1955

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1955 in Clemson history

The Class of 1955

Notable Alumni

  • H. C. "Bill" McLellan - Athletic Department Business Manager, Assistant Football Coach, Assistant Athletic Director, Athletic Director, 1971-1985

Events in 1955

  • Work begins on the $100 million Hartwell Dam project near Anderson, South Carolina. Low-lying areas of the Clemson campus are threatened with inundation, including all the agricultural bottom lands and Death Valley up to the 22nd row of seats.
  • Harlan E. McClure, graduate of the Royal Swedish Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is hired to head the department of architecture. At this time, the school is housed on the third floor of Riggs Hall. (Riley, Helene M., "Clemson University", Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2002, Library of Congress card number 2002108889, ISBN 0-7385-1470-5, page 102.)
  • January 31: Coeducation begins at Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina.
  • April 15: The first franchise McDonald's opens in Des Plaines, Illinois. And you know what that means? Chain hamburgers on Tiger Boulevard.
  • April 30: New York-based consulting firm Cresap, McCormick, and Paget releases four-volume "Clemson Agricultural College Survey of Administrative Management", critiquing the college structure and making many recommendations, including realigning executive functions, eliminating mandantory military training, and opening the doors to women students. (McKale, Donald M., editor, "Tradition: A History of the Presidency of Clemson University", Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia, 1988, ISBN 0-86554-296-1, page 189.)
  • May 18: McDonnell Aircraft Corporation engineering test pilot Robert H. Strange is killed in the crash of an McDonnell F3H-1N Demon naval fighter, BuNo 133495, after the Westinghouse J40 engine flamed out. He had just completed a dive from 40,000 feet, above Mach, to test dynamic pressure in the radar compartment under these conditions. The engine died above 25,000 feet. The pilot tried repeated restarts with no luck until he had descended to 5,000 feet,http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/DEMON_F_3/STRANGE_Robert_Bob/strange_robert.htm at which point he radioed that he was abandoning the plane and attempted to eject. The McDonnell-designed seat failed and Strange was killed as the jet impacted in a cornfield near Carrollton, Illinois, about 55 miles NE of St. Louis, barely missing a farm home "as it plowed a 15-foot furrow in the earth. Strange's body was about 100 feet from the wreckage."Charleston, South Carolina, "Plane Crash Fatal To S.C. Test Pilot", The Charleston Evening Post, Thursday 19 May 1955, Volume 61, Number 197, page 7-B Strange was born in Sumter, South Carolina, in 1922. He joined the U.S. Navy as an aviation cadet in June 1942, and ended up flying with Marine air, 1943-1946. He was awarded the Air Medal, with two gold stars, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He graduated from Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1948, and did engineering work for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation and Frigidaire for three years. He then served with the United States Marine Corps again from 1951 to 1953. Strange joined the McDonnell Corporation as a design engineer in November 1953, becoming a test pilot in October 1954. He is survived by his wife Shirley, and four children, David, Douglas, Susan and Jeffrey.http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/Aircraft_by_Type/DEMON_F_3/STRANGE_Robert_Bob/strange_robert.htm
  • June 4: The first action ever taken to propose playing of the Clemson-Carolina football game on a home-and-home basis is made by the Clemson Alumni Corporation. ("Clemson: Where The Tigers Play", by Sam Blackman, Bob Bradley and Chuck Kriese, Sports Publishing, L.L.C., 2001, page 47).
  • By adoption by the Board of Trustees in June, the office of comptroller is created July 1, with vested authority over budgets and finances heretofore handled by the business manager.
  • Fall: Women are admitted as undergraduates for the first time.
  • The Clemson Cadet Band is formally renamed Tiger Band.
  • "The Clemson House Cook Book" by Russie H. Paget is published, printed by Jacobs Brothers, Clinton, South Carolina. Cover design and illustrations by Linda Colbert West, of Houston, Texas, daughter of Clemson athlete Walter C. Colbert. 474 pages. No Library of Congress catalogue card number.
  • September 17: Clemson defeats Presbyterian in night home opener, 33-0, the same score as 1954.
  • September 24: The Tigers defeat Virginia in Charlottesville, 20-7.
  • October 1: Clemson defeats Georgia, 26-7, in Memorial Stadium.
  • October 3: First episode of Captain Kangaroo, starring Bob Keeshan, airs on CBS-TV. It will run until December 8, 1984.
  • October 8: The sixteenth-ranked Tigers lose night game at Rice, 7-21.
  • October 20: Clemson downs the Gamecocks, 28-14, in Columbia.
  • October 29: The Tigers defeat Wake Forest at home, 19-13.
  • November 5: In a match played in Victory Stadium in Roanoke, Virginia, Clemson defeats Virginia Tech, 21-16. This stadium, built in 1942, was razed in June-July 2006.
  • November 12: Number two-ranked Maryland defeats the Tigers in Memorial Stadium, 12-25, on their way to a 10-1 season record.
  • November 19: In Mobile, Alabama, number twelve-ranked Auburn blanks Clemson, 0-21, in Ernest F. Ladd Memorial Stadium, constructed in 1948, renamed Ladd Peebles Stadium in 1997.
  • November 26: Clemson travels to Greenville, defeats Furman, 40-20, to conclude 7-3 season, 3-1 in conference, for third place in the ACC.


1954 The 1950's 1956