From its auspicious start in 1896 to being on top of the college football world under Dabo Swinney, Clemson Football is one of the more colorful programs in all of college football. Learn how the program got its start in 1896 with a donation of land. Discover the beginning of the IPTAY program. Find out the origin of the Tiger paw and the tradition of the Clemson two-dollar bill. And, of course, get the backstage look at the "good ol' fashioned hate" that makes the Clemson-Carolina rivalry such a passionate one. Author Will Vandervort provides a behind-the-scenes look at Clemson Football's small beginnings to its current elite status as a three-time national champion and college football power under Swinney.
Since the earliest days of football, the Gamecocks have helped make the sport a favorite in the Palmetto State. In the early 1900s, the team joined many other schools banning college football because of the injuries and deaths nationwide. Martha Williams Brice donated $2.75 million from her estate to help bring about an aggressive and overdue expansion. After executing one dazzling play after another and surviving three down-to-the-wire games in ACC play, the Gamecocks won their first and only conference championship in 1969. Author David Caraviello offers a behind-the-scenes look at Gamecock football history.
"Since the earliest days of football, the Gamecocks have helped make the sport a favorite in the Palmetto State. In the early 1900s, the team joined many other schools banning college football because of the injuries and deaths nationwide. Martha Williams Brice donated $2.75 million from her estate to help bring about an aggressive and overdue expansion. After executing one dazzling play after another and surviving three down-to-the-wire games in ACC play, the Gamecocks wont their first and only conference championship in 1969. Author David Caraviello offers a behind-the-scenes look at Gamecock football history." --
From unsolved murders and ghastly disasters to medicinal water and sports legends, Northwestern Pennsylvania has a rich and diverse history. Titusville native John Heisman shaped football into the recognizable sport that it is today, and his namesake is honored on the Heisman Trophy. Girard's Charlotte and Libbie Battles broke glass ceilings by becoming early female titans of business and banking in the region. Marx Toys in Erie County found success in crafting affordable popular toys for the masses and became the largest toy company in the world. The horrific Ashtabula train disaster of 1876 was the worst train incident in history to that point, with more than ninety lives lost. Join author Jessica Hilburn as she reveals the shrouded history of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
For over two centuries, Arlington County has been a steadfast center for government institutions and a vibrant part of the Washington, D.C., community. Many notable figures made their home in the area, like Supreme Court chief justice Warren Burger, General George Blood 'n' Guts Patton and a beauty queen who almost married crooner Dean Martin. The drama of Virginia's first school integration unfolded in Arlington beginning in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, two motorcycle gangs clashed in public at a suburban shopping center. Local author, historian and Our Man in Arlington Charlie Clark uncovers the vivid, and hidden, history of a capital community.
When Dabo Swinney officially took over Clemson football for the 2009 season, it was considered a good program that couldn't quite recapture the greatness of the Danny Ford era. Dabo had spent his entire life as an underdog, but his defiant grit pushed him past personal hardships and professional adversity. His simple formula—faith, family, forgiveness, fortitude, and fun—pushed the Clemson football program past its potential and to the next level, taking the Tigers to 10 bowl games and four ACC championships, earning three College Football Playoff appearances, and most importantly, capturing the 2016 national championship. In Top of the Hill: Dabo Swinney and Clemson's Rise to College Football Greatness, Greenville News sports columnist and Clemson insider Manie Robinson traces Dabo's coaching ascension along Clemson football's return to glory, going behind the scenes of one of the powerhouse programs in the country.
Most South Carolina football fans have attended a game at Williams-Brice Stadium, seen highlights of a young George Rogers, and can recite memorable quotes from the team’s “Head Ball Coach,” Steve Spurrier. But only real fans know the history of the team’s alternate black uniforms, remember when Cocky first appeared as the team’s mascot, or know all the lyrics to “The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way.” 100 Things South Carolina Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die reveals the most critical moments and important facts about past and present players, coaches, and teams that are part of the storied history that is South Carolina football. Scattered throughout the pages, are pep talks, records, and Gamecocks lore to test fans’ knowledge, including the formative years of South Carolina football, from its origins in the 1800s to Paul Dietzel’s tenure in the 1960s and 1970s; George Rogers’ unforgettable 1980 Heisman Trophy season, including South Carolina’s upset of Bo Schembechler’s favored Michigan team in Ann Arbor; South Carolina’s entrance into the SEC in 1992 and Lou Holtz’s memorable tenure as Gamecocks head coach before Spurrier arrived in Columbia; and profiles of memorable Gamecocks figures such as Joe Morrison, Rogers, Dietzel, Jim Carlen, and recent stars Marcus Lattimore and Jadeveon Clowney. Die-hard fans from the days of George Rogers as well as new supporters of head coach Spurrier’s squad will enjoy this guide to everything Gamecocks fans should know, see, and do in their lifetime.
The “harrowing, heartbreaking, redemptive” memoir of a US Army veteran who fought through PTSD to play college football with the Clemson Tigers (Sports Illustrated). Daniel Rodriguez joined the army just weeks after graduating from high school. Almost immediately, he was deployed to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. While there, he made a promise to his best friend: “When I get out of this shithole, I’m going to play college football.” Wounded at the Battle of Kamdesh, Daniel received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He was lucky enough to make it out alive; his friend was not. Back at home, Daniel was unemployed and stuck in the clutches of PTSD, but he remembered the promise he had made and resolved to make good on it. When he posted a video online of his grueling training efforts, it went viral overnight. Through a mixture of hope, determination, and the power of the Internet, Daniel earned a spot on the Clemson University football team as a wide receiver. In Rise, Rodriguez tells his powerful and inspiring story. “A compelling story of one man’s quest to overcome the horrors of war through fortitude and determination.” —San Antonio Express News
A wry and witty commentary on college sports and identity in the complicated social landscape of the South. Ed Southern, lifelong fan of the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons, the smallest school in the NCAA's Power 5, set out to tell the story of how he got tangled, in vines of history and happenstance, with the two giants of his favorite sport: the Crimson Tide and the Clemson Tigers. He set out to tell how a North Carolina native crossed the shifty, unmarked border between Tobacco Road and the Deep South. He set out to tell how the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, from beyond the grave, introduced him to his wife, a Birmingham native and die-hard Alabama fan. While he was writing that story, though, 2020 came along. Suddenly his questions had a new and urgent focus: Why do sports mean so much that so many will play and watch them in the face of a global pandemic? How have the South's histories shaped its fervor for college sports? How have college sports shaped how southerners construct their identities, priorities, and allegiances? Why is North Carolina passionate about college basketball when its neighbors to the South live and die by college football? Does this have anything to do with North Carolina's reputation as the most "progressive" southern state, a state many in the Deep South don't think is "really" southern? If college sports really do mean so much in the South, then why didn't everyone down south wear masks or recognize that Black Lives Matter, even after the coaches told us to? Fight Songs explores the connections and contradictions between the teams we root for and the places we plant our roots; between the virtues that sports are supposed to teach and the cutthroat business they've become; between the hopes of fans and the demands of the past, present, and future.
