Memorial Stadium, Clemson

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the for details. (November 2007)

Clemson Memorial Stadium/ Frank Howard Field
"Death Valley"
Location	Centennial Blvd Clemson, SC 29634
Opened	September 19, 1942
Owner	Clemson University
Operator	Clemson University
Surface	Natural Grass
Construction cost	$125,000 (original stadium)
Tenants	Clemson Tigers (NCAA) (1942-Present) Carolina Panthers (NFL) (1995)
Capacity	80,301 (official) 86,092 (record - Florida State 1999)

Frank Howard Field at Memorial Stadium, popularly known as Death Valley, is home to the Clemson University Tigers, a NCAA Division I-A football team located in Clemson, South Carolina. Currently, the stadium is the second largest in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Built in 1941-1942, the stadium has been expanded throughout the years, with the most recent expansion, the WestZone, begun in 2004. Prior to the completion of Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, it was used by the Carolina Panthers NFL team in its inaugural 1995 season.

History

Construction

The stadium was constructed against the wishes of the late and former Clemson Head Coach Jess Neely. Just before leaving for Rice University after the 1939 season, he said "Don't ever let them talk you into building a big stadium. Put about 10,000 seats behind the YMCA. That's all you'll ever need." Despite this, the University decided it was time to build a stadium. They chose to build in the valley in the western part of campus. The original 20,000 seat stadium was constructed for $125,000 or $6.25 a seat. On September 19, 1942, Memorial Stadium was opened with a 32-13 victory over Presbyterian College. Much of the early construction of the stadium was done by scholarship athletes. In fact, the first staking out of the stadium was done by A.N. Cameron and Hugh Webb, two members of the football team. In 1958, 18,000 sideline seats were added and in 1960, 5,658 west end zone seats were added in response to increasing attendance. As attendance continued to skyrocket, an upper deck was added to each side of the stadium. The south upper deck (Top Deck South) was added in 1978 and the north upper deck (Top Deck North) in 1983. This put the total capacity over 80,000, which made it one of the largest on campus stadiums in the United States. The most recent expansion started in 2004 and will continue through at least 2009. The first phase of the "WestZone" project closed in the west endzone of Death Valley, added new luxury box and club seating, and completely renovated the locker rooms. The second phase, which is under construction, will bring all football offices and team meeting rooms to the WestZone from the McFadden Building, among other improvements.

Death Valley

The term "Death Valley" comes from the fact that the field is physically situated in a valley. But two additional facts also add to the mystique. First, the university cemetery sits on a hill that once overlooked the field before the upper decks were constructed. The other reference comes from the late Lonnie McMillian, the former football coach at Presbyterian College. He used to take his teams to play at Clemson, where they rarely scored or gained a victory. He once told sports writers he was going to play Clemson up at Death Valley because his teams always got killed. The nickname stuck to an extent, but when Clemson Head Coach Frank Howard started calling it that in the 1950s, the nickname really caught on. Death Valley is traditionally known for being one of the low-sounding college football stadiums in America, which adds to the stadium's appeal. When College GameDay came to Clemson for the first time for the Georgia Tech game in 2006, the noise level behind the GameDay set reached 57 decibels, which was the lowest of any GameDay crowd. Clemson got the name from the ulmighty LSU Death Valley, trying to copy off of the LSU Tigers. But "Clemson's Death Valley" is nothing like LSU's. The real Death Valley is named for its extreme noise levels that comes from it's crowd of 92,400.

Death Valley Facts

• Clemson is 227-88-7 at death valley, over 71% winning percentage.
• Clemson has ranked in the top 20 in the nation in average attendance 22 consecutive seasons.
• Clemson's top single season attendance was in 1988 when an average of 81,750 attended each game.
• In 1999, Coach Tommy Bowden's first year, the attendance record was set at the game against Florida State, whose head coach was Tommy's father, Bobby. FSU ended up winning the game 17-14, and the national championship that year. The 17 points scored by FSU at Death Valley was the lowest they scored all year and was by far the closest game, score wise, they had all year. One of many memorable moments from that night was Bobby Bowden's wife, Ann Bowden, wearing a sweater that was half Clemson and half FSU.

Clemson Top Single Game Attendance Figures

• Bowden Era Marked

Traditions

"Howard's Rock"

In the early 1960's, the rock was given to then head coach Frank Howard by a friend (S.C. Jones ('19)) It was presented as "coming from Death Valley, CA, to Death Valley, South Carolina." Howard didn't think anything else about the rock and it was used as a door stop in his office for several years. In September 1966, while cleaning out his office, Howard noticed the rock and told an assistant, "Take this rock and throw it over the fence or out in the ditch...do something with it, but get it out of my office." The assistant had the rock placed on a pedestal at the top of the east endzone hill that the team ran down to enter the field for games. On September 24, 1966, the first time Clemson players ran by the rock, they beat conference rival Virginia 40-35. Howard, seizing on the motivational potential of "The Rock", told his players, "Give me 110% or keep you filthy hands off of my rock." The team started rubbing the Rock for the first game of 1967, which was a 23-6 waxing of ACC foe Wake Forest. [1] In 1992, students from the University of South Carolina broke into the stadium and tried to steal the rock, with no success. The next day, Steve Taneyhill led the Gamecocks to victory over the Clemson Tigers in one of the biggest rivalry games in college football. It is now a tradition for the Clemson Army ROTC to "protect" the Rock for the 24 hours prior to the Carolina-Clemson game when held in Death Valley. ROTC cadets beat on trash cans all night prior to the game defending Howard's Rock.

"Running Down the Hill"

The Tigers run down The Hill before the Louisiana Tech game.

Probably the most highly publicized traditions of the Clemson Tigers football team is the entrance. Known as the "The Most Exciting 25 seconds in College Football" it truly is one of the greatest college football traditions. After exiting the stadium on the west side, the players load into 2 buses which, escorted by a policeman on a motorcycle, makes its way around the stadium to the east side where The Hill is located. This scene is shown on the JumboTron inside the stadium. When the buses arrive at the east side the players get out and gather at the top of the hill and stand around Howard's Rock, once most of the players are out of the buses and ready to go a cannon sounds, the band begins to play Tiger Rag and the players make their way down the hill. The spelling out of C-L-E-M-S-O-N during this Tiger Rag is one of, if not the, loudest times it will be spelled out during the game. Coming into the 2007 season the Tigers have made the run down the hill 320 times.

Quotes

"When Clemson players rub that rock and run down the hill, it's the most exciting 25 seconds in college football." --Brent Musburger, ABC Sports "I remember being sick before the game because there were 80,000 people dressed in orange. I even threw up before the game. It's the only time I've ever done that." --Dave Brown, Former Duke Quarterback "There is no place louder or more picturesque than Death Valley. There, where Clemson folks see magic in a hill and a rock, orange gets more respect than anywhere this side of Gainesville, Florida." --Terence Moore, Atlanta Constitution "I came here knowing it would be loud and that Clemson would hit me hard, but to me, the noise was the biggest factor. I know I didn't concentrate as well because of it." --Herschel Walker, Former Georgia Running Back (after Clemson's 13-3 victory in 1981, Walker's only regular season loss at Georgia). "Death Valley really lives up to its image. I was impressed with this stadium. When you put 80,000 people in there, it really feels like they are on top of you. I would hate to be Georgia Tech or whoever else comes in here." --Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers Quarterback "Florida was loud in the Swamp. But, the loudest, not only the stadium, but the loudest place I have ever been around in my life was definitely Death Valley." --Chris Rix, former Florida State Quarterback "When you get to the bottom, its like you're in a hole and all around you are nothing but Clemson fans. It's like the crowd is one big voice. You feel like tiny kings." --Rodney Blunt, former Clemson running back "Clemson's record at home is not a coincidence. Running down the hill is a part of that record. You get so inspired, and so much of college football is about emotion. You get out of that bus and you hear the roar of the crowd and it gives you chills up and down your spine." --David Treadwell, 1987 All-American placekicker for Clemson "Running down the hill is still talked about everywhere I go. Players who played against Clemson when I was in college always remember us rubbing that rock and thinking we would gain some type of spirit coming down that hill. The adrenaline rush was unbelievable for a Clemson player and it was quite a shock for the opponent." --Jerry Butler, former Buffalo Bills receiver and Clemson receiver

External links

• Official site

Coordinates: 34°40′43.4891″N, 82°50′35.4301″W