Why is clemson death valley

Referred to by opposing teams as Death Valley, Memorial Stadium, home of the Clemson Tigers, is one of the most intimidating stadiums for visiting football teams in the country. The history of Memorial Stadium dates to the mid to late s when Clemson officials discussed building a new stadium for the football team. Football coach at the time, Jess Neely, was opposed to a new stadium, but his departure in led to the building of a new facility. Named Memorial Stadium, the Clemson Tigers played their inaugural game at the stadium on September 19, as they beat Presbyterian College.

When the original part of the stadium was built in the early s, much of the work was done by scholarship athletes, including football players. The first staking out of the stadium was done by two members of the football team, A.

Cameron and Hugh Webb. Webb returned to Clemson years later to be an architecture professor and Cameron went on to become a civil engineer in Louisiana. The construction of Memorial Stadium did not proceed without problems.

One afternoon during the clearing of the land, a young player proudly announced that he was not allergic to poison oak. He then proceeded to attack the poison oak with a swing blade, throwing the plants to and fro. The next day, the boy was swollen twice his size and was hospitalized. There are many other stories about the stadium, including one that Frank Howard put a chew of tobacco in each corner as the concrete was poured.

I also told them we would have 50 gallons of ice cream when we got through. Then we sat down in the middle of the field and ate up that whole 50 gallons.

Then in , 18, sideline seats were added, and in , 5, west endzone seats were added in response to increasing attendance. Federal corruption prosecutions are way down across the nation and in SC. Close 1 of 2. Buy Now. Grace Raynor.

Should the two teams finalize a deal, there is no doubt the Death Valley conversation will come up again. There is one Clemson player, though, who has been to both stadiums and is firm on which one deserves the official nickname.

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