50 Fun Facts About Clemson

In what year was Clemson founded as an agricultural college?

The bill creating the college passed the state legislature by a single vote, and classes began in 1893 with 446 students.

The campus sits on Fort Hill, the former plantation of which US vice president?

His daughter Anna married the founder in 1838, and the plantation passed to the couple; the Fort Hill house still stands on campus.

Before founding the college, Thomas Green Clemson served as US chargé d'affaires to which country?

He held the post from 1844 to 1852 and later served as US Superintendent of Agriculture; his will asked that the school be modelled on Mississippi State.

Clemson's will asked that the new school be modelled on which existing institution?

Both were land-grant agricultural and mechanical schools; the federal Morrill Act funds were moved to Clemson from South Carolina College.

Which future governor lobbied for the college and has its main building named for him?

The building burned down in May 1894, months after opening, and was rebuilt the same year; it later came to house the College of Education.

Many of Clemson's original buildings were constructed by which workforce?

Some were as young as 12 and almost all were Black; more than 500 of their names are recorded, and South Carolina used more convict labour on its universities than any other state.

Until 1955, Clemson was what kind of institution?

Student walkouts against 'prison camp' discipline in 1902, 1920 and 1924 shaped the school long before it went civilian and admitted women.

Who became Clemson's first African-American student in 1963 after a federal court ordered his admission?

The process was notably peaceful compared with Ole Miss; he later said his large build and the president's stern warnings kept confrontations away.

Gantt went on to be elected mayor of which city?

An architect by training, he was the city's first Black mayor and its centre for African-American arts and culture bears his name.

In which year was Clemson College renamed Clemson University?

The change recognised its expanded academic offerings; the college had opened in July 1893 with 446 students.

Clemson was the first Southern school to train specialists in which industry?

President Henry Hartzog created the textile department in 1898, later expanding into foundry work and mechanics.

The campus borders which body of water, formed by a dam completed in 1962?

The 1,400-acre campus sits in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in unincorporated Pickens County outside the city limits.

The town of Clemson was renamed in 1943 to reflect the university. What had it been called?

In 2015 the Princeton Review ranked it number one in the country for 'town-and-gown' relations.

Clemson's teams took the name Tigers in 1896 in imitation of which then-dominant football program?

A member of the first football team named Thompson chose it; the mascot's paw became the official logo in 1970.

Which 'father of Clemson football' brought the sport from Auburn and later became Clemson's president?

The soccer teams still play on Riggs Field, dedicated in 1915 and the football team's home until Memorial Stadium opened.

Which coach, namesake of college football's most famous trophy, led Clemson's first undefeated season in 1900?

He went 19–3–2 at Clemson before moving on to Georgia Tech, Penn and Rice among others.

Which coach led the Tigers from 1940 to 1969 and has Memorial Stadium's playing field named after him?

He won two Southern Conference and six ACC titles, and his predecessor had begged him never to build a big stadium.

Alumnus Samuel Jones picked up Howard's Rock in which state?

The coach used the quartzite lump as a doorstop for years, then told a booster to 'throw it over the fence'; the booster put it on a pedestal instead.

Howard's Rock debuted in September 1966 as Clemson came from 18 down to beat which team?

The rubbing tradition began the following season, with the coach warning anyone not giving 110 percent to 'keep your filthy hands off of it'.

What happened to Howard's Rock in June 2013?

Three people were eventually arrested; the damage was assessed at more than $10,000.

Which Memorial Stadium nickname did Presbyterian coach Lonnie McMillan coin in 1948?

The name also nods to the university cemetery on a hill that once overlooked the field, before the upper decks went up.

The 'Running Down the Hill' entrance began because the football locker rooms were in which building?

Players ran all the way from there into the stadium to intimidate opponents; the tradition lapsed for two and a half seasons after 1970 when a new coach switched end zones.

In what year did Memorial Stadium open?

Outgoing coach Jess Neely had advised putting 'about 10,000 seats behind the YMCA'; the stadium now holds more than 80,000.

Which coach led Clemson to its first national championship in 1981?

He was only 33 at the time; his era later drew NCAA sanctions for recruiting violations.

Clemson clinched the 1981 national title by beating which team in the Orange Bowl?

The 22–15 win capped a 12–0 season and made the Tigers consensus champions with all four major selectors.

Who took over as head coach seven games into the 2008 season after Tommy Bowden resigned?

He is now the winningest coach in both Clemson and ACC history.

The head coach's nickname 'Dabo' comes from his brother Tripp trying to say what?

His given name is William Christopher; he was raised in Pelham, Alabama and walked on as a receiver for the Crimson Tide in 1989.

Clemson won the national title in both 2016 and 2018 by beating which team?

The 2016 game was college football's first national championship rematch; the 2018 game was a 44–16 rout.

Who threw the winning touchdown with one second left in the 2016 national title game?

He was picked 12th overall by the Houston Texans in the 2017 draft.

Which walk-on receiver caught the winning touchdown in the 2016 title game?

The final score was 35–31, Clemson's first national title since 1981.

The 2018 Tigers finished 15–0, the first major program to do so since which school in 1897?

They won by an average of 32 points a game and are often ranked among the greatest college teams ever.

Which freshman QB led the 2018 champions and went first overall in the 2021 NFL draft?

He set the school record for quarterback wins and went to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Clemson lost the January 2020 national championship game to which team?

That 42–25 defeat ended a run that had brought six straight playoff appearances from 2015 to 2020.

Clemson has been a member of which athletic league since the 1953–54 season?

It was a founding member and holds more football titles in the league than any other school, including six straight from 2015 to 2020.

The annual football game against South Carolina has been officially known since 2014 by what name?

It is one of the longest uninterrupted series in college football, played every year from 1909 to 2019.

Until 1959, the Clemson–South Carolina game was played in Columbia during the State Fair on what day?

It was a state holiday, and Clemson's insistence on home-and-home games finally ended the arrangement.

In what year did the Tiger Paw replace the old tiger logo as Clemson's official mark?

The paw is now painted on highways leading to campus as well as on every team's kit.

Clemson's fight song is which jazz standard?

The alma mater's melody, by contrast, was written by student Robert E. Farmer, winner of a 1947 contest run by the Tiger Brotherhood.

Roughly how many people attend Tigerama, the student-run homecoming pep rally held since 1957?

It includes the crowning of Miss Homecoming, skits and fireworks, while homecoming floats are built on Bowman Field.

Who served as grand marshals of the First Friday Parade in 1985, its biggest turnout ever?

The parade features fraternities, sororities, the marching band and the university president, and ends with a pep rally in the amphitheatre.

Which secondary colour do the Tigers wear for the annual Military Appreciation Game?

Orange is the primary colour; the military game honours the school's decades as a corps of cadets and its 6,500 students who served in World War II.

How many NCAA national championships has the Clemson men's soccer team won?

The programme, revived in 1967 under chemistry professor I. M. Ibrahim, has also produced four Hermann Trophy winners.

What is Clemson's student newspaper, South Carolina's oldest student-run paper, called?

It prints every other Thursday; the campus radio station WSBF-FM has broadcast on 88.1 since 1960.

Roughly how many students enrolled when Clemson Agricultural College formally opened in July 1893?

The first graduating class, in 1896, took degrees in mechanical-electrical engineering and agriculture.

Which new Clemson coach moved the entrance to the west end zone after 1969, interrupting Howard's Rock?

The home record slumped to 6–9 without the hill, and before the 1972 South Carolina game the players voted to go back to the east end zone; they won 7–6.

Clemson's yearly game against NC State is known as what, reflecting a shared research heritage?

Both schools built programmes serving the Carolinas' textile industry; the teams first met in 1899.

Clemson's first-ever bowl game, the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic, was against which future ACC rival?

The O'Rourke-McFadden Trophy, created in 2008, honours two leather-helmet-era stars of that matchup.

Which automaker set up an IT research centre at Clemson's CU-ICAR campus in Greenville?

The 250-acre automotive research campus opened in 2013 and counts Michelin, Bosch and Microsoft among its partners.

Clemson's Warren Lasch Conservation Center has worked to stabilise which Civil War vessel?

The submarine was the first in the world to sink an enemy ship; the centre sits on the university's Charleston Innovation Campus.

Clemson's original alma mater lyrics were set to which melody, borrowed from Cornell?

Cadet A.C. Corcoran wrote the words after Clemson men had no song to sing at a 1918 ROTC camp; a student contest produced an original tune in 1947.