Re: Hill Watch...113 days!!!

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113 Seasons Ago Clemson Football Finished 4-4 in 1912

May 9, 2025, 12:01 AM

The 1912 season was the final year of another brief head coaching tenure at Clemson.

Meanwhile, a scandal erupted on campus in 1912!!

And Clemson basketball began in 1912. In unrelated news, the Titanic left England offering tremendous potential but somehow sank along its journey.

Overview:

According to Wikipedia:

“Led by Frank Dobson in his third and final season a head coach, the team compiled an overall record of 4–4 with a mark of 3–3 in SIAA team. W. B. Britt was the team captain.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Clemson_Tigers_football_team#CITEREF2010_Media_Guide

Head Coach Frank Dodson:

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Dobson_(American_football)

Worthy of Note:

According to ClemsonWiki:

“October 5: For third straight year, Clemson shuts out the Howard Baptists (later Samford), 59-0, in road game in Birmingham. Tigers lead series 3-0.

October 12: Clemson blanks Riverside, 26-0, on Bowman Field in only meeting with this team. Series is 1-0-0, Tigers. The Senior Dancing Club holds an informal dance in honor of the Clemson and Riverside football teams, 8-11:30 p.m.

October 19: Clemson is defeated by Alabama Polytechnic College (later Auburn), 6-27, in a road trip to Alabama. Auburn leads series, 3-5.

October 26: The Tigers beat The Citadel for fourth straight time, 52-14, on Bowman Field. Tigers own series, 4-0. The Calhoun Literary Society holds a political debate with members representing Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt, and "Bill" Taft, in a political meeting. (What - no Eugene V. Debs?)”

https://clemsonwiki.com/wiki/1912

Results:

October 5 at Howard (AL)
W 59–0
October 12 Riverside Military Academy*
W 26–0
October 19 at Auburn
L 6–27
October 26 The Citadel
W 52–14
October 31 at South Carolina*
L 7–22
November 7 vs. Georgia (at Augusta, Ga)
L 5–27
November 16 at Mercer
W 21–13
November 28 at Georgia Tech
L 0–23

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Clemson_Tigers_football_team#CITEREF2010_Media_Guide

With this unfortunate loss, Clemson now led the series with the Gamechickens 7-3.

1912 Clemson Football:

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1912_Clemson_Tigers_football_team#CITEREF2010_Media_Guide)

Also in 1912:

Clemson basketball began in 1912 (officially the 1911-1912 season, but it began play in 1912). The Clemson men’s basketball team played its games outdoors.

According to ClemsonTigers.com:

“On Friday, February 9, 1912, Clemson started the sport in a big way, traveling to Greenville, SC and playing a double header. In the first game, against Furman, Clemson’s center and captain, James Erwin, scored 22 points, while his brother John Erwin scored 20 points to lead the Tigers to a 46-12 victory.

In the second game, Clemson defeated Butler Guards, 78-6. James Erwin scored 58 points, while brother John scored 16 in leading the Tigers to victory. The 58 points still ranks as a single-season record by a Clemson player over 100 years later.

The Tigers finished the road trip and played Wofford in Spartanburg the next day. James Erwin led the way with 18 points. He scored 98 points in the three-game, two-day road trip.
Frank Dobson was the Tigers’ coach during the first two seasons of basketball, and he also was the head coach for the Tiger football and baseball teams, making him a very busy man.

First Home Game

Clemson played just one home game in the first season of competition. On March 9, 1912 Clemson defeated Wofford 56-13 (see above image). James Erwin scored 30 points on this historic day. As Clemson’s student paper, The Tiger, described the game, James Erwin was a special player. “It seemed the basket had an irresistible pull for the ball when he attempted a shot.”

This game was played on Bowman Field in front of Tillman and Godfrey Hall. Luckily, the weather was mild that day and the Cadet Corp was very receptive to the new sport on campus. Clemson finished the season with a perfect 4-0 record.”

https://clemsontigers.com/clemson-basketball-firsts/

It is worth noting that in going 4-0, the 1911-1912 season is Clemson’s only undefeated season. Or, should I say, Clemson’s only undefeated season so far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Clemson_Tigers_men%27s_basketball_seasons

Also at Clemson in 1912:

According to ClemsonWiki:

“May: President Walter Merritt Riggs brings to light more than fifteen years of embezzlement from the college mess hall by steward August "Shorty" Schilletter, hiring a private detective out of his own pocket so that no there will be no school financial records involved.

June: President Riggs informs Senator and Trustee Benjamin Tillman that Schilletter "must have knocked down between five and eight thousand dollars a year". At this time, Riggs' salary is $3,500 per annum.

June 23: Acting in the best interest of the school, Riggs does not publicize the matter through prosecution but allows the generally well-liked Schilletter to continue as an employee, and informs him on this date that he will now be managing only the kitchen, with no access to the supply cycle or cashbox. Riggs is so successful at keeping the scandal from going public and bringing unwanted scrutiny of the college that Schilletter dining hall on east campus will later be named for the reprieved scoundrel.

July: Riggs assures Tillman that he will ask for Schilletter's resignation if Shorty attempts to go back to his old tricks or attempts to stir up indignation on campus after Riggs' putting the kibosh on his profitable little scam. Riggs will eventually ease Schilletter out of the school in 1919.”

https://clemsonwiki.com/wiki/1912

And further from home:

According to ClemsonWiki:

April 14: Shortly before midnight, this date, the White Star liner RMS Titanic, four days into her maiden voyage, strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic, sinks 2 hours, 40 minutes later. Of the 2,223 aboard, 1,517 die, making this the worst peacetime maritime disaster ever.

https://clemsonwiki.com/wiki/1912

Elsewhere:

Italy defeats the Ottoman Empire (a German Ally) in North Africa.

The Balkan wars begin in Eastern Europe – testing Germany’s political alliance with Austria-Hungary.

France and Russia, not normally the best of friends, form an alliance to protect themselves on Europe’s Eastern and Western sides. Given the political climate, Britain later joins the alliance despite normally being at odds with each of them.

According to the History Channel’s History.com:

“Both France and Russia gradually established good relations with France’s historic rival, Great Britain, resulting in the Triple Entente between the three nations. This “entente,” or understanding, was not a military alliance, but it did help establish competing camps in Europe.

“The alliance system was basically an attempt at trying to form collective security,” says Richard Fogarty, a history professor at the University at Albany. “But what it meant was it replaced a system in which a whole bunch of states competed with each other individually with a system in which states competed with each other in, ultimately, two major alliances. And that set the stage for the war.”

https://www.history.com/articles/regional-conflict-world-war-i-beginning

Europe is rapidly approaching the brink! And the rest of the world is being pulled down accordingly!

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Clemson: Academic Excellence! Athletic Excellence!

Hill Watch...113 days!!!

That is Outstanding!!