It Was a Hail of a Day

Aug 28, 2019, 8:21 PM

October 13, 1963, is a date many of us older Tiger fans will always remember. The Georgia Bulldogs and the Clemson Tigers were engaged in a battle in Memorial Stadium on the beautiful campus of Clemson University. The temperature was in the mid eighties and hardly a cloud in the sky. There was no reason or the slightest indication that fans would come equipped with a raincoat or an umbrella.

Soon after the game began, a small dark cloud from down around Fair Play came drifting across the stadium headed towards Pickens. What seemed so strange was the fact the cloud was so small in an otherwise expanse of blue sky. Just before halftime there must have been a command from some higher source for an "About Face". The cloud did a 180 degree turn and headed back toward the stadium. In just a few minutes the temperature dropped about 30 - 35 degrees, and then the hail began to fall.

Fans rushed to the portals to escape the pounding of the marble size hail.To add to the misery, rain was mixed in with the hail. The aisle ways and portals were jammed with fans attempting to seek safety under the stands.

My seats are near one of the portals and when I decided to seek shelter, I was unable to leave at my portal. Instead, I placed my program over my head and managed to get to the end of the stadium where I could now get under the stands. The hail was coming down so hard and heavy my hands were actually bruised.

The overhead stands were not sealed and standing below them offered no protection from the rain and melting hail. Everyone was wet and cold. This was before game attire was casual and many women wore their "finery", including hats, to the game. Some of their dresses were made from material that shrunk when wet so some of the women were having a problem with their clothing as well as their hair.

The first half ended soon after the hail began but there were still a few fans watching the action on the field. After the hail and rain had ceased, most of the fans left the stadium before the second half kickoff. The second half kickoff was delayed a few minutes to allow most of the hail to melt. On the South side of the field near the brick wall, several inches of hail had accumulated.

Wet and cold, I decided to leave during halftime. I had parked my car in front of Fike Field House with my car facing south. I had lowered the main front window on the drivers side about three inches and opened the side vent several inches. When I returned to my car and opened the door, the front seat and floorboard were covered with hail. I took my hands and raked out as much as I could. The seat being wet was of no concern, my clothes were soaking wet. I just wanted to get home, get a shower and put on some dry clothes.

On game day in Clemson in the 1960's, most stores closed during game time but on this day, they changed their schedule. Those stores selling clothing knew out of town fans would be seeking dry clothing, clothing of any type as long as it was dry. And business was booming. Fans purchased anything that was dry, including pajamas, night gowns and everything else. After a few hours the shelves in the clothing stores were bare.

The hail storm was the hot topic of the day and I doubt many people remember anything about the game except it ended in a 7 - 7 tie.

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It Was a Hail of a Day

Re: It Was a Hail of a Day

My momma still talks about that day as the craziest

Re: It Was a Hail of a Day

Joe, that was my first Clemson game.

YeP..8 of us ran to my married student prefab house located above present baseball field to dry out!

Re: It Was a Hail of a Day

I sure remember that day, Joe

I was a 10 year old on the Hill. We took off for Fike and

Re: It Was a Hail of a Day

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