I didn't have a dog in this fight, but ...
'preciate you mentioning me 'free' ... 'cause me loves to remember 'history'! clemson, 1947 ... legendary coach Frank Howard is in charge. '46 had been a BAD year in Pickens County; the tigers went 4-5 and got the ca ca kicked out of 'em that season by the GAMECOCKS!!! - SO, lots of 'bad moods' were brewing ... but 1947 promised to be better!!!
It wasn't.
Most teams look forward to 'signing day' in February each year but at clemson they have a 'different tradition' ... they celebrate the lynching of Willie Earle!!! No, it wasn't the 1800's ... Frank Howard was clemson's coach in 1947 when Willie Earle was snatched from the Pickens County jail by a mob of 31 men AND women who then beat him, kicked him, cut him with knives and shot him four times in the head with a shotgun before hanging his mutilated body from a tree. 26 'confessions' of joining the mob, NINE written 'confessions' naming the man who 'pulled the trigger' and spread Willie Earle's brains across the bushes. The 'last' lynching is South Carolina history.
ALL 'defendants' were quickly found NOT GUILTY.
THAT was (and IS) "Pickens County's finest" at work!!!
The rest of 1947 was no better. clemson again had a record of 4-5 and LOST to the SC GAMECOCKS.
And NOW, "you know the rest of the story." Oh, clemson did beat a 2-7 Auburn team that year, plus Duquesne, Furman and PRESBYTERIAN!!!
The 'blue hose' win was SIGNIFICANT, insofar as THAT WAS THE YEAR Presbyterian's 'coach' took to calling clemson 'Death Valley" after losing to that sorry-aze clemson team 42-0.
IF ONLY WILLIE EARLE could talk ... he could certainly "second" the motion that Pickens County is indeed, 'death valley', albeit not for Georgia, South Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest or Boston College ... all of whom beat clemson's brains out in 1947.
It's clemson's fans that are 'delusional' ... they LOVE to 'recreate history'. Well, Willie Earle IS the 'sorry history' of Pickens County ... remember THAT whenever you hear the term 'death valley' and that romanticized 'version' of how clemson's stadium 'got its name' from the Presbyterian coach ... as well as their romanticized 'version' of that bigot, Frank Howard's 'rock'. The 'legendary' clemson coach who SWORE a #$%%#$ would NEVER play for clemson.
Good luck, Auburn.