Ladies Clinic has successful Saturday, raises $23,000

Tajh Boyd (Photos by Fotoman)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Jul 24 19:53:48 GMT-04:00 2010

CLEMSON – Clemson secondary coach Charlie Harbison smiled and patiently talked to all-comers on Saturday, answering any and all questions posed to him, and he said he did it gladly.

Harbison, Clemson football players and the Clemson coaching staff were part of the Dabo Swinney Ladies Clinic, sponsored by "Dabo's All In Team" Foundation, at Death Valley on Saturday, with proceeds from the registration and auction going to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer research foundation and AnMed Health.

In all, nearly 900 participants helped raise $23,000, and Harbison said the cause is near and dear to his heart.

“My late wife Gloria Harbison [he has since remarried] went home to be with the Lord in 2003 after battling cancer,” Harbison said. “So I understand what Coach Swinney and Kathleen are doing. This is a great vehicle and they are using it to bless a lot of people, and they will use it to continue to bless people. I think it’s great.”

The ladies were treated an inside look at the day in the life of the college athlete, got a peek at how coaches prepare game plans, were told what all goes into recruiting, took a tour of the facilities and ended the day with running down the Hill, and Harbison said helping them understand the game makes them better fans.

“No. 1, they are fans and they want to understand the game,” Harbison said. “We are able to communicate things to them, and tell them what to do when they watch games at Death Valley or at home. They can become students of the game. They can understand what is going on with Tiger football.”

Michelle Isgett of Florence made the trip to the Upstate with her family just for the Clinic, and she said the drive was worth it.

“We are all huge Clemson football fans,” Isgett said. “We are huge Dabo Swinney fans, and it’s great to come up here and meet the coaching staff and the players, and be with my mom and aunt and sisters. This is good girl time.”

Kendra Hall of Easley said Saturday was her first time at the clinic, but that she would definitely be back.

“I learned so much about football and the different positions and recruiting,” Hall said. “I had no idea how that all works and that there is so much involved. This was amazing and I cannot wait to come back next year. My mom is a breast cancer survivor, so seeing how much was raised in the auction was awesome. This was for a good cause.”

Swinney said he was pleased with the turnout.

“We had a good turnout and the ladies had a good time,” Swinney said. “We have a lot of lady Tigers with passion and they love it. It’s great to tailor a day just for them, and interact with them, and hopefully they can go home and educate their husbands a little more, too.”

Swinney said that when he and his wife started the foundation and we were looking for a cause to be a part of, breast cancer research was a no-brainer.

“My wife had a double mastectomy in October of ’05,” Swinney said. “She is a breast cancer gene carrier, her sister is a breast cancer survivor, her cousin is a breast cancer survivor and one of my coaches lost his wife to cancer. We have players on the team who have moms that have battled it, we have recruits who have moms that have battled it. Everybody has somebody that they know that has had it. It is a deadly disease, and research has done amazing things, but it takes funding.”

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