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2 - Banks McFaddens Clemson Jersey is Retired in 2 Sports

Aug 29, 2024, 12:02 AM

Clemson’s Banks McFadden (1937-1940) played football, basketball and ran track!

“In a ceremony September 19, 1987, Clemson retired his basketball No. 23 and football No. 66.”
- Quote from the College Football Hall of Fame

https://www.cfbhall.com/inductees/banks-mcfadden-1959

Quite possibly the greatest Clemson athlete of all time!

But when he came to Clemson, Assistant Coach Frank Howard did not expect such greatness! According to ClemsonTigers.com:

“McFadden came to Clemson as a lanky 6-3, 165-pound freshman. Frank Howard said, “If McFadden drank a can of tomato juice, they could have used him as a thermometer.” Howard was an assistant coach under Jess Neely when McFadden came to Clemson in 1936.” I can remember the first time I saw him on the practice field,” Howard recalled. “He looked like one of those whooping cranes. I thought sure as the devil that Coach [Jess] Neely had made a mistake by giving this boy a scholarship.”

https://clemsontigers.com/banks-mcfadden-the-great-2/

While at Clemson:

Wikipedia described Banks McFadden’s time at Clemson as follows:

McFadden is widely considered to be the greatest athlete in Clemson University history, lettering in three sports (football, basketball, and track). In 1939, McFadden was voted the Associated Press' "Athlete of the Year". McFadden was also a two-time All-American in basketball (1938 and 1939) and led the Tigers basketball team to a Southern Conference championship in 1939. McFadden also played halfback and punter on the football team and was named Clemson's first Associated Press All-American in football in 1939, which saw the Tigers play and win their 1st bowl game (1940 Cotton Bowl Classic).”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banks_McFadden

WOW!!

According to ClemsonTigers.com:

“McFadden, also known as “Bonnie Banks” or “The Great,” was a standout at Clemson in football, basketball, and track, earning three letters in each sport from 1936-40. He earned All-America honors in both basketball (1938-39) and football (1939) and was named the nation’s most versatile athlete in 1939.”

https://clemsontigers.com/banks-mcfadden-the-great-2/

Absolutely amazing!!

According to that same ClemsonTigers.com article:

“In 1939, on the gridiron, McFadden was a triple-threat player, leading the Tigers to a 9-1 record and Clemson’s first-ever bowl bid. With McFadden batting down four passes in the second half, and averaging 44 yards on 11 punts, the Tigers defeated a Frank Leahy-coached Boston College team, 6-3, in the 1940 Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX.“I had seen safety men play centerfield in a football game and cover a lot of defensive territory, but that was the only time I saw it done from a cornerback position,” Howard once said. “McFadden put absolutely everything he had into that effort—ability, speed, heart, endurance, determination, and a sixth sense of where the ball was going.” McFadden held the Clemson single-season punting record (43.5 in 1939) for 40 years, and his 22 punts of at least 50 yards in 1939 still stands as a Clemson single-season record.”

https://clemsontigers.com/banks-mcfadden-the-great-2/

After Clemson:

The Brooklyn Dodgers selected Banks McFadden with the 4th Pick (1st Round) of the 1940 NFL Draft. According to ClemsonTigers.com:

“He played one year in the NFL with the Dodgers before returning to Clemson. He proved to be an outstanding professional football player. He played in 11 games in 1940 for Brooklyn. He had the longest rush that year in the NFL with a 75-yard jaunt. He was tied for second for most yards per attempt with a 4.8 yards per carry average. He was also fifth in the league for most rushing yards per game. Defensively he had two interceptions. Why did he play only one year in pro football after an outstanding collegiate career and an outstanding rookie season in the pro ranks? “They couldn’t have paid me enough to make me come back,” said McFadden in an interview in the 1960s. “I was a country boy, too far from home. The team treated me fine, the directors of the ball club and I got along just fine, but I like a small town.”

When he returned back to Clemson, he started coaching under Howard. After coaching Clemson’s defensive backs under second-year Head Coach Frank Howard in 1941, McFadden joined the Army Air Corps and spent four years in North Africa and Italy. He was discharged as a Colonel. McFadden came back to Clemson after his service and was again the secondary coach, this time for four seasons (1946-49), and then took over as head freshman football coach for five years before returning to coach defensive backs in 1955, a spot he held until Howard retired following the 1969 season. In 1959, McFadden became the first Clemson Football player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Besides his football coaching years, McFadden also put in a stint as a varsity track coach, freshman basketball coach, and for 10 years, from 1946-1956, he was Clemson’s head basketball coach. From 1947 through 1952, Clemson improved its conference victory total each year, the first coach in the history of college basketball to make a conference victory improvement five consecutive years. The streak culminated with an 11-4 Southern Conference record in 1951-52, still the Clemson record for conference wins in a season.

After Howard resigned as head football coach in 1969, McFadden took over the university’s intramural department, which he directed for 15 years.”

https://clemsontigers.com/banks-mcfadden-the-great-2/

Banks McFadden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959. He was the first Clemson player to receive this honor.

McFadden passed away in 2005 at the age of 88.

All All-time Great!!

Video honoring Banks McFadden having not 1 – but 2 jerseys retired:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMdmWlUo4A4

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Clemson: Academic Excellence! Athletic Excellence!

Clemson K David Treadwell (1983-1987) did not arrive at Clemson with an expectation of playing football. But, he left as a Clemson legend! He is likely best known for TWO game-winning field goals as time expired to break UGa Nation’s hearts!

According to ClemsonTigers.com:

“When I got to Clemson I decided to walk on in the fall of 1983. I came to Clemson to study engineering and with the encouragement of my father, I decided to walk on and try out for a job at Clemson. My father had seen me play soccer, and said he didn’t know why I couldn’t convert that into football. He didn’t push me, just encouraged me to try out. If my dad hadn’t encouraged me to try out I don’t know if I’d had gone out for the team or not.”
…
However, in 1985, Treadwell got his chance. He took advantage of the opportunity by kicking the game-winner with no time left on the clock in his very first game at Virginia Tech in the season opener on September 14, in Blacksburg. Treadwell, the hero of this game, did not even know he was going to play until the second quarter and he ended up leading the Tigers to the 20-17 victory over the Hokies.

Clemson Head Coach Danny Ford had carried four kickers to Blacksburg, VA, figuring he might have to go through all four to get the job done. He had not announced who the kicker would be. When Clemson was driving close to the Hokie goal line, there was jockeying for position on the sideline so Coach Ford could see them. “We were trying to see who could stand closest to Coach Ford,” Treadwell said.”

https://clemsontigers.com/david-treadwell-mr-clutch/

As always, thanks to Scott Rhymer and The Tiger Pregame Show for another excellent video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhDVn-m-Yco

After Clemson:

David Treadwell signed with the Denver Broncos after graduating from Clemson. He played four seasons with the Broncos (1989-1994) and was an All Pro in 1989. He played two seasons for the NY Giants (1993-1994).

According to Wikipedia, Treadwell returned to Denver after his playing days:

“After retiring from the NFL, Treadwell attended law school at the University of Denver and participated in the campaign to pass a ballot measure to fund the replacement for Mile High Stadium which ultimately became known as Invesco Field at Mile High. That led to a new career in the media. He became a sports talk show host at Denver-based Clear Channel corporation stations KOA and KTLK before moving to Denver's KDVR-TV (Fox 31) as sports director and anchor from 2000 to 2004. He reportedly left the station to "pursue business interests in a land development company." He now works for Newmark Knight Frank and is chairman of the board of directors of the St. Anthony North Health Foundation, affiliated with St. Anthony North Hospital in Westminster, Co., a suburb just north of Denver.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Treadwell

As for those game-winning kicks:

ClemsonTigers.com described Treadwell’s heroics against UGa as follows:

“On September 20th, 1986, Treadwell kicked a 46-yard field goal with no time on the clock to give the Tigers a dramatic 31-28 victory over the Bulldogs in Athens. Oddly, future Clemson All-America kicker and punter Chris Gardocki was underneath the goal posts at that game when Treadwell’s kick split the uprights. Gardocki, who was in high school at the time, was on a recruiting visiting at Georgia that Saturday.

The next year on September 19th, Treadwell kicked a 21-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Tigers a thrilling 21-20 victory over Georgia in Death Valley.
…
“It was a tremendous feeling to be able to kick the winning field goals in the Georgia games. I remember in class before the 1987 game, someone asked if I was going to kick the winning field goal again. I said no, there is no way that would happen again, not two years in a row. That shows how much I know about prognosticating football games.”

https://clemsontigers.com/david-treadwell-mr-clutch/

Treadwell Field Goal to Beat UGa as Time Expired Part 1
September 20, 1986:
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExMm50cWl3eTk2MGFmbnFrZXM4ZDluaTB1d3NnajY5NG53azJnZ3R1NiZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/18xwuqeJWO5fBfuwK3/giphy.webp

Treadwell Field Goal to Beat UGa as Time Expired Part 2
September 19, 1987:
https://i.giphy.com/jLa5elCjOEGCVVMthL.webp

Hill Watch...2 days!!!