Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Jan 30, 2024, 5:07 PM

from Tigertown to Tx to Ca to the Northeast due to our fast & beautiful PAW logo Jet, unreal $ budget, many more coaches and the national prominence & exposure due to being seen by tens of millions on TV, many huge wins, record number of bowl games & 2 more Natties.

But, we can’t believe what he (Coach Frank Howard) did for Clemson FB either due to what we have today in our modern & huge athletic arsenal vs his limited resources..

nor do we really understand his need & desire to personally go out in the hot humid summers in an old car across The Palmetto State (not to Ga, or Tx or Ca) to essentially beg for $10 thru IPTAY for “his” Boys to compete, to his using the landline telephone to recruit and bringing them in via the Greyhound Bus or via a train ride and crossing his fingers that they would show..

with RB Larry Zonka? (later of Cuse & Dolphins fame) being a notorious no-show. Story from Coach goes: He & Larry had made plans with a paid ticket for Larry to visit Tigertown but he got off the NY train in DC to take a break and called his Mom (via coin-operated landline) to check in and she said to forget Clemson since Syracuse had just called & offered him a scholarship.

In the meantime Frank was getting ready to head for the Clemson train station the next day (still located near Calhoun Corners Rest) with high hopes of recruiting his best ever RB but instead got the cancellation call from Larry. How times have changed!

Coach Howard even helped to grade, level out and even plant & mow the grass on Howard’s Field..and politicked to get the Tigers into their 1st bowl game..

and even endured the disrespect, hardship & disadvantage of having to play the Coots in Cola from 1940-1959 but still won more than not..

and he says he indirectly helped to get the Greenville/Easley Hwy123 road to Clemson built after the early 60’s by suggesting to SC Hwy Parole officials to not over-help the clogged-up traffic situation caused by the Coot Fans coming to Tigertown for 1st time in 19 years..

with many being high ranking Legislators & Lawyers, Bankers, Businesspeople, etc who would be so frustrated after a game in tiny Clemson due to the long & unsafe ride back to the Midlands..

that they would come up with legislation sooner than later to relieve that miserable long ride into and out of Clemson and thus grant highway funding which they then in later 60’s.

Coach Howard shared that story with me on a hot Spring Football Saturday in 1989 and said that road should have been named the: “Frank Howard Hwy”!

So thanks Coach for what you helped create for Danny and now Dabo so they could enjoy a better, easier and faster way to recruit, win over those needed student-athletes with hopes of winning more games while promoting the Clemson Spirit!

Go TiGERS!

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Re: Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Coach Howard actually recruited some of his best players from NJ, PA, and MD. He loved getting big high school running backs and converting them into athletic linemen. He did that with Lou Cordileone and a few others. Cordileone had been an AA high school fullback.

Larry Csonka feared that Coach Howard would make him a lineman too, and he was probably right.

I attended the last 6 Big Thursday games in Columbia, and those were before I ever attended a game at Clemson. Because of my father's work and where we lived, it was the only game we could attend during a season.

The battle to get the game on a home and home basis went on for many years, and the gamecocks, and their politicians, came up with every excuse possible. Their main argument was traffic.

Coach Howard said that the gamecocks could come to Clemson early without traffic problems and wouldn't have problems leaving either. He went on to say that they went home when they were losing, and most would be back in Columbia listening to their radios when games ended.

Coach Howard was one of a kind. He said exactly what he thought with no regard to who didn't like it.

Re: Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Re: Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Re: Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

Re: Ole Coach Howard wouldnt believe our Recruiting Ability & Footprint

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