April 1

Wikipedia's article on April 1.

Events

• 1907: In an April Fools Day prank, the first Pendleton Guards constitutes itself in front of the Main Building and plays hooky from classes, marching off to Pendleton where they loll around the square. The administration is not amused and warns the cadets never again to engage in mass cutting of classes. Being students, they will of course, repeat the march the following year, with much more severe repercussions!
• 1908: In a poorly thought out April Fool's Day prank, over three hundred cadets from the "Pendleton Guards" march to Pendleton, returning with a cannon they dismount from the town square. President Patrick Hues Mell expels the entire group, gutting the football team, as several members had participated in the ill-advised roadtrip. Many are re-admitted the following year.
• 1936: Future Clemson basketball coach Bill Foster is born in Palatka, Florida.
• 1946: The Tiger ("The World's Most Uninteresting College Rag") publishes April Fools' issue (Volume XXXIX, Number 32a) - headlined "Shorty Is New President" with sub-head "Oscar is found dead in Latrine".
• 1960: WSBF makes its first over-the-air broadcast.
• 1974: Comedian and musician Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture appears in a free concert in Tillman Auditorium.
• 1980: Jazz guitarist Larry Coryell appears in the Clemson House Ballroom.
• March 31-April 1, 1981: The greatest prank in Clemson history is pulled by a student who has a penchant for climbing buildings. On two consecutive nights, he rappels from the steeple of Tillman Hall and places large cardboard Mickey Mouse bodies over the spindle of the clock face on two adjoining sides (east and south). The university has to use a cherry-picker lift bucket to remove it. In an article in the Aiken (S.C.) Standard, university spokesman Ross Cornwall was quoted in an unofficial statement, "We think campus police have a suspect, D. Duck." University police were still looking for a suspect as well as clues. Chief Jack Ferguson said that they were looking for a pro. "Whoever did it sure is talented," he said. Ferguson stated that he has his best officer on the case, "investigator Brummitt ... He solved the stolen chicken case last year." (Associated Press, "Clemson Gets Giant Mickey Mouse Clock", The Aiken Standard, Aiken, South Carolina, Friday 3 April 1981, page 6A.) The guilty party is never apprehended. And - yes - this contributor knows who did it.
• 1986: James L. Lucas, III, Class of 1973, Tiger band grad student member who produced the 1974 edition of The Unhymnal, dies of a heart attack, age 34.
• 1987: Women's basketball Coach Jim Davis is hired.

March 31

April

April 2