LOOK: Clemson Historic photo #60 'Senior Platoon at Yankee Stadium'

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Sun May 31 09:28:02 GMT-04:00 2020

TigerNet will be posting several historic Clemson photos during this difficult time with no Clemson sports.

Long-time TigerNet member Mintaka ® submitted many of the photos, and we appreciate him being part of the TigerNet family.

Check out this historical photo of Clemson's Senior Platoon in 1948.

Mintaka's take: The Senior Platoon making an appearance in New York for a professional football game between San Francisco and New York in 1948.

Alice Coleman sent in the following picture and story of her father being part of the Senior Platoon.

Coleman's take: My father Robert Warren Tinsley majored in Animal Science and graduated from Clemson in 1954. He was a member of the Senior Platoon, the precision drill team that was created in 1929, and they were asked to perform at Yankee Stadium in New York during the spring of 1954. He told me that they rode the train there and back and that they were a little rowdy so the conductor made them sit in the last car! They arrived back in Clemson around 2:00A.M. It was my dad's senior year, and he decided to skip his first class ever at 8:00A.M. the next morning because he was exhausted. His professor happened to give the one and only pop test for the semester that day. My dad made his one and only C in that class because of that decision, but he had no regrets. Dad was actually asked to join the Senior Platoon during his junior year. That year they performed during Mardi Gras. Dad passed away September 15 of this past year.

The Senior Platoon was disbanded in 1960. In the late 1990's, some of the former Senior Platoon members formed the Alumni Senior Platoon and performed at half time once a year for several years. In 2000 the Tiger Platoon was created and the responsibility for the history and traditions of the Senior Platoon were passed to the new Tiger Platoon.

Feel free to share your thoughts that come to mind about our latest historical photos. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy looking back over the years at Clemson.

Please send any historic photos you would like to share to tony@tigernet.com.