Goodbye to ALL my TiGER Friends on TNet. It's been great ...

Aug 6, 2014, 11:46 PM

over the past 4 1/2 years of sharing my personal thoughts, views, ideas, dreams, fears, memories, concerns and past experiences relating to Clemson Sports..particularly Football. This is my 10,001 post, while I meant to retire at 10K but remember I failed remedial math at CU!

I was fortunate (or unfortunate) to have attended & graduated from Dear Ole Clemson in the last days of ratting..rat caps..seniors making you sing your HS Alma Mater while standing and they were hastily gobbling down all the roast beef/taters/green beans/bread..climbing up the greased flag pole near Tom Clemson's statue for what I forget..guarding Pendleton from cOOTs (wouldn't have known one IF I saw one!)..hearing the Deacon preach to us before the CU/SC game..enjoying two-platoon football..beating the cOOTs often and after the 1959 beat down at WillieB they had to come to our place for the 1st time in probably 60+ years (cowards!) on a home & away basis..a stadium that had no upper decks but real hedges before Coach Howard cut them down due to maintenance.. seeing him coach FB practices with some gruff words just yards from my old quadrangle dorm window on what's now the soccer field..thinking the Tin Cans were great & modern even if noisy..wearing sport coats & ties so to be Clemson Gentlemen..

thumbing rides to Greenville in front of the Administration Building (Library back then)..riding with a buddy to double-date girls at Columbia College and have to sit in lobby til they came down those Tara-like steps but having to have them back in by 11PM or else, eating at Dan's Hamburgers and attending a $1 flick at theater now used by Ibrahim's Clothing, Judge Keller's being the main place for Orange stuff, no Lake Hartwell (in 1959), no girls (well, maybe a few), getting your grades by finding them posted on bulletin board near class door (for all to see) couple days after exam..having a male cheerleader who really led..attending basketball games in a gym the size of your back yard with a heating system that made you wish you'd worn a bathing suit..hanging out at the Loggia was neat since first TV's were there, but the football players would get the sofas & chairs..attending class mandated weird movies at the YMCA theater..the Clemson House was the place to dine on Sundays..professors were professors..life seemed less hectic..the college book store had a monopoly on the distribution & cost of books..ROTC was thought patriotic and correct.. and Bowman Field was/is the premier beauty spot of our campus IMO.

I entered Clemson in 1959 but dropped out after that first semester due to being very ill with the Asian Flu..and thus became depressed and joined the Navy for awhile..coming back years later married and living in a WW2 pre-fab house that was located at where the Athletic Offices' parking lot is now.

Then, during the first week of my last semester as a Senior I broke my hip slipping in the snow late one evening while delivering a sports article I'd written for The TIGER student newspaper. (Over my tenure I'd interviewed Coach Howard, Coach Bob Jones, Coach Bill Wilheim and many athletes). This untimely accident caused my Wife, myself & our Families much grief for six months while I was in the hospital and later in a near-full body cast on one side and across the stomach-chest area. Overeating was always a mistake!

But, I attended Summer School..walking with crutches the first semester..taking way too many courses to get out in August..but made it out..but not at the outdoor Amphitheater as did my class, but in old Tillman Hall which was special still..got a job and started a Family in Greenville.

Years passed..several employments (self & with family too..in G'ville & Charlotte), with many many scores of Clemson football games attended home & away with my Family..carrying & hoisting the first 3'x5' Cotton PAW Flag to all of them from 1977-1992 (with SID Bob Bradly naming me "The FlaGMan")..with my Son & I bonding due to attending many great games & bowls (best might have been driving to ND in '79 for a win when he was only 9..and day b/4 game having Danny Ford allow us to walk into the famed Irish Stadium with the Team to check it out but later we got locked within the stadium since team locked the locker room door on us! (that's another story on how we got out..but hint would be my hearing student managers spray painting those famous golden-colored helmets after Fridays practice would suffice). And, after all those fun trips of my Son & I following the Tigers together he decided Clemson was where he wanted to attend college, graduating at age 21 and then headed to Law School..both of which were proud days for sure!

But, since I've spent over 3000 happy & satisfying hours on TigerNet over the last 4 1/2 years..with many enjoyable posts (10,000) and reading ten times as many from you while following 2000 friends..I must now allot more time to other issues & hobbies in life since at 73 it is getting shorter. I'm retiring the old "lightbulbbill" handle as far as posting..but will check in occasionally to see what you're saying & thinking! And, yes, I'll be "following" you incognito..so watch out!

SO, Thanks ALL TigerNet Friends for the good times of sharing our loyalty to our favorite college Team..CLEMSON. It was a pleasure I'll never forget!

Cheers, "Lightbulb" BiLL

Oh..GoTiGERS!

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Goodbye to ALL my TiGER Friends on TNet. It's been great ...

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