Re: 49 years ago. 1973:

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49 years ago. 1973: The great Secretariat wins Horse

Jul 18, 2022, 7:36 AM

Racing's Triple Crown, the first horse to do so since Citation in 1948. His 31 length victory in the Belmont Stakes is legend, and will NEVER be surpassed. The US Supreme Court rules that abortion is now legal, in the landmark case of Roe vs Wade. And we thought that was the end of that. Wrong again.

1973 was also our first year under Coach Thomas “Red” Parker. Clemson would finish 3rd in the 7 team ACC, with a 4-2-0, 5-6-0 record.

ACC Champion was No.12 NC State, under 2nd year Coach Lou (Granny) Holtz. The Wolfpack finished 6-0-0, 9-3-0, including a 31-18 victory over No.19 Kansas in the Liberty Bowl. One of the most interesting aspects of these daily “history lessons” is seeing just who was a competitive team back then. Kansas certainly hasn't been one much lately.

The only other ranked team in the ACC was No.20 Maryland, who went 5-1-0, 8-4-0, with a close 17-16 loss to Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

As far as National Champion went, 1973 was another one of those “split vote” years. Notre Dame, at 11-0, and victors over previously No.1 ranked Alabama by a score of 24-23 in the Sugar Bowl, was named AP National Champion. Bama, even though they lost the bowl game, was still named No.1 by UPI, because back then, the UPI (Coaches Poll) still inexplicably named their National Champion before the bowl games were played. Egg on the face for them. Notre Dame was coached by Ara Parseghian, and featured a tough “ground and pound” offense. They did so, to every single team they played that year. It was their 2nd National title under Coach Parseghian.

Meanwhile, back at Clemson, we opened up with the Tigers facing Coach Parker's old team, The Citadel, for the 2nd straight year in Death Valley. Their fine QB Harry Lynch returned, and did his level best to lead his team to victory. Clemson won the game 14-12, but that was only because every receiver that Lynch hit in the hands all day with the football did their very best Richard “Stone Hands” Caster imitation, and dropped it. It was literally embarrassing for me to watch. I never felt so fortunate to escape with a victory as I did that day leaving the Valley for the Red Carpet Lounge for my inaugural sophomore football season celebration. The new Citadel coach was a guy named Bobby Ross. He would go on to have some later success in college football.

Clemson meanwhile, was on another downhill track. Consecutive road losses at Georgia 31-14, and Georgia Tech (Grant Field for the 10,000th consecutive time, seemed like) 29-21, were followed up with a HOME 30-15 loss to Texas A&M. I remember thinking after that game that the ACC was just not recruiting players with enough speed or strength to compete with some of these good teams outside the conference. That problem was only going to get worse before it got better.

Two ACC wins followed, with the Tigers getting by Virginia yet again in the Valley by a 32-27 score, and giving me a birthday win on October 20th over Duke on the road, 24-8.

But, alas, the cream of the league came calling next, as Granny Holtz's NC State team clobbered us 29-6 in the Valley. We righted the ship against Weak Florist 35-8 at home, and won a road game vs North Carolina 37-29.

Those were the last bright spots of the season, as a home 28-13 loss to the Maryland Terrapins, and a road 32-20 trimming in Cooterville at the newly expanded and renamed Williams-Brice Stadium ended the season. (South Carolina added their first upper deck in 1972, using funds bequeathed by Martha Williams Brice. Clemson would not follow suit with our first upper deck until 1978.) Clemson leads the all time series with South Carolina 40-28-3. All results below.

The Citadel W 14–12
At Georgia L 14–31
At Georgia Tech L 21–29
Texas A&M L 15–30
Virginia W 32–27
At Duke W 24–8
NC State L 6–29
Wake Forest W 35–8
At North Carolina W 37–29
Maryland L 13–28
At South Carolina L 20–32 (Clemson leads series 40-28-3.)

In interviews later in life, Coach Parker said that one of the first things he could see was that Clemson's recruiting process was terrible when he got here. He set about overhauling it, trying to attract more quality players for the Tigers. How would all that turn out?

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James Blunt had a song called 1973 but I've had a song in my head that mentions July - Deana Carter's Strawberry Wine:

Strawberry wine and seventeen
The hot July moon saw everything
My first taste of love, so bittersweet
And green on the vine
Like strawberry wine.

For 1973, besides the Triple Crown and Roe vs Wade 76er mentioned, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended with the Paris Peace Accord, the Watergate scandal was like a soap opera, and Spiro T Agnew resigned as Vice President in October with Gerald Ford replacing him in November.

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Washington Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII for still the NFL's only undefeated season. The UCLA Bruins won their 7th consecutive national championship in college basketball, a feat unlikely to be repeated with scholarship limits. Secretariat's incredible story is told in the 2010 movie "Secretariat" which most of us have probably seen. Diane Lane's involvement was a plus.

In technology, the first hand held cell phone call was made in New York City. Skylab becomes becomes the United States" first space station. Federal Express begins operations in Memphis. And a patent is issued for an automated teller machine.

On a personal note, the Virginia homecoming game in October was my first Clemson game. My Central Rec little league football team, the Termites, sat together on the hill. General Admission tickets were $1 then. Even without the upper decks, the stadium seemed large to a youngster. Sat on the hill a couple times a year for the next 2 years; 1976 was the first time I got a seat and it was far out man!

Hill Watch...49 days!!!(7 weeks!)

Re: Hill Watch...49 days!!!(7 weeks!)

Re: Hill Watch...49 days!!!(7 weeks!)

Wayne Simmons Richard Yeargin Chris Lancaster day!

Of course we have to have this '89 Simmons highlight......

49 years ago. 1973: The great Secretariat wins Horse