Allow me to say this about the newest controversy......

Many,many of the original IPTAY members were not Clemson men but all had a genuine love and respect for our university. In the earlier days, farmers,orchardist,textile men, and other "commoners" relied heavily on the guidance and new innovations of the states land grant university to improve the lives of their communities and families. Many of you are not old enough to remember county agents,home economists, and the Four H clubs but it was a big part of early life and education in rural South Carolina. All came through Clemson College. All of these early investors saw the importance of Clemson to the state and were willing to make sacrifices to ensure that the Tigers were the best! I'm so glad that they did and I am even more glad that I (and many of you) are a part of making Clemson University what it is today.
Hats off to all who follow my Tigers regardless of your affiliation with the school. Clemson cannot and wii not survive without your support.
Some brave and forward thinking men made it happen many years ago.
Join IPTAY and be a major part of the greatness that we boast of every day.

GO TIGERS

I

Clemson81to85

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I am a Clemson Alum, but

Oct 19, 2016, 9:58 PM

I grew up going to Clemson games because of a group of men and women who had never graduated from any college or university. At the age of eight, in 1971, I attended my first Clemson game, a 10-9 victory over Wake Forest. Every year from 1971 until I entered Clemson in 1981, my dad, his brother and sometimes three or four of their friends would make the trip to Clemson for at least four home games a year. Most years we attended five home games.

There were usually about three or four men and two or three sons and daughters, different combinations at times. Sometimes the moms would go, but that was only once or twice a year. Those were the days of big station wagons, 60 cents per gallon gasoline, and a guaranteed 1 p.m. kickoff. We would wake up at 5 a.m. (after having attended the Winyah Gator football game the night before), leave Georgetown at 6 and head to Clemson. We'd make our way across Georgetown and Williamsburg Counties, and would have breakfast at the Manning truck stop that sits along I-95. It was a great breakfast and a clean restaurant. We then made our way through Columbia and on up I-26, and hit I-85 after Mauldin. We'd get to Clemson in time to tailgate on some fried chicken, biscuits, and potato salad that my grandmother had made the night before. Nobody cheered harder or lived and died with each play like we did.

After the game, we headed back to the Low Country. Yes, went back the same day. A victory helped ease the trip, listening to the post-game on the radio, the fifth quarter, and then arriving in the Columbia. We'd get there in just about the time to see Gamecock traffic heading into the stadium for a game that we would surely listen to on the radio. We would pull for whoever the gamecocks were playing. We also had a tradition of stopping in Columbia and eating at a steakhouse. In those days, the Bonanza, or Ponderosa steakhouses in Columbia were pretty good. If the Gamecocks weren't playing, we'd pick up the LSU game from the station in New Orleans that carried all the way over to South Carolina. We'd listen between breaks in great conversation within the car. We'd get home around 11:00. We made that trip through good, great and heartbreaking seasons. We didn't make any less trips in 1975 than any other year, and I don't think I have to remind the old-timers about 1975. Imagine losing to Tulane on opening day and knowing you had to drive to the coast right after. One night, in 1975, when we all got home, my cousin spent the night over at our house instead of going home with his dad. He and I got situated just in time to check out this new show that was coming on. We thought we'd give it a look. It was called Saturday Night Live and when we stopped laughing, we gave it a thumbs up.

When we did not go to Clemson because the tigers were playing away, we'd listen on the radio every time. I knew when I heard dad listening to Paul Harvey, that Leonard's Losers was next and then the Tigers! We would be doing things in the yard and other areas outside, yet still listening with a radio sitting there with us. We'd also, on occasion, make trips to Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, Athens, Atlanta, and Columbia to see the Tigers play. They were great times.

The purpose of this long trip down memory lane is to say this. None of those men or women were Clemson grads. In fact, none of them had graduated from any college. They were store owners, mechanics, plumbers, beauticians, Ford Motor Company workers, etc. But they supported the tigers and they were all IPTAY members. As a grad, I will never look down on non-alum supporters. They are the bread and butter of Clemson athletics. They are the backbone of the fan-base.

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Yep, my grandparents didn't have a high school degree but

Those are the Tigers that make Clemson special. My dad

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Re: Allow me to say this about the newest controversy......

Re: Allow me to say this about the newest controversy......

Re: Allow me to say this about the newest controversy......

I am a Clemson Alum, but

Re: I am a Clemson Alum, but

WELL SAID . . . .

Having an IPTAY avatar I suspect...

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