Sharing a Coach Frank Howard story possibly never heard.

Jan 20, 2010, 9:39 PM

Back in 1965-66 I wrote sports for THE TIGER student newspaper and got to interview Coach Frank Howard...the Baron of Barlow Bend, Alabama...and then later in 1989 I ran into him after that year's Spring football game and he sort of remembered me.

Frank was in the Athletic parking lot near where the baseball field is now (not then)...and his car trunk was open where he had taken out a shovel..and he was shoveling the lumps of old mowed grass from the curb. OMG. This is the same man who helped start IPTAY in the 30's with Dr. Sikes of Atlanta. In fact Coach Howard went out in the hot summers of the depression period in his old beat-up car to call on farmers and other Tiger supporters for a donation of $10 for a new sports organization called IPTAY(I Pay Ten A Year) which might help Clemson College to compete with the best...or least not lose to PC, Newberry, Furman or other lesser schools. This was a lot of money back then..and he begged them for a $1 at least...and send the rest when they could. Can you believe this in this day of coaches making up to $4,000,000 PER YEAR!!! Shameful.

Anyway...after he got some of the money he needed...he filled in the city dump (now Frank Howard Field) with extra dirt...planted the grass seed & mowed it himself. Can you believe this?! I can when I saw him on that very warm (84 degrees) April day in 1989 shoveling old grass away from the curb since he liked things to be clean and well-kept. Wonder why? Maybe this sacred ground was his place...his garden...his Life...given out of desire.

The Coach was all sweaty...and when I greeted him it gave him a chance to lean against his car fender and cool down..so we chatted for about 10 minutes...and he told me an unreal story. HE told me that in 1960 when the Gamecocks came up to play us in football for the very first time in Clemson (1st time since 198?)..he had had an unofficial meeting with the SC Hwy. Patrol...asking them to allow the traffic to back up so those "B.st.rds" from Columbia would get all upset...and then they (lawyers,politicians,bankers & big #### givers) would eventually raise some money to build a road from Greenville through Easley to Tigertown. And, around 1966 that highway was finished....and Coach Howard called it HIS highway..."The Frank Howard Hwy". Wonder why?!

What a man he was...gruff, big, big talking, foxy, coaching several sports teams at once in the early years, raising money for IPTAY, grading/planting/mowing Death Valley's original field which was the city's dump, winning big games and conference championships in the Southern & ACC...and always loving Clemson even though he was a famous "LITTLE RED ELEPHANT" player on the Bama team that played in the Rose Bowl. He acted dumb & talked country pumpkin-like, chewing & splitting out tobacco juice everywhere..but he was a very smart man who majored in English. Oh yeah! Thank you Coach Frank Howard for being one our greatest coaching legends who really helped put Clemson College on the map in college football.

Oh, another story from this 68 year old grad;..I attended the very last Big Thursday Football Game in 1959 in Columbia at the fairgrounds as a RAT ("freshman" to you new fans)..and just before the game started several of us RATS jumped over the hedge and ran out to midfield when we saw the Tiger had his tail stolen by the #### male cheerleaders...but I hurried back to my front row seat quickly when a 225 lb cheerleader (a man, not a girl) chased me(135 lbs)and tore the rear pocket off my kakki pants...and that's when I knew this rivalship was real. We won the game big time with the help of Harvey White & Lowndes Shingler...and the Gamecocks hold on us and making us play every year in Cola was over..and Coach Howard tipped his hat and walked out of that hell-hole knowing the Birds would be coming up to our place.

The next year(in 1960)I helped guard the road through Pendleton with 3 other Tiger students...so to keep the ##### from coming up and stealing our statues or painting the campus garnet. It was so cold we had a bonfire...and wouldn't have known what a Gamecock looked like if he wasn't wearing feathers. Ha! Hope you enjoyed all this.

Cordially, Bill Willis in Hilton Head Island, SC