The 1958 campaign for the Clemson Tigers football team was hard fought within a competitive Atlantic Coast Conference. And though one of only two regular season losses was to their interstate rivals, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks down in Columbia, the Tigers nonetheless came out on top with the better conference and overall record at 8-2. This landed them at a respectable #12 in that year’s national AP Poll. But more importantly, the ACC title earned Clemson their first ever trip to the annual New Year’s Day Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans, Louisiana. Unfortunately, Clemson ran into another band of hungry tigers on January 1, 1959: the undefeated and eventual national champion, the Louisiana State University Tigers, otherwise known as the “Bayou Bengals”. LSU would prevail in what to the modern football fan’s mind must seem a ho-hum defensive struggle: 7-0, though the only score was actually set up by a special teams error, Clemson having muffed a punt in the third quarter and awarding LSU the gift of favorable field position … The war years through the 1960s were a solid stretch for the Clemson Tigers of the gridiron, notably under the guiding hand of their colorful coach, Frank Howard. After his retirement, Clemson’s home field was named in honor of the local legend, while Tiger fans know well the time-honored tradition of players rubbing “Howard’s Rock” for good luck as they enter the field on game day.
Condition: Used Good. Sports Related. Dimensions: 30" long
