1966

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1966 in Clemson history

  • George Washington University quits NCAA football, leaving the series record at 3-1-1, Tigers. We'll never improve the score.
  • Geer Hall is completed on West Campus.
  • March 4-March 13: A Billy Graham Crusade is held in Textile Hall in Greenville, with some 278,700 attending. Ironically, Bob Jones University opposes the evangelist's appearance. (Huff, Jr., Archie Vernon, "Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont", University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1995, Library of Congress card number 95-4363, ISBN 1-57003-045-6, page 412.)
  • Dixie Day founded.
  • August: The new Robert Muldrow Cooper Library opens. The former Agricultural Hall, which burned on April 2, 1925, and was rebuilt as the Library, will sit vacant for a number of years until it is remodelled and occupied by university administration and named Sikes Hall.
  • August 1: A former Marine kills 14 and wounds 32 when he goes on a sniping rampage from the 29-story tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. After being killed, an autopsy reveals he was suffering from a brain tumor. Before going up the tower, he had killed his mother and wife at other locations.
  • August 10: The Acting Chairman of the South Carolina Public Service Commission directed Welborn Bus Lines to answer charges by the South Carolina Selective Service that the company had violated its contract:
YOU ARE THEREFORE ORDERED to appear before this Commission at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, August 17, 1966, at its offices in the Wade Hampton State Office Building, Columbia, South Carolina, to show cause, if any you can, why your charter rights, applicable to the transportation of draftees on behalf of the South Carolina Selective Service, should not be revoked by reason of certain alleged irregularities in the transportation of such draftees, such irregularities, if true, being in violation of the statutes, rules, and regulations of this Commission in accordance with the terms and provisions of Section 58-1422 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina (1962) and of Rule 92 filed with the Secretary of State for the State of South Carolina. BY ORDER OF THE COMMISSION. (Reference: Rule to Show Cause, Docket No. 13149, Order No. 13524, August 10, 1966 - http://dms.psc.sc.gov/pdf/orders/44F23C18-DFA7-4C69-7E5BE1E167B130FC.pdf.)
  • September 23: Central Dance Association sponsors the first night of Rat Hop '66 in the dining hall (Harcombe Commons) with music by Major Lance performing such hits as "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um." (TAPS 1967, "Bald Rats Don't Need Hair to Dance at Rat Hop", Volume 57, page 86.)
  • September 24: Clemson defeats Virginia at home, 40-35, to open football season. Clemson comes back from two touchdowns behind in the fourth quarter to win. Clemson quarterback Jimmy Addison passes for 315 yards, and is named The Associated Press National Back of the Week. Virginia's QB Bob Davis passes for 312 yards. Clemson has 474 total yards offense and Virginia 429. (Martin, Johnny, "Death Valley: 72 Years of Exciting Football at Clemson University", Independent Publishing Co., Anderson, S.C., 1968, Library of Congress card number 68-58849, page 101.) Second night of Rat Hop '66 held in the dining hall (Harcombe Commons) with the Marvelettes rendering their hits including "Don't Mess With Bill" and "Beachwood 4-5789." (TAPS 1967, "Bald Rats Don't Need Hair to Dance at Rat Hop", Volume 57, page 86.)
  • October: The Oconee Memorial Hospital begins to provide ambulance service.
  • October 1: Number nine Georgia Tech edges the Tigers in Atlanta, 12-13.
  • October 8: Tigers travel to number four-ranked Alabama, are shut out, 0-26. 'Bama will go 11-0. WFBC-AM radio in Greenville begins using new transmitter and antennas located between Bramlett Road and Woodside, abandons old three-mast antennas and 1935-vintage transmitter on 17-acre site located on the Piedmont Highway (U.S. 20). Travelers approaching Greenville lose landmark as the WFBC call-letters on the old antennas come down, masts sold or scrapped. (Ellison, Vernon, News Staff Writer, "Old Landmark On Outskirts Of Greenville Disappearing", The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, Sunday, 23 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 296, Section 2, Page 14.)
  • October: The first-ever telephone pole Homecoming display float is erected on Bowman Field by Kappa Sigma Nu. Tiger Brotherhood sells orange straw hats with purple bands to raise funds for the Tiger statue now in front of Littlejohn Coliseum.
  • October 14: The new Robert Muldrow Cooper Library is dedicated. New York attorney James O. Wynn, vice president and general counsel of the Olin Foundation, Inc., delivers address. Others present include R. H. Yeargin, the building contractor; Mrs. Cooper, widow of the long-time Clemson trustee for whom the structure is named; former governor and trustee James F. Byrnes, whose papers will be housed in a James F. Byrnes Room in the library; and Clemson President Dr. R. C. Edwards. State Senator Edgar A. Brown presents the library to President Edwards. As originally constructed, the building has three levels and will house 450,000 volumes. (Greenville News, "Paramount Moment for Clemson", Greenville, South Carolina, Volume 92, Number 288, page 14.) The Cheerleaders and Tiger Band begin the Homecoming events with a giant bonfire. Festivities then move to Death Valley for the tenth annual Tigerama presented before a crowd of over 10,000. Intermission entertainment is provided by the Sentimental Jazzmen. Freshman Marty Jones of Columbia is crowned Miss Clemson 1967 by Dr. R. C. Edwards. Miss Jones is the state teenage chairman for the March of Dimes, Miss National Teenage Safety of 1967, and a freshman senator in the student government. She was sponsored by the Campus Choral Society. (Johnson, Jr., W. H., "Crowning Of New Miss Clemson Highlights 10th Tigerama Show", The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, Saturday, 15 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 288, page 6.) A twenty-minute, $1,500 fireworks display caps the event. (TAPS 1967, "Fun and Fireworks, Miss Clemson Crowned", Volume 57, pages 88-89.) Central Dance Association sponsors Friday night dance in the dining hall (Harcombe Commons) with ABC-Paramount recording stars, the Swinging Tams, out of Atlanta, performing hits including "What Kind of Fool", "Laugh It Off", and "Riding For A Fall" which the band dedicates to the Blue Devils. (TAPS 1967, "Football, Dances, Girls, Parties, Mark Homecoming", Volume 57, page 91.)
  • October 15: ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson calls Clemson's regionally televised regular season football game in his first season with the network, broadcast to the eastern part of the U.S. Kick-off is moved up by 45 minutes to 1:15 p.m. from 2 p.m. to accommodate the broadcast. (Greenville News, "Cameras On Duke-Clemson Bout", Greenville, South Carolina, Saturday, 15 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 288, page 9.) Clemson defeats the Duke Blue Devils, 9-6. This is the fifth time that a Clemson game has appeared on television. Following the game, CDA sponsors Saturday night dance in the dining hall (Harcombe Commons) with music by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. (TAPS 1967, "Football, Dances, Girls, Parties, Mark Homecoming", Volume 57, page 91.)
  • October 20: The Clemson football team flies from Atlanta to Los Angeles International Airport aboard a Delta Airlines Douglas DC-8 jet piloted a by a Captain Miller, making the transit in "exactly four hours," a far cry from the 1951 trip to the west coast on a four-engined Douglas DC-4 propeller-driven airliner to play the College of the Pacific at Stockton, which took eight rough hours of flight. Three people were on both trips: Coach Frank Howard, Walter Cox, and trainer Herman McGee. Clemson head cheerleader Robin Watson, of Greenville, immediately transfers to another flight to San Francisco upon arrival in California to see off fellow-Greenvillian Fletcher Barker, about to deploy overseas to Vietnam. The football team has a work-out at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the afternoon. (Anderson, Jim, "Top of the Morning" sports column, The Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, Friday, 21 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 294, page 34.)
  • October 21: The Clemson football team makes a morning tour of the Twentieth-Century Fox movie lot where they are met with such comments about their upcoming match with Number 5-ranked Southern Cal as "You're not really going to play them, are you?" and "maybe you'd better forfeit." The players visit the set of "Lost in Space" where they meet actress June Lockhart, David Hedison, and that "mean old Doctor Smith", Jonathon Harris. Harris, in full make-up ready for the camera, comments "My, they're all so big. What do you play?" Soccer, he was told. The production of the episode "The Golden Man" is shooting and the team meets actor Dennis Patrick who is completely gilded as the character Keema. (This episode - Season Two, Episode 15 - will air on December 28, 1966.) Actor Bruce Lee, chauffeur for "The Green Hornet", performs a karate kick before Clemson quarterback Jimmy Addison's face as the Tiger held a football in a passing position. On the set for the "Time Tunnel", several players meet former Miss America Lee Meriweather. And on the large outdoor set for "Peyton Place" the team meets actor Ryan O'Neal, and Frank Howard poses with his head in the stockade, cameras clicking... Following the studio tour, the team is driven on a Homes of the Stars tour. (Anderson, Jim, "Top of the Morning", Greenville News, Greenville, South Carolina, Volume 92, Number 295, page 8.) In the afternoon, the team has one more workout before the Saturday game.
  • October 21: The Clemson freshman football team plays the South Carolina freshman team in Carolina Stadium in Columbia at 8 p.m. (Greenville News, "Clemson, USC Freshman Meet", Friday 21 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 294, page 34.) The Tiger Frosh win, 7-0. (Greenville News, "Jack Anderson Leads Clemson Victory, 7-0", Saturday, 22 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 295, page 10.)
  • October 22: The Tigers road trip to the University of Southern California, ranked fifth in the polls. Clemson is blanked, 0-30, in front of 44,614 in Los Angeles Coliseum. Although USC scores in every quarter on their way to 6-0, the Tigers deny them all five PAT attempts. According to TAPS, ABC Wide World of Sports carries coverage of the game, although Clemson media guides do not mention it. (TAPS 1967, "Southern Cal Trojans Trounce Tigers, 30-0", Volume 57, page 215.)
  • October 27: Gillespie Erectors, Inc. of Greenville, subcontractor to Atlantic States Construction Co. of Atlanta, Georgia, tops out the steelwork on Manning Hall, the first high-rise dormitory being erected on campus. (Greenville News, "High-Rise Steel at Clemson Topped", Friday, 28 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 301, page 38.)
  • October 29: The Tigers play at Wake Forest, winning, 23-21. With the score tied late in the fourth period, the Demon Deacons stop a desperate Clemson drive at the seven yardline. On the next play, Clemson's Wilson Childers drops Wake's Ken Erickson for a safety to give the Tigers the win. (TAPS 1967, "Tigers Pull Ahead with Safety at Last Minute", Volume 57, page 216.)
  • November 5: The Clemson University Block and Bridle Club hosts its annual fall barbecue from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fieldhouse (Little Gym) - price is $1.50 per plate. Funds raised will be used to finance trips for judging team members to participate in intercollegiate livestock and team judging contests, and for scholarships and other club activities. (Greenville News, "Barbecue Planned", Wednesday, 26 October 1966, Volume 92, Number 299, page 11.) Clemson defeats North Carolina in Death Valley, 27-3. Although the Tarheels score first with a first quarter fieldgoal, Clemson's Phil Marion intercepts a North Carolina pass, setting up a 48 yard drive with Jacky Jackson scoring from the one on a run, Tigers lead at the half, 7-3. Tailback Buddy Gore scores for the Tigers in the third quarter, and in the fourth period Jackson scores again on a seven-yard run and then tackle Richard Garick intercepts a Tarheel pass and runs it in. (TAPS 1967, "Clemson Smothers U. N. C.", Volume 57, page 217.)
  • November 12: The Tigers get a road win against Maryland, 14-10.
  • November 14: Richard Tucker, billed as "the greatest tenor in the world" performs in the Field House (Fike) at 8 p.m.
  • November 19: Clemson plays at N.C. State, loses, 14-23. A new Memorial Stadium attendance record is set with 47,074 in the stands. It will be broken one week later. (Martin, Johnny, "Death Valley: 72 Years of Exciting Football at Clemson University", Independent Publishing Co., Anderson, S.C., 1968, Library of Congress card number 68-58849, page 13.)
  • November 26: The Tigers finish 6-4 season with 35-10 win over South Carolina in Death Valley, who go 1-9. Clemson is 6-1 in conference play, for first place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. A new Death Valley attendance record is set with 47,237 watching the game. (Martin, Johnny, "Death Valley: 72 Years of Exciting Football at Clemson University", Independent Publishing Co., Anderson, S.C., 1968, Library of Congress card number 68-58849, page 13.)
  • December 13: Ground is broken for construction of Littlejohn Coliseum by basketball Coach Bobby Roberts, President R. C. Edwards, and Frank Johnston Jervey.


1965 The 1960's 1967
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