Tuesday March 24, 2009

Championships

Championships
Every once in a while I get an e-mail that requires more attention and space than we can normally provide in our Friday e-mail bag and last Friday I received another of those e-mails.

A reader (Charles) e-mailed in and said, “Mickey—Championships begin with scholarships? I give to IPTAY every year but when do the championships begin? When I was a student at Clemson we won tennis, golf, soccer, track, football and women’s basketball championships. What is the problem?”

This was the major topic of the day for my radio show this morning and I did some research on the topic.

First, some background information:
*Clemson was a charter member of the ACC in 1953.

*South Carolina was a member of the ACC from 1953-1971.

*Georgia Tech joined the league in 1978.

*Florida State joined the league in 1991.

*Virginia Tech and Miami joined the league in 2004 and Boston College became a full member in 2005.

Therefore the ACC had eight schools from 1953-1971, seven schools from 1972-1977, eight schools from 1978-1991, nine schools from 1991-2004, eleven schools in 2004 and 12 schools since 2005.

*Clemson currently competes in 19 varsity sports that compete for ACC titles.

*The ACC gives out championships in 25 sports. Clemson does not field varsity teams in field hockey, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, women’s golf, softball and wrestling.

*Clemson dropped wrestling in 1995.

Here are the ACC Championships by sport at Clemson:
Football (13)-1956, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991

Men’s Basketball (0).

Women’s Basketball (2)-1996, 1999.

Baseball (14)-1954, 1958, 1959, 1967, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2006.

Men’s Soccer (13)-1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1998, 2001.

Women’s Soccer (0).

Golf (9)-1982, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004.

Men’s Indoor Track (12)-1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Men’s Outdoor Track (11)-1980, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2004.

Men’s Cross Country (7)-1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988.

Women’s Indoor Track (1)-1992.

Women’s Outdoor Track (2)-1991, 1999.

Women’s Cross Country (1)-1986.

Men’s Tennis (11)-1969, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1997.

Women’s Tennis (8)-1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 2004, 2007.

Volleyball (2)-1997, 2007.

Men’s Swimming and Diving (1)-1986.

Women’s Swimming and Diving (4)-1987, 1988, 1989, 1997.

Wrestling (1)-1991.

Here is a look at Clemson’s ACC Championships by Year:
1954-1
1955-0
1956-1
1957-0
1958-2
1959-2
1960-0
1961-0
1962-0
1963-0
1964-0
1965-1
1966-1
1967-2
1968-0
1969-1
1970-0
1971-0
1972-1
1973-1
1974-1
1975-1
1976-2
1977-1
1978-4
1979-2
1980-4
1981-6
1982-5
1983-3
1984-2
1985-3
1986-5
1987-7
1988-5
1989-5
1990-3
1991-6
1992-2
1993-3
1994-1
1995-0
1996-1
1997-6
1998-4
1999-3
2000-3
2001-3
2002-1
2003-1
2004-3
2005-0
2006-1
2007-1
2008-1
2009-0

Here are Clemson’s ACC title’s by Decade:
1950s-6
1960s-5
1970s-13
1980s-45
1990s-29
2000s-14

Some of the data tell us:
*Clemson’s most successful year was 1987 when the Tigers captured seven ACC titles.

*The Tigers won six titles in 1981, 1991, 1997.

*Clemson won five titles in 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989.

I think it is fair to point out several factors when looking at the data:
*Clemson fields more sports today and has more chances at championships. However, there are now more schools in the ACC than ever before.

*The ACC has more sports today than ever before. The conference continues to add championships.

*I am not sure it is fair to look at the data from the 1950s and 1960s and compare them to today. Clemson and the ACC had fewer sports then. For example, Clemson did not play soccer for the first 15 or so years of the conference. Women’s basketball was not a championship sport in the league until 1978.

In response to Charles’s e-mail, it is apparent that Clemson is in a downturn in terms of ACC titles in the last five years. Clemson has won only three titles in the last five years. Today I wanted to present some facts concerning Clemson and ACC titles. In tomorrow’s blog I will try to examine the reasons for Clemson’s recent lack of titles compared to the 1980s and 1990s.

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Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Sandy Wright, Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, Edward Putman, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Anna Rawl, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, Fariba Kamalabadi, Jamaloddin Khanjani, Afif Naemi, Saeid Rezaie, Mahvash Sabet, Behrouz Tavakkoli, Vahid Tizfahm,Vincent Lee.