Herman McGee

From ClemsonWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Herman McGee was the long-time equipment manager and assistant trainer with the Clemson football program.

A Clemson native, he attended what would later be Riverside High School in Pendleton. He served in the infantry and quartermaster corps for four and a half years during World War II, including 18 months in the European Theatre. He was married to the former Lucia Green of Pendleton.

McGee started out helping the late Chappie Johnson in 1934. Upon Johnson's death in 1949, McGee took over a multitude of jobs in the training room. He served as a trainer at Clemson from 1948 through 1957, and as an assistant trainer under Fred Hoover from 1958 through the late 1960s.

Starting with the 1939 Cotton Bowl, McGee traveled with the Clemson football team to its first 10 bowl games, and he also made four trips to the College World Series with the Tiger baseball team.

In June 1965, McGee was recognized by the National Athletic Trainers Association for "twenty five or more years of meritorious services in the field of athletic training."

In 1976, just four years prior to his death, he was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame. He was the first African American inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame.

Upon his death in March 1980, he had served the Athletic Department and Clemson University for 46 years, a record for any staff or administrators. Fred Cone and Jeff Davis, two members of the Clemson Ring of Honor who played 30 years apart, served as pallbearers at his funeral on March 9, 1980.