Legendary Clemson trainer Fred Hoover passes away

Hoover (right) speaks with Homer Jordan at a Clemson game. (Photo courtesy Clemson Athletics)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Sep 06 12:41:29 GMT-04:00 2022

We are sad to bring you the news that longtime Clemson athletic trainer Fred Hoover has passed away. He was 92.

Hoover was recently inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2022.

Hoover was hired by legendary coach Frank Howard, and he served as trainer of the Clemson football team for 40 years (1959-98) and began working the sidelines seven years prior to the existence of Howard’s Rock.

Some of the stats are impressive and will likely never be broken – he worked 446 consecutive football games and he was estimated to have supervised 4,500 Clemson football practices. He worked with seven head coaches, 11 ACC championship teams, 16 bowl teams, 38 All-Americans, 16 NFL All-Pro players and first round picks and 110 future NFL players. He ran down the hill 207 times, falling just once.

Hoover has held just about every administrative post with the National Athletic Trainers Association, including Chairman of the Board. In 1981, he was enshrined in the Citizens Savings-Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame for his work in his chosen field. In 1982, Hoover was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 1983, Hoover was the recipient of the Distinguished Service to Sports Medicine Award given by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. In 1987, he was awarded the South Carolina Hall of Fame Distinguished Service to Sports Award. He was made an honorary member of the Clemson Alumni Physicians Society in 1990. In 1994, the South Carolina Trainers Association created the Fred Hoover Award for excellence in Athletic Training.

The native of Jacksonville, FL graduated from Florida State in 1953. He served as trainer at his alma mater for two stints, 1952-53 and 1957-58, before coming to Clemson in 1959.

According to longtime SID Tim Bourret, one Hoover story stands out. While Hoover’s streak does include 446 consecutive games, he missed 98 percent of one game. In the 1996 Georgia Tech game in Death Valley, the 417th game of the streak, he was too close to the action on the game’s second play, a running play by the Tigers' Kelton Dunnican. Dunnican and Georgia Tech tacklers crashed into Hoover and knocked him unconscious.

Hoover was taken from the sideline via stretcher and transported to the Oconee Memorial Hospital in Seneca. He spent the night there under observation, and was released the next day. It was the first time Hoover was injured during a game.

After Hoover was examined and tested at the hospital, he returned to his room to view the second half of Clemson’s thrilling victory over Georgia Tech. At one moment in the third period he told a nurse, “You know this is the first time I’ve ever watched Clemson play on television.” The nurse, who did not know Hoover’s position with the University, replied, “Gee, you’re not much of a Clemson fan, are you?”

No one has ever uttered a more incorrect statement in the history of Oconee Memorial Hospital.

We will pass on further details as we learn more.