Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Jan 26, 2022, 11:44 AM

	19974C5B-99F7-42B3-891C-98D50B3E86D9.jpeg(517.5 K)
	3D8F8561-4777-4D5E-AF70-874B4A2862FD.jpeg(356.3 K)
	ABBACC8C-ADFB-43B8-B468-9D7078F269F5.jpeg(301.2 K)

That would be Clemson’s “Dean & Legend” of Tiger Football, Frank Howard, who died on this date in 1996 and was born in that small hollow called Barlow Bend.

Before arriving at Clemson SC he was a skinny 185 lb runt of a lineman who played for Alabama in the Rose Bowl on their famous Red Elephant squad.

At age 31 and an assistant coach at Clemson he seconded his nomination to become head coach and started a run of Clemson Football being known for having tough line play & teams that would be tough to beat while his teams in the late 40’s to late 50’s were putting lil ole Clemson College on the college football map with solid victories and more invites to prestigious bowls..

like in that famous Sugar Bowl with the Tigers only losing to the vaulted #1 ranked “Chinese Bandit” LSU Tiger squad 7-0 while being ranked #10, on a fumble at the goal line & later a trick half-back passing play from Billy Cannon).

Before his career as HC started off with a 32-13 victory over lowly Presbyterian College in front of 5,000 fans in Sept 1942, he had envisioned he could become as famous, successful & storied as Clemson’s 2nd Head Coach John Heisman..and in ways he was and maybe more.

Note: Memorial Stadium wasn’t named such until Sept 1942 when Clemson Students in WW2 were killed in combat and thus honored.

On that 1st game in Sept 1942 vs PC the gates were finally hung at 1pm, with the help of students and other non-football scholarship athletes, and the teams kicked off at 2pm.

It’s great history to know that Coach Howard personally helped clear the trees around the playing field in 1940.

When the concrete stands were being poured it’s fact that Frank placed a piece of his tobacco chew in each corner so he’d have a part of him in the stadium he helped build.

In describing Coach Howard’s frugalness but good business sense, after the football field sod installers took 3 weeks to lay 1/2 of the field, he offered the installers 50 gallons of ice cream upon completion and they responded by finishing the 2nd half of laying the sod in only 3 days.

Could any modern college football fan or current head coach fathom this work ethic, devotion & personal hands-on attitude? It probably had a lot to do with him growing up in the Great Depression and understanding the value of a dollar and hard work.

Speaking of dollars, he was an original member & supporter of the highly successful Sports Bolster Club called IPTAY (I Pay $10 A Year) and in the off-Summer season he would drive through-out rural & humid SC in his old car and ask farmers & business people to help Clemson football beat the big boys by donating.

Most couldn’t afford to gave $10 up front so Frank would accept a verbal I.O.U. and a Buck, and maybe even accept a chicken or basket of veggies for his efforts. Later, IPTAY became the 1st college sports bolster organization in America to reach $1,000,000 in donations (and not to include ticket sales in that figure) and the 1st to reach high membership levels in the thousands..and over the years it was 1st in reaching higher levels in the multi-millions & membership figures..so much so that many college athletic departments came to Clemson to find out how it worked.

Today he surely must be looking down from his burial site on top of the hill located less than a football field length away, at that plot of land he sculpted into a place for great athletic feats, loud cheering crowds & winning football in Tigertown USA.

So, thanks Coach Howard for all you personally did for Clemson Football & Clemson College too..not only to personally help build what later became the famous Death Valley & Howard’s Field..as well as your saving & installing the ROCK at the top of The HiLL whereby the team’s entry is described as being the most exciting 33 seconds in college football..

but also we grateful fans tip our cap & send out many sincere thanks & much love to You COACH & Your BOYS today for putting us solidly on the map in college football.

Go TiGERS!

PS: Dabo says hello FH & Thanks a million(s)!

Oh, It’s thought that Coach Howard’s biggest payday in his last years was between $35,000-$50,000 a year, if that.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

I remember meeting him first when I would go to the Clemson games with my grandfather and my future Football Coach who played for him in the early 50’s. We would stop by his office before the games and my coach would bring him chewing tobacco. He always remembered my name. Then when I was at Clemson in the 70’s I would see him on campus and would stop to talk to him.

He was a great story teller and I just loved to listen to him. I remember one story about how he said Coach Bear Bryant recruited. He said Coach Bryant would ride through farm land throughout the south and when he would see some young guy plowing the fields he would slow down, blow the horn and wave at the young guy. And if the “young man would wave back at him with the plow stock in his hand, he would stop and offer him a scholarship.” Said that was how Coach Bryant had such good teams. As he told those stories, tobacco juice would sometimes run down the side of his mouth. My coach told me for goodness sake, don’t tell him that. ??

My coach told me that during one game he fumbled the football (He was a Tight End) and when the game was over Coach Howard came over and handed him a football and told him that he had to carry that football everywhere he went, to bed, to class, everywhere. Coach Howard said he better not see him without that football in his hands and if he did, he didn’t want to see what would happen. Coach said he woke up one night and there was Coach Howard standing beside his bed and Coach didn’t have that football. Well he got him up and called one of his coaches to meet them at the stadium. It was 2:00 am then and he proceeded to run the stands until 5:00 am, when he had drill. Coach said he NEVER fumbled after that day.

Imagine what would happen to a Coach if he did that today. That was just one story I heard about Coach Howard. The Man he was is the reason Clemson is what it is today.

Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” today.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” today.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” today.

And his son Jimmy is 80 now and

Re: And his son Jimmy is 80 now and

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” today.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Memorial Stadium opened in 1942

Re: Memorial Stadium opened in 1942

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

Re: Remembering the “Baron of Barlow Bend, AL” on this day.

^ Thx 45Tiger (and great CU classmate & dear friend)..

TigerBoard POTD