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faculty, staff and alumni everywhere can be found wearing Clemson orange in a show of
unity and pride.
Tiger Rag
In 1942, student band director, Dean Ross, found the sheet music for “Tiger Rag” in an
Atlanta music store and brought it back to campus to play at football games. “Tiger Fanfare,”
by band director Mark Spede, was added in 2003. Today, the band has more than 15 ways to
play what’s known as “the song that shakes the Southland.”
Howard’s Rock
Named for legendary Coach Frank Howard,
the rock was brought to Clemson from Death
Valley, California, by 1919 alumnus S.C.
Jones. On Sept. 24, 1966, the day the rock
was first placed on a pedestal at the top of
The Hill, Clemson overcame an 18-point
deficit to defeat Virginia in a 40-35 victory.
The following season, when the Tigers
hosted Wake Forest in the season opener on
Sept. 23, 1967, Howard told his players “If
you’re going to give me 110 percent, you can
rub that rock. If you’re not, keep your filthy
hands off of it.” The Tigers won that game
with a 23-6 victory and a Clemson tradition
was born. The rock still sits at the top of The
Hill, and Tiger football players rub it for
good luck before each home game.
Running Down The Hill
The tradition of running down The Hill
(located above the east end zone) began
out of practicality in 1942. The shortest
walk from the team’s dressing room in Fike
Fieldhouse to the stadium was to walk down
Williamson Road and enter a gate where the
stadium’s large scoreboard now stands. Today, with the sound of “YOUR CLEMSON TIGERS!”
a cannon fires, the band plays “Tiger Rag” and thousands of orange-clad fans cheer the
moment when the Tiger football team runs down the grassy hill onto the field, a tradition
that has been dubbed “The Most Exciting 25 Seconds in College Football.”
First Friday Parade
Since 1974, the First Friday Parade has been held the Friday before Clemson’s first home
football game to celebrate the beginning of the school year and kick off the football season.
Student organizations, community groups and university departments parade down
Highway 93 to Williamson Road before ending at Historic Riggs Field for a pep rally.
Orange and Purple
The use of orange and purple began when Walter Riggs formed Clemson’s first football team
in 1896. Riggs brought the game from what is now Auburn University and with it, some of
Auburn’s old orange and navy jerseys. Because the jerseys had gone through a few washboard
scrubbings, they were quite faded. So Riggs made the school’s predominant color orange
(now officially known as Clemson Orange) and the faded condition of the navy became
a deep purple (officially known today as Regalia).