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Surprising enough, it's from the Mis State

65 years ago on a cold clear New Year’s Day in Dallas ...

a small, then-military school in the South Carolina foothills made its football debut on a national stage. Clemson defeated Boston College, 6-3, in the 1940 Cotton Bowl. That was the Tigers’ first bowl appearance and the start of the state’s college football tradition.

By BOB GILLESPIE

Senior Writer


To find the roots of Clemson football, stroll out the gates of 80,000-seat Memorial Stadium’s east end zone and turn left, heading uphill. When you reach Heisman Street — named for the Tigers’ football coach from 1900-03, who later had a certain trophy named for him — you will find Fike Field House, which, dating from 1928, is one of the oldest athletics structures on campus.

Above Fike’s entrance, like a miniature Stone Mountain, is a stone frieze of a 1930s-era football player, all arms and legs and leather helmet, forever running toward an unseen goal line. Visitors seldom notice the image nowadays; fewer still know who the player is, or what the image represents.

Sam Blackman knows.

“Banks McFadden,