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YOUR BALANCE
My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.
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My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 8, 2016, 10:52 AM

I'm an old timer, but I have a long memory.

My first season of watching Clemson play football was 1958 when I was eight years old. It was an auspicious beginning because the Tigers had a fine season and ascended to the Sugar Bowl to face the #1 team in the nation. Although they lost to LSU by a 7-0 score, it was clearly apparent to me that Clemson was a program to be reckoned with and this notion was reinforced the following year when a really good TCU team was easily bested by Clemson in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Clemson was obviously one of the better programs in college football.

I just assumed that it would last forever and it would get better and better. Little did I know that Clemson had played in their last bowl game for a long, long time and that instead of getting better, the fortunes of the Tigers on the football field would sink into mediocrity until well after I had graduated from Clemson in 1973.

Before there was to be another bowl game featuring my Tigers, I would be an adult.

Then out of nowhere basically, that magical 1977 season happened and the team became a viable bowl contender again. They got better and better until suddenly in 1981 when the unimaginable happened! Clemson marched through the season undefeated and they won it all in the Orange Bowl. Only those who had followed Clemson through the 1960s and early 70s could truly appreciate the completely surreal impact of that National Championship run.

And ... young Clemson fans everywhere knew how I'd felt back in 1958. Clemson was obviously one of the best programs in college ball and of course it would just get better and better ... many more great seasons and national championships for the Tigers were a given and everything was great!

But, then to our amazement and dismay, over three decades passed without another sniff at a championship. Our program sank into another extended period of mediocrity and I became pretty certain that while our program was doing "okay", I wouldn't live long enough to see Clemson in another national title situation.

The culture of winning became stagnant at Clemson for a long, long time, but through it all, the core Clemson fan base remained consistently optimistic. It would happen again, it was just a matter of time.

... a long time as it turned out.

To happen again, it would take a serious renewal of commitment from the Clemson University administration and the appearance of a coaching staff with the attitude and charisma to re-ignite greatness in the program. After a bunch of false starts, things have finally fallen into place.

The powerful program first experienced by that 8-year-old boy back in 1958 and then more fully realized by a "thirty-something" adult in 1981 has been resurrected!! This life-long Clemson fan has seen the years of frustratingly average play punctuated by moments unbelievable accomplishment along with gut-wrenchingly horrible failures ... finally culminating in what has been in my mind, the best Clemson season ever.

Clemson is back! The Tigers are for real!! They're here to stay!!!

Once again, this Clemson fan believes it will just get better and better ... and you know what? This time, he just might be right!

Go Tigers! Beat The Tide!! Win it ALL!!!

... and "Keep on Truckin" ... :)



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My father went to that game in New Orleans against LSU


Jan 8, 2016, 11:17 AM

He had just graduated high school. He and some of his friends ended up getting into a fight with some LSU students as the story goes. I have the program from that game on my shelf in my office along with the ticket stubs.

The last time we were in this position we had a coach who was an assistant who was promoted before the end of the season upon the firing of the head coach. The prior assistant coach that took us all the way was also from Alabama. He was young, and was too young according to most. He had never been a head coach, and was thrown into the fire against Ohio State in the Gator Bowl. Both come from humble beginnings and are humble people. The antethisis of Steve Spurrier, if you will.

History is repeating itself, and the longer you live, the more you notice it.

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A lot of similarities for sure.***


Jan 8, 2016, 11:26 AM



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First Clemson game was the home opener againt Tulane in 75


Jan 8, 2016, 11:48 AM

and if you had told me then where Clemson would be now I would have said you were nuts. Those times (75 and 76 seasons) had their fun moments but also some frustrating ones(remember the long field goal that Duke kicked to end the game in a tie in 76?).Then came 77!What a great year.81 was out of the blue too. Now it's on to Arizona and Bama for Clemson's second national title!

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That 1975 season was an horrendous step backward, 2-9 OUCH!


Jan 8, 2016, 1:26 PM

Losing 56-20 in Columbia ... probably the worst Clemson season in modern times.

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the weird thing about the '75 season was that


Jan 8, 2016, 1:38 PM

Red Parker had finally begun to recruit our way out of the oft lamented "Hootie Era" and there was some significant talent on that team.....O'Cain, Fuller, Callicut, Ratchford, Cunningham, Weddington, Butler.

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We were on the "cusp" in 1976, but the evidence wasn't clear


Jan 8, 2016, 2:59 PM

due to having a 3-6-2 record ... it could have easily been 8-3 ... Charlie Pell reaped the benefits, although, I think that the players great as they were, still needed a firmer hand and a better system to reach their potential. Pell provided that for them. Then he quit ...

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That was my first as a student. First game was a 6-0 loss


Jan 8, 2016, 1:35 PM [ in reply to First Clemson game was the home opener againt Tulane in 75 ]

to UMD in '65.

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Nice***


Jan 8, 2016, 1:35 PM



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Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 8, 2016, 3:46 PM

I feel like you have spoken for me . I was one year behind you and graduated in ' 74 .

Not many of those who were not
around for '81 N. C. can imagine what winning it again will do for Clemson and how a special season like this will stick with them forever .

Heck , I'm just glad to have the right staff and support that we have now . ??????????

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Absolutely ... the positive impact is incalculable!***


Jan 8, 2016, 5:06 PM



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Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 9, 2016, 8:48 PM [ in reply to Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been. ]

My father was a 1954 graduate and I have been a Tiger fan since I could say the word. I remember him playing Tiger Rag on a harmonica. I grew up listening to Clemson football on the radio with "The voice of the Clemson Tigers"Jim Phillips. I remember the hard times Clemson had under Red Parker and the joy of that first NC. I'm so excited for this next game, I can hardly wait. Go Tigers!

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Whoa whoa baby, back where Clemson belongs


Jan 8, 2016, 5:22 PM

Clemson hippies: the only hippies who watch football!

nice post btw...

ps. not necessarily calling you a hippie, but love me some Dead

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The road goes on forever and the party never ends...


Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 8, 2016, 5:31 PM

What a journey

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Go Tigers! Once A Tiger Always A Tiger


Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 8, 2016, 5:33 PM

Great read, thanks for sharing

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HOF post


Jan 8, 2016, 6:36 PM

Nm

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Thanks for sharing your story. i really started my love


Jan 8, 2016, 7:08 PM

if the Tigers in the 90s. Tommy West futility and complete lack of discipline on and off the field, through the rollercoaster years of Bowdening, through the hope that each Dabo season would be better.
Its been a way shorter ride, but I think I know the feeling.
I fly on Mon morning from Cali to meet my daughter and Clemson roommate and friend coming from Chas.. I can't wait to leave every cheer and every ounce of appreication for this team's efforts in that stadium in Monday night.
I'm proud of this team both on and off the field, and it feels great to have such an amazing group of guys to cheer for.
Bring it home Tigers!!!

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null


Long, strange trip indeed. I'm Greatful (not to be) Dead yet


Jan 8, 2016, 9:59 PM

Even though I do have a touch of grey, I'd really like to witness a Clemson national championship in football this Monday night.

Win or lose, I will get by, I will survive ...BUT ... I have a good feeling!!!!!

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Thanks for sharing, I never will get enough wisdom from


Jan 8, 2016, 10:23 PM

Those before me. I was a diehard from birth, we didn't have a choice. I loved going to Death Valley.

I was 13 in 1981 an I was screaming for our Tigers and enjoying the winning. I Would cry if we lost from a little toddler..lol

I can't wait because the best is yet to come. Hard to believe this team has a shot at 15-0. That's a bunch of games to win it all. When we win we will be two games better than any other team.

Again thank you guys for sharing, it shows the love of Clemson long before I was born.

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We keep getting better & better everyday, in every way!
“The only disability is a bad Attitude” Dabo Swinney!!
Let’s Go Tigers!


Re: My Clemson experience: What a long, strange trip it's been.


Jan 9, 2016, 9:47 PM

My first Clemson game was the 1966 Virginia game with my father, I was 9. I remember we were getting beat 35-18 at the half and I was pretty bummed out about that. This guy behind me that was feeling no pain slapped me on the back and said: "kid their's nothing to worry about, we gonna come out the 2nd half and whip these Virginy boys! He was was right, Jimmy Addison & Buddy Gore lead them to a 40-35 victory! I remember I was a big Green Bay fan then and Bart Starr was my favorite player. My mom give me a choice of a Green #15 jersey or an Orange #18 jersey. I chose the Jimmy Addison jersey. I was hooked after that! Yes, the '81 season was an incredible year and considered the greatest, but probably the most exciting season I witnessed was the '77 season. We hadn't sniffed a bowl since 1959 and we were going to the Gator Bowl. We finished the regular season 8-2-1 with 'the catch' to beat the Gamecocks! Didn't do so well in the bowl, but I couldn't wait til next year. '78 was definitely worth the wait, we went 11-1 and finished 6th.

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thX "Apex" & All for your memories which parallel mine!


Jan 9, 2016, 9:59 PM

GOTiGERS...Rock Em & be 15-0!

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