South Carolina Football: History of the Palmetto Bowl Rivalry With Clemson
By Ryan Fleming
THE BIG THURSDAY YEARS
The Gamecock and Tiger faithful loathed one another with a fiery passion quite literally since Clemson first began playing football! In 1896, the inaugural season of Clemson’s gridiron squad, the two teams duked it out on a Thursday morning to coincide with the ongoing South Carolina state fair. For the next 64 years, the contests were always played in Columbia on a Thursday.
The Gamecocks took first blood in the series in a defensive slugfest, which turned out to be a 12-6 South Carolina victory. However, Clemson avenged the next four years and capped their streak with a 51-0 shutout in 1900. After a one-year intermission in 1901, the rivalry renewed with a vengeance.
1902 – The Banner
South Carolina’s mascot made its debut in 1902. There wasn’t a lot to be said about the Gamecocks 12-6 win which mirrored the ’96 contest. It wasn’t the game, but the trash talk that goes down in history. Gamecock students and fans erected a banner of a gamecock astride a tiger. It was depicted as steering the animal by its tail.
South Carolina Gamecocks
As could be predicted, Clemson fans didn’t take very kindly to the blatant disrespect. Brawls broke out throughout the week involving chairs, brass knuckles, and knives. Blood was almost shed the evening after the game when victorious South Carolina fans paraded their standard before the Clemson fans.
This was not very wise, especially since Clemson at the time was a military school. Fed up with their rival’s antics, Clemson cadets armed themselves with sabers and Springfield rifles fixed with bayonets. See, friends, football is serous business down south, none more so than in South Carolina.
With weapons in hand, the Clemson cadets advanced on the South Carolina campus to protect their honor. The Gamecock students and faculty, however, had other plans. They cobbled a barricade together out of tables and desks, armed themselves with baseball bats and six-shooters, and prepared to repulse the attackers.
Thankfully, hostilities were quelled before any serious injuries occurred. The banner was burned, and the series cancelled for the next seven years.
Post WWII – The Tickets
The year after World War 2’s conclusion saw another bizarre incident. A pair of reputed mafiosos from New York City printed up counterfeit tickets to sell to would-be patrons of the Palmetto Bowl. Predictctably, hundreds of fans were barred from attending when the fakes were presented at the gates. The anger between disgruntled fans was like gasoline, and a Clemson fan lit the proverbial match by strangling a live rooster on the field at halftime.
Enraged fans stormed the stadium gates and flooded onto the field ready to brawl. Thankfully, two prominent figures, U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes and future South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond, were in attendance. Afterward, when tensions were quelled, fans were permitted two stand on their respective teams’ sidelines for the second half. The Gamecocks were victorious, 26-14.
In 1959, the longstanding “Big Thursday” years came to conclusion. From then on, both schools would alternate the site of the game. The contests would also be played on Saturdays as is now customary. Clemson won the final Big Thursday game in a 27-0 shutout.