1978

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1978 in Clemson History

Events in 1978

  • Palmetto Traction - Electric Railways of South Carolina by Thomas Fetters, is published, detailing short-lived proposal to build an electric traction line through Clemson in 1909, Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, no ISBN. - Fetters is Class of 1961, with a Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering.
  • January 1: New copyright laws go into effect governing such issues as public performance of marching band music. Previously, colleges and universities had been exempted from royalty fees for music played at sports events, concerts and dances.
  • Initial charter for the Gammu Mu chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, the Honor Society of Nursing, is granted.
  • January 12: Classes begin. The Clemson Concert Series presents the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in Littlejohn Coliseum at 8 p.m. featuring solo violinist Aaron Rosand, replacing Eugene Fodor, who was unable to appear due to illness. Admission by student Activity Card, Season Ticket, or individual tickets on sale at gate.
  • January 14: The board of trustees authorizes the administration to "proceed immediately" with plans for construction of a new 500-bed dormitory on campus, location and type to be determined. Also, renovation of Sirrine Hall at an estimated cost of $869,000, and a "support" facility for Daniel Hall at a cost of $226,980 are authorized. A new phase of expansion in the Cooper Library to be located in the basement is planned, but no timeline is established for the work. The board also reviews and endorses a proposal for new band uniforms, and returns it Dean Walter Cox for further study.
  • January 14: The Star Trek and Science Fiction Mini-Convention held in the Pickens Building at Tri-County Tech, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. The film "Forbidden Planet" and the Star Trek blooper reel are shown.
  • Mid-January: A six-week investigation reveals that the November 6, 1977 collapse of the Kelly Barnes Dam above Toccoa Falls Bible College was due to numerous hazards that went undetected and uncorrected.
  • January 17: Fat Cat's Disco located on the 123 By-Pass is arsoned at 4:30 p.m. and is completely gutted. A five-gallon kerosene can is found at the site. Amateur arsonist dowsed the office with accelerant, then closed the door, snuffing out the incomplete burn as soon as the oxygen was exhausted in the confined space.
  • January 17: Former state Senator Richard W. Riley makes campaign appearance on the Clemson campus one day after announcing his candidacy for governor.
  • January 21: The Union and CDCC present The Rocky Horror Picture Show at 7 p.m. in Tillman Auditorium, followed by Crack The Sky in concert at 9 p.m. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHNFkqPFBko
  • January 23-inflicted gunshot wound.
  • January 24: The French Club presents three-act play Master Pierre Patelin in Daniel Auditorium at 8 p.m., directed by Bobbi Shook and Dr. Regis Robe.
  • January 26-January 27: Singer-songwriter Judith Lander brings her dance company to Clemson for performances in Edgar's on the 26th and 27th and dance classes in Fike Recreation Center on the 27th.
  • January 31: The Clemson Chamber Series presents "An Evening With Sigmund Romberg" in Daniel Auditorium at 8 p.m. Program includes "The Student Prince" - 1924 ("Gaudemus Igitur," "Drinking Song,""Deep in my Heart, Dear," "Marching Song," "Serenade/Marching Song (reprise)"), "The Desert Song" - 1926 ("The Riff Song," "Romance-The Desert Song," "French Military Marching Song," "Eastern and Western Love: a) If One Flower Grows Alone in Your Garden, b) One Alone,") and "The New Moon" - 1928 ("Wanting You," "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise," "One Kiss," "Lover Come Back to Me," "Stouthearted Men"). Performers are Doris Hill, soprano, Wanda Campbell, mezzo-soprano, William Campbell and Robert Hill, tenors, and Kevin Davidson, bass; Linda Barlage at the piano, directed by John H. Butler. Admission is free. A brief "Meet the Artists" reception held following the concert in the first-floor lounge of Strode Tower.
  • February 1: Scientist, author and former astronaut Brian O' Leary speaks in Tillman Hall Auditorium at 8 p.m. as first Speakers Bureau presentation of the semester.
  • Early February: Dr. Christopher J. Duckenfield takes over as director of the computer center. A 32-year old native of England, he has been in the United States since 1966 and most recently held a similar position at Western Carolina University.
  • February 1: Director of Housing Manning Lomax reveals at meeting with Cope Hall residents that female students will be accommodated in Johnstone Hall for the first time in the fall semester of 1978 due to housing demands for incoming coeds.
  • February 9: Clemson University Concert Series presents the Moscow Chorale in Littlejohn Coliseum, 8 p.m. Admission by student Activity Card, Season Ticket, or individual tickets on sale at gate.
  • February 14: A housing office memorandum is sent to the P-Plant for a cost estimate of upgrades needed in Johnstone A-section to house female students.
  • February 19: Jack Webb-produced television show "Project U.F.O." debuts, featuring character Staff Sergeant Harry Fitz, who hails from Six Mile, South Carolina, played by Caskey Swaim. Show will run 26 episodes over two seasons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lXeKqQH0O4
  • February 21: The Clemson University Concert Series presents the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, Littlejohn Coliseum, 8 p.m. Admission by student Activity Card, Season Ticket, or individual tickets on sale at gate.
  • March 7: Music Department Chamber Music Series presents Lillian Harder, pianist, in Daniel Hall Auditorium, 8 p.m., free admission.
  • March 8: Loch Ness monster hunter Lee Frank presents a slide show/lecture on Nessie, Bigfoot and other creatures, in Tillman Auditorium at 8 p.m.
  • March 9: The Clemson University Information Office releases news this date that a new award has been established to recognize an accounting or financial management student for superior performance in the study of federal taxation. Named the James A. Turner Award in Federal Taxation, it is named for a former St. Stephen lumberman whose son, James A. Turner Jr., gave the university a permanent endowment to establish the annual prize of $200, the maximum for such awards at Clemson. Turner noted the growth in the accounting and finance department since its establishment in 1974. Clemson had 278 accounting majors and 289 financial management majors at the beginning of the 1977-1978 academic year. Gill Dunovant Timpson of Edgefield, South Carolina will be the first recipient at the university's Honors and Awards Day on April 12. A student in accounting, Timpson has made A's in all the courses he has taken in that field.
  • March 11: A dance-a-thon sponsored by the Kappa Alpha Order raises $11,360 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, believed to be the most successful fund-raiser on campus of all-time. Even R.C. and "Moonpie" Edwards show up to take a spin on the dance floor.
  • March 12: Eaton-Freeman Piano Competition held in Daniel Hall Auditorium at 3 p.m., free admission. Sponsored by the Department of Music]].
  • March 17: The Buzzard is published as a twenty-page edition. Done tabloid style as The National Buzzard, the front page teaser headlines are: "What Really Went Down At The Computer Center," "Special Rest-of-the Year Calendar of Campus Beauties," "Bigfoot Captured By Boring," "Homedumping Queen Attacked By Soccer Player," and "Pizza King, Hotdog Named All-ACC Dinner." Spring break begins after classes.
  • Spring: "Due to the shortage of residence hall space, the requirement for all new students to live on campus is being waived for the academic year 1978-79 upon request. Such a request must be submitted to the Housing Office at the time of acceptance." ("Clemson University Residence Halls," Housing Office, 1978, page 2.) And thus, another old tradition falls by the wayside.
  • Springbreak: Renovation of the Amphitheatre begins during the student holiday. Work is expected to be finished by the fall of 1978. Original plans for tearing down the facility and replacing it with one of "Clemson pink brick" have been abandoned after a majority of students, organized by Save Our Amphitheatre People (SOAP), expressed a desire to have the campus landmark restored in its original form. The screening fountain system is rusted beyond repair (operable during filming of The Midnight Man in 1973), however, and will not be replaced, and the wooden benches with two aisles will be replaced by terraced seating and a single center aisle. On the academic front, Steve DeConti is awarded the Edgar Allen Brown Scholarship for the upcoming 1978-1979 school year.
  • March 25: Atlanta Rhythm Section charts on the Billboard Top 40 for the third time as "Imaginary Lover" enters this date, will reach number 7 during twelve-week run. (Whitburn, Joel, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits," Billboard Publications, Inc., New York, 1985, ISBN 0-8230-7518-4, page 28.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHimj-crMrA
  • March 27: Classes resume. Associate professor of English, Dr. Thomas E. Douglass dies, age 47. He had joined the faculty in 1967 and had been active in drama and had directed several plays at the university.
  • March 28: History professor William Steirer is elected as new faculty senate president.
  • April 3: Georgia Tech is admitted into the Atlantic Coast Conference, bringing membership back up to eight schools for the first time since 1971, when South Carolina resigned. The Atlanta-based Yellow Jackets had withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference in January of 1964 and had lately been affiliated with the Metro Conference. Ironically, the Clemson-Tech series had just been terminated in 1977 due to Georgia Tech's unwillingness to travel to Clemson. Starting in 1983, the Jackets are required to make the journey by their conference obligations.
  • April 6: The Music Department presents the Clemson University Chorus in Tillman Auditorium at 8 p.m., free admission.
  • April 10: Seventeen Democratic candidates seeking statewide office converge on the Clemson campus, sponsored by the Clemson Young Democrats, and speak to a crowd of about 250 students on the Union Plaza. Senate candidate Charles "Pug" Ravenel, and gubernatorial candidates Richard "Dick" Riley and Tom Turnipseed lead off stump speeches.
  • April 10-11 Largest-ever turn-out of applicants for the 1978-1979 varsity cheerleading squad, with 41 women and 28 men vying for the 14 positions. Three members of the 1977-1978 squad return, joined by seven former Jayvee squad members.Varsity: (by pairs) Lynn Peck and Bill Newell, Vicki Woy and Steve DeConti, Susan Hall and Roy Majors, Mary Hill and Chris Carter, Cindy McDowell and Tommy Brown, Mary Barnes and Clark Curry, and David Rheney as Cannoneer. The classic line-up also includes walk-on Zack Mills, who played defensive back on the football team in 1977. Mills will become renown as the greatest Tiger mascot ever, redefining and emboldening the character as never before. Joey Erwin rises to head cheerleader.
  • April 11: The largest forest fire in Oconee County history is extinguished when the Jumping Branch fire, as named by the U.S. Forest Service, which has blackened 2,700 acres east of S.C. Highway 107 in six days, is brought under control. The blaze was attacked by both ground and aerial tankers. The fire was exacerbated by a 1975 tornado in the area that had left a great deal of tender on the ground.
  • April 11: The Music Department presents the Clemson University Concert Band in concert, Tillman Auditorium, 8 p.m., free admission.
  • April 12: The university holds Honors and Awards Day ceremonies.
  • Mid-April: Three bartenders at the Bookstore are arrested for selling alcoholic beverages to minors while police officers accompanied by an Alcoholic Beverage Control officer are present. Jimmy Lanford, Bookstore owner, is quoted in The Tiger on April 21 stating that the "raid" appeared to be a "set-up." Said Lanford, "They say they have the power to do that, but there's such a thing as entrapment stating that you can't trap someone into breaking the law." In another incident, a 22-year old clerk at Cook's Grocery was arrested for an alcohol sale to a minor. In all cases, the men were released on their own recognizance to face misdemeanor charges in Clemson city court.
  • Mid-April: Four ice machines are installed on campus, financed by the Department of Services, and located beside the Johnstone canteen, the west ends of Young Hall and Bowen Hall and the basement of Manning Hall.
  • April 15: Orange and White spring football game in Death Valley, 12:30 p.m.
  • April 17-April 19: Central Spirit holds interviews for the 25 1978-1979 staff positions, 7 p.m - 9 p.m., at the Student Government offices
  • April 17-April 20: Registration for both summer semesters, as well as first semester 1978-1979.
  • April 17-April 22: The Clemson Players present Lanford Wilson's Hot l Baltimore, the fourth production of the 1977-1978 season, directed by Chip Egan. Free admission with performances in Daniel Auditorium at 8 p.m., April 17-22, except matinee at 3:30 p.m. on April 20.
  • April 18: The Union features The Stan Waterman Show, a presentation by underwater photographer, film producer and diving pro Stan Waterman. He worked on both Jaws and The Deep. Held in the Union Ballroom at 8 p.m., admission is 75 cents.
  • April 18: First Special Olympics for local disabled children is held on Riggs Field.
  • April 18: The Faculty Senate unanimously votes to investigate low salaries, responding to a preliminary report that Clemson pay scales are as much as 18 percent lower than that of Atlantic Coast Conference schools, and 12 percent below the national average.
  • April 18: The Student Senate, in its last meeting of the semester, listens to pitch from representative of R.D. Products, Inc. on proposed new Vali-Dine Series 3 computer system to be installed in Harcombe and Schilletter dining halls. After a 30-minute debate, the senate passes resolution against supporting the new system, 17-10, citing a lack of student input, the controlled access to eating areas, and the lack of clear information about the financial aspects being presented. Nonetheless, the computerized system will be installed during the summer semesters.
  • April 18: Tiger baseball team gets clutch two-run homer by sophomore Tony Masone in the eighth inning to defeat North Carolina State in Raleigh, 2-1, to clinch the ACC regular season championship.
  • April 19: Former U.S. Congresswoman Bella Abzug appears on campus as part of the Speakers Bureau series, and expounds on young people's participation in activist movements, especially women's rights. The Young Democrats hold a reception after the speech.
  • April 21: Pre-registration materials 4 p.m. deadline at Tillman Auditorium for summer semesters, fall.
  • April 21: The 22nd Annual Band Banquet held at the Holiday Inn of Clemson, 6 p.m.
  • April 20-April 21: "Monty Python Meets Beyond the Fringe," a filmed live stage performance by the two British comedy troupes, is shown in the Palmetto Ballroom, admission is $1. This was from the First Secret Policeman's Ball. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0zEfrEle4
  • April 21: Friday night enticements - Edgar's features Midnight Madness with happy hour beginning again at midnight and running til 2 a.m. Band Your Mama performs in Edgar's at 8:30 p.m., 50 cent admission.
  • April 21-April 22: The Union Outdoor Rec Committee sponsors overnight canoe trip on Lake Jocassee.
  • April 22: Sixth annual Bengal Ball held at the Y Beach beginning at 1 p.m., tickets are $3, limited to 4,000. Music by Overland Express with Bill Haney and the Zassoff Boys. Original tee-shirt design, reading "I was Bengal Balled" is banned by the university as too naughty, replaced by tame "Bengal Ball '78." Three hundred of the original design have already been screened, and these are sold quietly on the black market, becoming highly coveted at the event itself. The artwork for this shirt was shamelessly copped from the cover of Warner Brothers Records Loss Leader sampler double album All Singing -All Talking - All Rocking (PRO 573), released in 1973, and available by mail for $2 from Warner Bros. The original artist was "Willardson."
  • April 22: Your Mama appears in Edgar's at 8:30 p.m., fifty cent admission.
  • April 23: Sponsored by the Clemson Area Jaycees, the Hoxie Brothers Great American Circus makes its first appearance in Clemson, one of its two units touring the country. Performances at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the Old Dairy Barn on Perimeter Road, with $3 admission for adults, $2 for children; advance tickets available at Payless Drugs, Clemson Drugs, Lynch's Drugs, Thriftway Grocery in Pendleton or through any Jaycee. Funds raised will go to the Jaycees' support of Camp Hope as well as their current attempt to create a civic park in the area between the Astro 3 theatre and the South Carolina National Bank.
  • April 24-28: TAPS distributed to students in the basement of Mell Hall.
  • April 27: The Music Department presents the Clemson University Concert Band in a "Pops" concert in Tillman Auditorium, 8 p.m., free admission.
  • May: Steve Hackett, former guitarist with art-rock band Genesis, releases his solo album "Please Don't Touch", and several tracks are compiled onto WSBF ATC (Automatic Tape Control) tapes including "Narnia" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBb1f7IWUX8&feature=related) and "How Can I" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVp4egwKlS4), which features soulful singer Richie Havens singing the line "trying to get a telephone line, through South Caroline".
  • May 1: Exams begin.
  • May 10: Professor Samuel Broadus Earle, former acting president of Clemson Agricultural College, dies at age 100. He is buried in Cemetary Hill on the Clemson campus.
  • May 12: Commencement held in Littlejohn Coliseum.
  • May 13: Dormitories close at end of spring semester.
  • June 10: "You're the One That I Want" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, tops the song charts. Ah, the summer of the film "Grease." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHrwt-Drmgc
  • June 16: The movie "Grease" hits theatres.
  • June 28-June 29: First summer session exams.
  • Summer: Director and one other Physical Plant employee resign during SLED investigations into misuse of P Plant materials and employee resources. ARA-Slater installs Vali-Dine card system in Harcombe and Schilletter dining halls.
  • July 8: Atlanta Rhythm Section hits Billboard Top 40 for the second time in 1978 when "I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight" enters chart this date. Song will peak at 14 during seven-week run. (Whitburn, Joel, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits," Billboard Publications, Inc., New York, 1985, ISBN 0-8230-7518-4, page 28.)
  • August: With financial boost of previous bowl game season, IPTAY funds first new uniforms for Tiger Band since 1963. Band adopts the "Pith Helmet" look. The varsity cheerleading squad spends a week at national cheerleader camp at University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Campus ambulance service announced to begin in the fall.
  • August 9-August 10: Second summer session exams.
  • August 12: Summer commencement.
  • August 20: Dormitories open at 10 a.m.
  • August 25: Classes begin.
  • August 26: Member of the Clemson women's basketball team is struck by a car in the crosswalk across the Old Greenville Highway in front of Sikes Hall between 12:30 and 1 a.m. and is severely injured. The accident spurs a year-long campus controversy about making the crosswalks safer.
  • September: The Tiger pursues information on an alleged assault case in Johnstone Hall but campus Chief of Security Jack Weeden refuses to release details. Legal authorities agree this appears to be a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. This event and other examples of Weeden's autocratic management lead to his being replaced within the year.
  • September 13: The Duke Ellington Orchestra, led by his son Mercer Ellington, appears in Tillman Auditorium.
  • Mid-September: New Physical Plant director named, to take over in late October.
  • September 15: First Friday "Pound the Hound" Parade. In the wake of National Lampoon's Animal House, the Bedrock Bombers of Johnstone Hall B-5, enter a float of a Deathmobile with a Citadel uniform on the "hood" of their vehicle, which is actually built onto the back of a pick-up truck, and which has to be backed up throughout the entire parade!
  • September 16: Home football season opens against the Citadel. The Tigers crush the Bulldogs, 58-3. It is match-ups like this that show that there is little benefit in scheduling former traditional Division I-AA opponents for any reason other than to give the visiting team a gate windfall. This is Clemson's 100th win in Death Valley. Clemson also participates in its first women's cross country event ever. Shelly Wooldridge is the first-ever women's track and field/cross country scholarship athlete. Dean Matthews is coach.
  • September 23: Clemson plays Georgia in Athens, loses, 0-12.
  • September 30: The Tigers shut out Villanova in Death Valley, 31-0. Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band concert in Littlejohn Coliseum.
  • October: Manning Lomax, director of housing, announces at a Student Senate meeting that a new apartment-style dormitory will be built on East campus with completion scheduled for the fall of 1980. These will become Calhoun Courts.
  • October 2: Vandal starts up Fiat-Allis front-end loader parked near Bracket Hall and drives it into the Reflecting Pond behind the Amphitheatre at 11:37 p.m. Oil contamination forces draining and cleaning of basin used in several buildings air conditioner cooling systems. The guilty party is apprehended by Pickens County authorities in 1982.
  • October 6: Campus ambulance service begins.
  • October 7: Homecoming game versus Virginia Tech. Clemson wins, 38-7. Bob Hope appears at Littlejohn Coliseum in his last visit to Clemson.
  • October 14: The Tigers go to Charlottesville, beat Virginia, 30-14. Devo performs the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" on Saturday Night Live, introduced by host Fred Willard.
  • October 18: The Speakers Bureau presents comedian Kelly Montieth in Tillman Auditorium.
  • October 20: The jazz-fusion-rock Dixie Dregs appear in Tillman Auditorium.
  • October 21: Clemson defeats Duke in Memorial Stadium, 28-8. U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond appears on campus for an interview with challenger Charles "Pug" Ravenel, but Ravenel cancels appearance. The Tiger interviews Thurmond alone.
  • October 27: Halloween all-nighter party at Edgar's, music furnished by WSBF.
  • October 28: Twentieth-ranked Clemson plays away game at N.C. State, winning, 33-10.
  • October 30: The Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company performs in Tillman Auditorium.
  • October 31: Dracula expert Dr. Leonard Wolf speaks in Tillman Auditorium.
  • November 4: The sixteenth-ranked Tigers travel to Wake Forest, winning, 51-6.
  • November 6: WSBF officially goes stereo, although signal still is not channel separated.
  • November 7: Campus election day, classes suspended. Union sponsors November Nonsense.
  • November 10: Midnight pep rally before North Carolina game. Earlier in the evening, a hayride sponsored by Alpha Gamma Rho had collided with a car at Shiloh Road and the Beltline in Seneca after the truck suffered brake failure. The vehicle spun around and overturned, injuring 28, two seriously.
  • November 11: Fifteenth-ranked Tigers defeat North Carolina in Death Valley, 13-9. Louise Odom Edwards honored as Clemson Mother of the Year at halftime.
  • November 15: The Amazing Kreskin performs in Tillman Auditorium.
  • November: The Clemson cross-country team wins its first ACC championship. The Tiger football team wins first ACC championship since 1967.
  • November 18: Twelfth-ranked Clemson travels to eleventh-ranked Maryland for the most exciting game this writer EVER witnessed. See-saw game ends with the Tigers on top, 28-24. Tigers accept a Gator Bowl bid immediately following the match. See 1978 Clemson-Maryland football game.
  • November 23-November 24: Thanksgiving holidays.
  • November 25: The tenth-ranked Tigers defeat the Gamecocks in Death Valley, 41-23, completing an 11-1 season, 6-0 in conference, for first place in the ACC.
  • November 27: Three former and one current Physical Plant employee indicted for embezzling over $30,000 in materials from the university by a Pickens County grand jury.
  • December 3: Southern Railway's train no. 2, the northbound Southern Crescent, derails at dawn at Shipman, Virginia, killing six and injuring sixty.
  • December 4: Football Coach Charlie Pell alienates fans by accepting coaching job at the University of Florida in Gainesville after the South Carolina victory but before the bowl game. His offer to stick around for the bowl is declined.
  • December 5: Assistant Coach Danny Ford is named as new head coach, becoming the youngest Division I head coach in the nation at age 30.
  • December 10: It is announced that Danny Ford, not Charlie Pell, will coach the upcoming bowl game.
  • December 11: Exams begin.
  • December 21: Mid-year graduation.
  • December 28: Pre-bowl pep rally held in the rain in front of the Jacksonville Hilton Hotel next to the St. Johns River. Danny Ford is presented with a white Jaguar. Tiger Band, standing in the weather while the big wigs stand under the portico, is less than thrilled.
  • December 29: Clemson returns to the Gator Bowl, beating Ohio State Buckeyes, 17-15. OSU Coach Woody Hayes throws a hissy after an intercepted pass, punches Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman, loses job by sports writers' deadline. He had been severely warned about his behavior after he punched a television cameraman at the Michigan game in November. His escapades will be commemorated in the Tiger Band Unhymnal in the song The Night We Drove Old Woody Down.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVJyf0ft3I



1977 The 1970's 1979