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All-In [38479]
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CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 4:07 PM
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Any have one or know what one is?
Here is my Rat Hat:
https://yardcrap.typepad.com/.a/6a00e5528fe169883402788037bd4a200d-pi
As you can see it is not in great shape, had to sew on the bill a couple times.
On day one 100% of freshmen had their shaved. Frats made $$ selling that cut for 50cents. (sometimes a bloody event)
"RATS" were required to wear their RAT HAT on their bald head until after the last football game.
Upperclassmen would try to take it from you, so you had to fight to hang on to it. They would test you, but most did it with the best of intentions.
All RATS were required at all home games and sat together in the lower section near the hill end.
The hat was great for hitch hiking home. Everyone in the state would pick you up. Even upper class men dug theirs out for that. Needless to say that hitch hiking then and now is a different thing.
Going home and showing at say the local football game or around town with your Rat Hat and shaved head made one feel special. Being a "Clemson Man" made you walk a little taller than when you had left the town.
There was a "Rat Court' for guys who objected or went astray of the rules. Few snowflakes were around back then. I came off a Mill Hill and could defend mine.
Uppers could do things like make you lead a cheer (against USuCk). We learned to slip into the mess hall near the end after most of them had left in order to eat.
You were off limits in your room (to study). There was a loop hole as often all were called into the Quad after dark to do a Rat Cheer.
All in all, being a RAT was great! It was kinda sad when your time in the barrel ended.
Rats could get away with anything.
It was great fun, kinda like on Tnet where the new folks like me have to pay some dues to fit in with guys who have already paid theirs.
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All-TigerNet [10615]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 4:11 PM
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I've still got mine sitting in a box somewhere around the house ...... maybe in a tad better condition than yours. Remember it like it was yesterday!
I think you were a little off on how long we had to wear them. If I remember correctly if we beat the coots we no longer than to wear them, but if we didn't we had to wear them several weeks longer.
Eating in the mess hall was hectic as every minute or two you had to stand up and do a cheer .... usually C -L - E - M is cadence count. The biggest inconvenience was having to go to Dan's to get hamburgers for upperclassmen on your hall. I remember running down a freshman who did not get his hair cut after a pep rally at the amphitheater in about 1965 or 66 ...... wasn't pretty (for him)!
Message was edited by: TigerLinks®
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Letterman [288]
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Rats beating the drum
Jul 13, 2021, 7:56 PM
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One of my biggest thrills was walking into Death Valley before 40,000 fans while beating the drum that we rats had beaten for 24 hours prior to the first football game in 1965. My roommate was sentenced by the 'rat court' to beat it for 30 minutes during the prior night, but he couldnt keep the beat right so I covered for him. We beat it all night outside the Clemson House where the Wolfpack team was staying.
The beat was 'Beat State, Beat State, Beat #### out of State'.
When it was time to march to the stadium I picked up the drum and kept beating. It is the only time in my life I have had 40,000 people stand up and cheer for me.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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Kept mine for years but not to be found now
Jul 13, 2021, 4:19 PM
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When were you there? When I was a Rat, the Season ended after the FIRST home football game - not the last. And I was not safe in my room as I was harassed well into the night once because I would not open my door - climbed out my window and went around the building to come in the front door and the 'uppers" were shocked because they were sure I was in the room all that time.
Message was edited by: clover65®
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CU Guru [1658]
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Re: Kept mine for years but not to be found now
Jul 13, 2021, 5:08 PM
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I still got mine
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Scout Team [172]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 5:51 PM
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I have no idea what you are talking about.
All kidding aside, as you can see, I have a copy of the "Rat Pact" also. To be honest when I was a rat in 1966 rat season had been cut back quite a bit. Of course all the coeds had to wear a long purple and a long orange ribbon in their hair. Oh the horror!
Most of the hazing was from the sophomores, but I lived in an upperclassman dorm. It's called Cope now, and we could see inside Death Valley from the study room. My roommate and I and one other rat were the only ones on our floor. That made it very difficult to make a Dan's run for all those upperclassmen. You're welcome Roger Deffenbaugh and Mike Rice.
This was the year in the first game, against Virginia, Jimmy "The Needle" Addison brought Clemson back from a 35-18 deficit in the second half to win 40-35. The win meant that rat season ended that week. The most dangerous event was trying to get paint under my fingernails from the flag pole in front of the Main Building. I lost my glasses and received numerous bumps and bruises.
It all seems like yesterday.
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Orange Blooded [2175]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 5:58 PM
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Thank you for this post and the replies. They make me feel young.
I have my Dad's rat hat, but rat season was long gone by the time I got there in '82.
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Legend [19394]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 6:08 PM
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Likewise I heard Dad tell stories about being a rat in the 50's but by the time i arrived in the 80's things had changed significantly.
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CU Guru [1923]
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After living in 23 zip codes, I have lost everything .....
Jul 13, 2021, 6:11 PM
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...... except my LOVE for my TIGERS!!!
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All-In [25889]
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Re: After living in 23 zip codes, I have lost everything .....
Jul 13, 2021, 6:15 PM
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Did any of you have to carry a paddle around with you so the upperclassmen could paddle your behind any time they wanted to ?
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CU Medallion [51528]
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The phrase “Clemson Man” is a hate crime now.***
Jul 13, 2021, 6:18 PM
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Orange Blooded [4185]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 6:20 PM
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Found this picture.
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All-TigerNet [12833]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 6:20 PM
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Nice post...
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All-In [43994]
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This thread is great!
Jul 13, 2021, 6:52 PM
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Keep the posts coming!
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Hall of Famer [22277]
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Great stories, I love it... just missed that era, FR in '75.***
Jul 13, 2021, 7:22 PM
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Varsity [231]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 7:52 PM
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Anyone remember, as a Rat, going to Dan’s for all uppers on hall, carrying all that money snd asking for a “shepherd’s sandwich?”
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All-TigerNet [10779]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 8:49 PM
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correct me if i'm wrong,but i thought rat season ended with homecoming.think it was uncheat that year,'64.we also had to go to the canteen or dan's at night at the whim of any upper-classman.there was a guy,mike craven?,who didn't get his rat-cut,but was caught and had a block-c shaved on the top of his head.not sure if the court imposed any other penalties.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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I am sure that it ended after the 1st home
Jul 13, 2021, 9:03 PM
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game in 1965 - was late September but felt like a couple of years from the middle of August
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Scout Team [172]
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Re: I am sure that it ended after the 1st home
Jul 13, 2021, 9:33 PM
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If my memory serves me correctly, I remember thinking in "66 that if we lost the first game against Virginia rat season would continue. That's why I was sweating when Clemson was down by 17 points in the second half. I don't remember how long it would continue.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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Don’t remember that- was my 2nd year
Jul 13, 2021, 9:59 PM
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Was at the game but continuing Rat Season with a loss is beyond my reality
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All-TigerNet [10779]
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Re: I am sure that it ended after the 1st home
Jul 14, 2021, 8:58 PM
[ in reply to Re: I am sure that it ended after the 1st home ] |
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i remember running onto the field after the game ended.va. had an obnoxious qb that year,and everyone was glad that he wasn't the one who got the win.
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All-TigerNet [10615]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 13, 2021, 10:39 PM
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Ok guys ..... most of you have it wrong ..... although it may have changed later on. I started in 1964. OK ... here it is. Rat season lasted until the South Carolina game ..... if we won. If we lost it lasted until Thanksgiving. It sure didn't last til the first game as we started school the first week in September back then and the first game was in September.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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Don't think I would have survived that long and I
Jul 14, 2021, 9:26 AM
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entered in 1965 in mid-August so it must have changed real quick. NC State was the first home game in late September. A month and a half seemed like more than 3 but we need more research.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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Once and for all
Jul 14, 2021, 9:40 AM
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Not SC game - not 1st home game. Everybody part wrong?
Link not working but says until Homecoming game & will continue until next win if that game is lost. Certainly not what I remembered.
Message was edited by: clover65®
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Standout [309]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 14, 2021, 9:31 AM
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Still have mine, but not the original one. It was stolen just before Rat Season ended after the USUck game in '66. Funny story...As I walked between Tillman and the Tin Cans (Johnstone) one Saturday morning, an upper called out, "Hey Rat." He was in his room on the third floor of the Cans. He asked me if I knew Thomas Clemson's middle name. I didn't. "Stupid Rat!", he snarled and sent me to the statue on the other side of Tillman to read it and report back. He was right, I was stupid 'cause I ACTUALLY DID return to tell him "Greene". He then asked me when he was born, and I didn't know that either which earned me another "Stupid Rat!". So he sent me back again, and I returned to him....AGAIN!!!! He then told me he had an event in the Lower Quad that day and needed the key to the Quad which I could get for him at the Campus Cops' office. I started for that, too, but my sanity returned when I realized that there's no gate to the Lower Quad.
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Hall of Famer [22277]
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I wish guys like curat posted more often, much more interesting
Jul 14, 2021, 7:41 PM
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to me than all the goofy nonsense that always dominates the football board. I could read these stories all day. Thanks to Tugaloo for creating threads that nudges cool old Clemson dudes like him to post. A man of few words... 75 posts in 17 years. Crap, 75 posts is just a good day for the nonstop-blabbing later generations that go on and on about nothing...
It's still true: "they talk most who have the least to say". Matthew Prior 1664-1721
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Standout [309]
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Re: I wish guys like curat posted more often, much more interesting
Jul 15, 2021, 2:54 PM
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Thanks...I Tmailed you a response.
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All-In [38479]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 14, 2021, 5:03 PM
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This paragraph from TAPS (the yearbook) might settle the question of how long one was a RAT.
I have enjoyed reading what all yall had to say, thanks.
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All-TigerNet [10615]
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Re: CLEMSON RAT HAT
Jul 14, 2021, 11:52 PM
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I have found one reference to wearing the rat hat until homecoming, but three that confirm that they were worn until the Clemson Carolina game and then it depended on whether or not we won that game ...... until Thanksgiving if we didn't. WE lost to Carolina my freshman year so we had to wear then about another week until Thanksgiving.
The link Clover provided mentions rat hats, but nothing about how long they were worn ...... unless I missed it.
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CU Medallion [50492]
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I don’t know what happened with that link but
Jul 15, 2021, 4:15 PM
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it did say Rat Season lasted until Homecoming and continued until the next win in football if the Homecoming game was a loss- in 1965 Homecoming would have been late October
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