Monday December 10, 2007

Exam Week

Exam Week
This was always hell week for me. Some called it exam week but I called it hell week. It was the week that all of my procrastinating had me in a jam. Whenever this week was over my dad would ask me how I did and I would respond, “If I did well enough they might let me come back and do it again next semester.” School was never my thing and I would take withdrawals throughout the semester only to have to make a bunch of deposits this week each semester.

Most of Clemson’s current student-athletes are much better students than I was and this is a week where they can set even more records in the classroom. But for one it is so much different.

Cliff Hammonds has been the subject of a bunch of my blogs over the past 18 months and if you are tired of hearing about Hammonds then you probably just need to click on youtube.com some more Tim Tebow videos instead of reading any more of today’s blog.

Hammonds is the rarest of student-athletes. He has a 39-year old man looking up to him and admiring his character, work ethic and leadership. With rare exception, most of my heroes are older than me or even have passed.

As a father I tell my kids the stories about heroes and try to get across the message. Sometimes the story may be about the perseverance of Ronan Tynan. They may be about the optimism of Ronald Regan. Often they get a good Jeff Davis story. They often hear the story of Col. Ben Skarden’s courage. Sometimes they get some tales of Muhammed Ali’s charisma and conviction.

Regan is no longer with us and the real Ali cannot be witnessed anymore. Col. Skarden and Jeff Davis live here in Clemson so they have seen them and believe how real each hero really was. They have heard and seen Tynan so he is also believable.

But my best stuff to them is the Cliff Hammonds stuff. My 16-year old plays on the Daniel High School JV basketball team so it is easy to take Ryan to a Clemson game and point out everything Hammonds does. Everyone sees the three-pointers and the free throws but I make it point to point out the steals. Ryan hears about Hammonds’ record setting assist-to-turnover ratio often. It is so easy to point out the fact Hammonds plays 37-39 minutes each night and does it as a point guard and a two guard.

The hustle is the best remedy though. When Cliff is the first one to the bench at a timeout or the first one to the locker room at halftime Ryan hears it.

I coach a 17-and under basketball team at the Clemson-Central Rec and they hear it too.

My 21-year old daughter is scheduled to graduate from Clemson next December and Hammonds can be a role model for her as well. She is a little like me in that school is not easy but Hammonds’ examples help. Everyone thinks their major is so hard but architecture majors live a different life at Clemson. According to the university’s webpage, because the SAT entry requirements for admission to the School of Architecture is 100 points higher than the University requirements, students in the School of Architecture enter with the highest average SAT scores on campus. The School offers a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Architecture degree with an enrollment of 270 students and a Master of Architecture degree with approximately 60 students. Students and professors have received national recognition through numerous national and international awards including ranking of the No.2 School of Architecture in the South and No. 13 in the nation by Design Intelligence Magazine.

Architecture students spend hours upon hours in the architecture lab and have little time for anything outside of school. Hammonds has done an unbelievable job of balancing this rigorous schedule with the life of an ACC basketball player mixed in.

When he first arrived at Clemson I found out that Hammonds was an architecture major and I thought that must have been a recruiting tool. That was surely something we told him to get him here but the rigors would be too strenuous and would eventually have to switch majors. Here we are four years later and Hammonds is still spending late night in the architecture lab. When he graduates Hammonds will be the first scholarship basketball player at Clemson to earn his degree in architecture.

Hammonds has played in all 108 games in his Clemson career and started 107 of them. He has made Clemson fans proud in all 108. He is trying to become the sixth player in Clemson history to average in double figures four consecutive years. Hammonds is also in the top 10 in school history in assists.

Clemson has policies regarding when a player is eligible for the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame, the Ring of Honor and having his/her jersey retired. I agree with the policies but I also think there can be exceptions so here is my proposal:

On March 9, 2008 the men’s basketball team at Clemson will play its final home game of the season. It will be senior day at Clemson but I think it is also a terrific opportunity to honor one of the most unique student-athletes in Clemson University history. Please let me know if you think it is appropriate to consider retiring Cliff Hammonds’ number 25 jersey. In my opinion no Tiger should ever wear the number again and Tiger fans would look proudly up in the rafters of Littlejohn Coliseum and see the jersey hanging beside former Clemson greats. What better message can we send to future Clemson student-athletes than to honor the best example of a student-athlete in school history? Can we get this done? Are you with me on this one? Feedback please.

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