45-24-2), NC State (Clemson leads 47-27-1 in the Textile Bowl), and Florida State (FSU leads 15-6 in what has become known as the Bowden Bowl, which pits father and FSU coach, Bobby Bowden, against son and Clemson coach, Tommy Bowden). Since the Bowden Bowl began, FSU leads 5-4, but Clemson has won 3 straight and 4 of the last 5, including a 27-20 win in Tallahassee in 2006 which broke a 17-year losing streak in Doak Campbell Stadium, and a 24-18 win in Clemson's Death Valley to begin the 2007 season.
Clemson has a lesser rivalrdy with the University of Georgia, born because of the two institutions' close proximity (roughly 90 miles apart). Clemson and Georgia first met in 1897, only the second year the Tigers fielded a football team. The rivalry was at its height in the 1980s, but the two programs have not played each other since 2003. The athletic departments recently added games to be played in 2013 at Clemson and 2014 in Athens. Georgia leads the football series 41-17-4. [7]

Fight Song

Clemson's fight song is the Tiger Rag, the "Song that Shakes the Southland", a variation of the song originally performed by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. The song is played at all Clemson sporting events, particularly following scores or big plays, and during the "Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football". The song has no lyrics save for the spell-out of "Clemson" at the end.
Also Clemson has the cheer "C-L-E-M in Cadence, Count!" which goes:
1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 C-L-E-M-S-O-N T-I-G-E-R-S Fight Tigers Fight Tigers Fight Fight Fight (originally, "1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, C-L-E-M-S-O-N, T-I-G-E-R-S, Fight Tigers, Fight Dammit, Fight, Fight, Fight") which is screamed at all the athletic events. There are two schools of thought on whether there are two fights at the end, or three. Traditionalists only do two, as this was originally a military jody call, a marching chant, but most fans have learned it with three fights. Tiger Band, however, continues to use only two.

National headline

Clemson requires female athletes on scholarship to sign a document acknowledging that they can lose their scholarships should they become pregnant. Critics suggest that this forces pregnant athletes into abortion.^[1]

Footnotes

1. Pregnant athletes facing tough rules, Associated Press, , , Florida Today, May 13, 2007,