1959

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1959 in Clemson History

Events in 1959

  • Wesleyan Methodist College in Central, South Carolina is reorganized into a senior liberal arts college and changes its name to Central Wesleyan College. It is now Southern Wesleyan University.
  • Newman Hall is completed. Named for J. S. Newman, professor of agriculture, and Charles Carter Newman, alumnus and professor of horticulture.
  • January 1: Clemson's twelfth-ranked football team plays the number one-ranked and Paul Dietzel-coached Louisiana State University Tigers in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, losing 7-0, for a season record of 8-3. Attendence is given as 82,000. (DiMarco, Anthony C., "The Big Bowl Football Guide", G.P Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, revised edition 1976, ISBN 399-11800-4, pages 60-61.) The game is televised by NBC, the Tigers' third appearance to be broadcast.
  • January 30: James Corcoran Littlejohn dies. He is interred in Woodland Cemetery. (http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/oconee/cemeteries/c243a.txt)
  • February 3: A small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, kills three popular rock and roll musicians - Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Jiles Perry Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day is later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean in his song, "American Pie".
  • March 12: A portrait of John C. Calhoun is unveiled in the Senate Reception Room in Washington, D.C. (Cook, Harriet Heffner, "John C. Calhoun - the Man", The R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S.C., 1965, Library of Congress Card No. 65-19779, page 3.)
  • April 15: The cornerstone for the Samuel Broadus Earle Chemical Engineering Building is placed at 4:15 p.m. by a group of "distinguished" individuals representing the Olin Foundation, Clemson administration and faculty. Attendence at the ceremony is estimated at 500. Participating were Dr. Charles L. Horn, president of the Olin Foundation, Inc., and Dr. James O. Wynn, vice president of the Olin Foundation, both of whom were instrumental in the single largest grant ($1,750,000) ever received by Clemson. Chairman of the Clemson Board of Trustees, Robert Muldrow Cooper, presided at the hour-long ceremony, and the ROTC band provided music as the audience assembled. "After the opening invocation by the Rev. M. B. Hudnall of the Clemson Methodist Church and the introduction of trustees by Mr. Cooper, Mr. Frank Jervey gave a detailed list of contents of the sealed box placed within the cornerstone. Items included were copies of the Tiger, The Greenville News, The Anderson Independent and the Alumni News - all of which contained stories of the historical grant, groundbreaking and cornerstone laying ceremonies." (Clyburn, Lee, "Distinguished Group Participates In Earle Hall Cornerstone Laying", The Tiger, Friday 17 April 1959, Volume LII, Number 23, pages 1, 10.)
  • May: Greenville Memorial Auditorium is dedicated.
  • May 15: Arthur Buist Bryan dies.
  • June 15-June 16: The Clemson Theatre shows the newly-released film "The Hangman", starring Robert Taylor, Tina Louise, Fess Parker and Jack Lord. A marshal nicknamed "The Hangman" because of his record in hunting down and capturing wanted criminals traces a robbery suspect to a small town. However, the man is known and liked there, and the citizens band together to help him avoid capture. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U6Kq3AapCE
  • June 22-June 23: The Clemson Theatre shows the traditional western "From Hell to Texas", released June 1, 1958, starring Don Murray, Diane Varsi, Chill Wills and R. G. Armstrong. A naive cowboy, Tod Lohman (Murray) accidentally kills the son (Hopper) of the powerful land baron Hunter Boyd (Armstrong}. Tod runs for his life, pursued by the dead man's vengeful brothers. Tod shelters on the ranch of Amos Bradley (Wills) and he falls in love with his daughter Juanita (Varsi). However, Tod is concerned that he'll eventually have to leave when his pursuers catch up with him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMC3gaMYBsE
  • June 24-June 25: The Clemson Theatre shows drama "The Young Philadelphians", starring Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith and Robert Vaughan, released May 30, 1959. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwzjC2mZKc
  • June 26: The Clemson Theatre shows B Western, "Frontier Gun", starring John Agar and Joyce Meadows, directed by Paul Landres, released on December 1, 1958. A small-town sheriff discovers that gun-fighting is the only way to clean up the town.
  • June 27: Saturday double feature at the Clemson TheatreMay 21, 1959. This was the first sequel to 1954's "Gojira". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll8H4bpZgTw Second feature is "Teenagers From Outer Space", released in June 1959. A young alien falls for a pretty teenage Earth girl and they team up to try to stop the plans of his invading cohorts, who intend to use Earth as a food-breeding ground for giant lobsters from their planet. The invaders, who arrive in a flying saucer, carry deadly ray guns that turn Earth-people into skeletons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7f7NND8sJQ
  • August 2: Perry Tuttle, future Tiger football player, is born.
  • August 21: The Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Savannah District, produces map depicting final arrangement for the Clemson College Protective Works, Hartwell Project, Savannah River Basin, Savannah River, Georgia and South Carolina. It shows the Upper diversion dam, the Lower diversion dam, the Dike, the Diversion channel, and the Pumping Station.
  • September 19: Eighteenth-ranked Clemson travels to twelfth-ranked North Carolina, winning, 20-18. A crowd of 43,000 in Kenan Stadium watches as Clemson recovers a Tarheel fumble on the first play of the game, subsequently scoring on a two-yard run by Harvey White. Clemson scores again on a one-yard run by Doug Cline, and White passes to Bill Mathis for a two-point conversion, 14-0. North Carolina scores before the half but fails to kick the PAT so the halftime score stands at 14-6. In the third period, Clemson scores again on a Mathis two-yard run, score now 20-6. North Carolina successfully passes its way back to 20-18 on the strength of Tarheel quarterback Jack Cummings' arm, but a two-point attempt is stopped one yard shy of the goal line by Lowndes Shingler and Paul Snyder, and Coach Frank Howard's Tigers secure their first-ever victory in Kenan Stadium. (TAPS 1960, page 296.)
  • September 26: Fifth-ranked Tigers squash Virginia, 47-0, in Charlottesville.
  • October 3: Sixth-ranked Tigers travel to take on seventh-ranked Georgia Tech, but lose, 6-16.
  • October 22: Final Big Thursday game against South Carolina - seventeeth-ranked Tigers shut out the Gamecocks to end the State Fair series, 27-0. Famous photo of Frank Howard blowing a kiss to the end of Big Thursday is taken right after the game. Kick-off is at 2 p.m., tickets cost $5.75.
  • October 31: The twelfth-ranked Tigers defeat Rice at Rice in a night game, 19-0.
  • November 6: The Samuel Broadus Earle Hall, the new chemical engineering building, is dedicated. (Reference: Duffy, Susan, "The Conservative Caretaker Samuel Broadus Earle", "Tradition: A History of the Presidency of Clemson University", 1988, page 138.)
  • November 7: Tenth-ranked Clemson hosts Duke, wins, 6-0.
  • November 14: Eleventh-ranked Tigers are defeated by Maryland, 25-28, in Memorial Stadium.
  • November 21: Ranked nineteenth, Tigers down Wake Forest, 33-31, in Death Valley.
  • November 28: Fourteenth-ranked Clemson goes to Greenville to kick Furman, 56-3, in Sirrine Stadium, concluding a 9-2 season, 6-1 in conference play for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
  • November 30: Singer April Stevens single "Teach Me Tiger" is released on the Imperial label and will stay on the WSBF top 40 playlists for several years.
  • December 19: The Clemson Tigers beat the Texas Christian Horned Frogs in the inaugural Bluebonnet Bowl, played at Rice Stadium (Hickok, Ralph, "The Encyclopedia of North American Sports History", Facts On File, Inc., New York, Oxford,1992, Library of Congress card number 91-6667, ISBN 0-8160-2096-5, page 71.) in Houston, Texas, 23-7, for a season record of 10-2. Attendence is given as 55,000. (DiMarco, Anthony C., "The Big Bowl Football Guide", G.P Putnam's Sons, New York, 1974, revised edition 1976, ISBN 399-11800-4, page 131.) This was Clemson's 300th football victory, and also the first time that a college team played in two bowls in one calendar year. A CBS-televised game, it marks the fourth time the Tigers have been on the air.
  • At season's end, the Clemson football team is ranked eleventh in the Associated Press poll, but is not listed in the United Press Association top twenty. The Tigers will not appear in a post-season ranking again until Coach Charlie Pell's 1977 team goes 8-3-1.



1958 The 1950's 1960