November 22 is a date that conjures up great sadness and great joy in my life.
On this date in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX. I served as a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service for twenty-seven years. That horrific moment in Dealey Plaza still haunts the USSS.
The course of history was altered that day in Dallas. I would be remiss if I did not mention it. It is one of the reasons I chose to serve our country and become a part of the USSS.
On the side of great joy, is November 22, 1980. I was an eighteen year old freshman DB/Punt returner for a young, talented, but struggling Clemson football team that came in to that Upstate Saturday with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses. It wasn’t very pretty...
G Date Day School Opponent Conf Pts Opp W L T Streak Notes
1 Sep 13, 1980 Sat Clemson Rice SWC W 19 3 1 0 0 W 1
2 Sep 20, 1980 Sat Clemson @ (10) Georgia SEC L 16 20 1 1 0 L 1
3 Sep 27, 1980 Sat Clemson Western Carolina Southern W 17 10 2 1 0 W 1
4 Oct 4, 1980 Sat Clemson Virginia Tech Ind W 13 10 3 1 0 W 2
5 Oct 11, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Virginia ACC W 27 24 4 1 0 W 3
6 Oct 18, 1980 Sat Clemson Duke ACC L 17 34 4 2 0 L 1
7 Oct 25, 1980 Sat Clemson @ North Carolina State ACC L 20 24 4 3 0 L 2
8 Nov 1, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Wake Forest ACC W 35 33 5 3 0 W 1
9 Nov 8, 1980 Sat Clemson (14) North Carolina ACC L 19 24 5 4 0 L 1
10 Nov 15, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Maryland ACC L 7 34 5 5 0 L 2
11 Nov 22, 1980 Sat Clemson (14) South Carolina Ind W 27 6 6 5 0 W 1
Close wins vs Virginia, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina and close losses vs Georgia (1980...) and UNC. Don’t look at the blowout losses to Duke and Maryland. Still hurts forty years later. Seriously.
We had some awesome seniors that year. Charlie Bauman (Yes Buckeyes, THAT #58), Jack Cain, Steve Durham, David Sims and Wille Underwood to name a few. And a nucleus of underclassmen that would go on to make Clemson history a few months later. But struggle we did.
We limped home from a butt whipping at the hands of the Terrapins. The Gamecocks, led by eventual Heisman winner George Rogers, were on their way to Death Valley as a multi-point favorite. Hardly anyone gave us a chance. I mean no one.
I do remember practice being very upbeat that week. South Carolina prep/practice always had a different feel to it, I’m sure it still does. Just a little bit of extra energy and focus.
But there were rumors floating around about Coach Ford’s job being in some serious jeopardy. Obviously before the days of internet and Twitter, so this kind of news took a different path. We all just kind of blew it off and went about our business. But it was out there.
So on Friday, November 21, we load up the YOUNG buses at good old Mauldin Hall and make the trek over to Anderson and the Holiday Inn. Young men heading for an appointment with Clemson football destiny.
Dinner, followed by a movie (don’t recall what we saw) then a return to the hotel for a team meeting. Afterwards, “snacks” in your room. And let me tell ya about those snacks back in the day.
A Wendy’s Double with everything, a bag of potato chips, piece of pound cake or a Beebo, a Snickers bar, an apple (how did that get in there?) a can of Coke and milk. Food coma after dinner and movie theater stuff. Oh to be a teenager again.
I never remember not sleeping well before a game when playing for Clemson. Probably because we were always very well prepared. Credit to Coach Ford and his staff, and to eating enough food that would choke a Burmese python.
So it’s off to the team breakfast at 0800. Anyone that’s done this knows that there is very little conversation or idle chatter. A lot of clinking of silverware and chairs being moved. Nervous tension is palpable. It permeates the entire room and is a feeling that one never forgets. After eating like I was going to the electric chair the night before, I can barely choke down a pancake during pregame meal. We just want to play. Please turn us loose.
Enter Danny Ford. Coach Ford was seated at the front of the room. It wasn’t like you just popped over and made small talk with him. So you minded your own business with your teammates and waited for him to speak. That was the understood routine.
So it goes like this. Coach Ford stands up “ Y’all listen up, I got something to tell y’all “ or something close to that statement. Due to the rumors floating around about his possible dismissal, most of us thought “oh S#it...he’s gone”. It was just the tone of his voice.
In many years of retrospect, I now think he knew exactly what he was doing.
So then, he reaches underneath the table and pulls out a larger than average cardboard box and proceeds to set it on the table. He puts his hand in the box...and pulls out a pair of Orange freakin Pants! “We’re gonna be wearing these today” he so eloquently stated. The room erupted in pent up energy and emotion that I’ve rarely witnessed at any level of athletics. Goose bumps just writing this story.
He continued “so this what we’re gonna do. When y’all get to the stadium, you need to take your pads (thigh, knee, etc.) out of your white pants, and put them in your orange pants. We’ll warm up in the white ones..no one will notice”.
Little did I know that this would be the first of many covert/Top Secret operations that I would be involved in through the course of my life and career (many not as important, LOL!).
The bus ride to the Valley is a blur. Traffic was backed up for miles out of Clemson, I do remember that. We hadn’t seen traffic like this for the other home games. This was indeed different.
We arrived at Memorial Stadium and went directly to work, as instructed by our Head Coach. After forty years, I really don’t recall warming up, the pregame speech or leaving the locker room. But I’ll never forget the bus ride around to the Hill and standing behind the Rock and peering out in the crowd, who have now seen their Tigers sporting their new Orange attire. Pandemonium has ensued.
We flew down the hill, and as they say “There’s no Wood, like Underwood!!”
Please enjoy the video that was provided by my friend @MBRO It gives the flavor of the game and the times we lived in. I hope that both give the glimpse of U.S. history and Clemson football history and helps us come to the realization that we, as both Americans and Clemson fans, have much more in common than we have differences.
Enjoy!! Go Tigers!! BillyD (Best IS the Standard) LATE add on...our teams in 1980, 81, 82 and 1983 were UNDEFEATED in those Orange Pants. I still think they’re MAGIC.
On this date in 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX. I served as a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service for twenty-seven years. That horrific moment in Dealey Plaza still haunts the USSS.
The course of history was altered that day in Dallas. I would be remiss if I did not mention it. It is one of the reasons I chose to serve our country and become a part of the USSS.
On the side of great joy, is November 22, 1980. I was an eighteen year old freshman DB/Punt returner for a young, talented, but struggling Clemson football team that came in to that Upstate Saturday with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses. It wasn’t very pretty...
G Date Day School Opponent Conf Pts Opp W L T Streak Notes
1 Sep 13, 1980 Sat Clemson Rice SWC W 19 3 1 0 0 W 1
2 Sep 20, 1980 Sat Clemson @ (10) Georgia SEC L 16 20 1 1 0 L 1
3 Sep 27, 1980 Sat Clemson Western Carolina Southern W 17 10 2 1 0 W 1
4 Oct 4, 1980 Sat Clemson Virginia Tech Ind W 13 10 3 1 0 W 2
5 Oct 11, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Virginia ACC W 27 24 4 1 0 W 3
6 Oct 18, 1980 Sat Clemson Duke ACC L 17 34 4 2 0 L 1
7 Oct 25, 1980 Sat Clemson @ North Carolina State ACC L 20 24 4 3 0 L 2
8 Nov 1, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Wake Forest ACC W 35 33 5 3 0 W 1
9 Nov 8, 1980 Sat Clemson (14) North Carolina ACC L 19 24 5 4 0 L 1
10 Nov 15, 1980 Sat Clemson @ Maryland ACC L 7 34 5 5 0 L 2
11 Nov 22, 1980 Sat Clemson (14) South Carolina Ind W 27 6 6 5 0 W 1
Close wins vs Virginia, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Western Carolina and close losses vs Georgia (1980...) and UNC. Don’t look at the blowout losses to Duke and Maryland. Still hurts forty years later. Seriously.
We had some awesome seniors that year. Charlie Bauman (Yes Buckeyes, THAT #58), Jack Cain, Steve Durham, David Sims and Wille Underwood to name a few. And a nucleus of underclassmen that would go on to make Clemson history a few months later. But struggle we did.
We limped home from a butt whipping at the hands of the Terrapins. The Gamecocks, led by eventual Heisman winner George Rogers, were on their way to Death Valley as a multi-point favorite. Hardly anyone gave us a chance. I mean no one.
I do remember practice being very upbeat that week. South Carolina prep/practice always had a different feel to it, I’m sure it still does. Just a little bit of extra energy and focus.
But there were rumors floating around about Coach Ford’s job being in some serious jeopardy. Obviously before the days of internet and Twitter, so this kind of news took a different path. We all just kind of blew it off and went about our business. But it was out there.
So on Friday, November 21, we load up the YOUNG buses at good old Mauldin Hall and make the trek over to Anderson and the Holiday Inn. Young men heading for an appointment with Clemson football destiny.
Dinner, followed by a movie (don’t recall what we saw) then a return to the hotel for a team meeting. Afterwards, “snacks” in your room. And let me tell ya about those snacks back in the day.
A Wendy’s Double with everything, a bag of potato chips, piece of pound cake or a Beebo, a Snickers bar, an apple (how did that get in there?) a can of Coke and milk. Food coma after dinner and movie theater stuff. Oh to be a teenager again.
I never remember not sleeping well before a game when playing for Clemson. Probably because we were always very well prepared. Credit to Coach Ford and his staff, and to eating enough food that would choke a Burmese python.
So it’s off to the team breakfast at 0800. Anyone that’s done this knows that there is very little conversation or idle chatter. A lot of clinking of silverware and chairs being moved. Nervous tension is palpable. It permeates the entire room and is a feeling that one never forgets. After eating like I was going to the electric chair the night before, I can barely choke down a pancake during pregame meal. We just want to play. Please turn us loose.
Enter Danny Ford. Coach Ford was seated at the front of the room. It wasn’t like you just popped over and made small talk with him. So you minded your own business with your teammates and waited for him to speak. That was the understood routine.
So it goes like this. Coach Ford stands up “ Y’all listen up, I got something to tell y’all “ or something close to that statement. Due to the rumors floating around about his possible dismissal, most of us thought “oh S#it...he’s gone”. It was just the tone of his voice.
In many years of retrospect, I now think he knew exactly what he was doing.
So then, he reaches underneath the table and pulls out a larger than average cardboard box and proceeds to set it on the table. He puts his hand in the box...and pulls out a pair of Orange freakin Pants! “We’re gonna be wearing these today” he so eloquently stated. The room erupted in pent up energy and emotion that I’ve rarely witnessed at any level of athletics. Goose bumps just writing this story.
He continued “so this what we’re gonna do. When y’all get to the stadium, you need to take your pads (thigh, knee, etc.) out of your white pants, and put them in your orange pants. We’ll warm up in the white ones..no one will notice”.
Little did I know that this would be the first of many covert/Top Secret operations that I would be involved in through the course of my life and career (many not as important, LOL!).
The bus ride to the Valley is a blur. Traffic was backed up for miles out of Clemson, I do remember that. We hadn’t seen traffic like this for the other home games. This was indeed different.
We arrived at Memorial Stadium and went directly to work, as instructed by our Head Coach. After forty years, I really don’t recall warming up, the pregame speech or leaving the locker room. But I’ll never forget the bus ride around to the Hill and standing behind the Rock and peering out in the crowd, who have now seen their Tigers sporting their new Orange attire. Pandemonium has ensued.
We flew down the hill, and as they say “There’s no Wood, like Underwood!!”
Please enjoy the video that was provided by my friend @MBRO It gives the flavor of the game and the times we lived in. I hope that both give the glimpse of U.S. history and Clemson football history and helps us come to the realization that we, as both Americans and Clemson fans, have much more in common than we have differences.
Enjoy!! Go Tigers!! BillyD (Best IS the Standard) LATE add on...our teams in 1980, 81, 82 and 1983 were UNDEFEATED in those Orange Pants. I still think they’re MAGIC.
Last edited:
