re: Clemson and LSU Bands Who stole from whom?

They call their field Death Valley, too. Didn't Coach Mac have something to do with that, too?

I have the proof. I was in the GBFT from '62 - '67 when Bill Swor came to LSU and hired John Edmonds as the arranger. It was Edmonds and Swor who developed the pre-game show, rearranged ALL the fight songs, bought the rights and introduced "Hey Fighting Tigers" (a tune from a Broadway show) and subsequently wrote some of the finest arrangements for marching band that have ever been heard. The next time the chills run down your spine when you hear the notes of "Hold That Tiger" that starts the pre-game show, that's John Edmonds! John was not a Clemson knock-off; he hardly needed to copy anything from anybody. You'll never see John's name anywhere, at least I haven't, but he is a true hero for LSU. And perhaps I should mention that in the 60's we never heard of Clemson, or UGA for that matter. On the other hand, LSU was winning football games and so was the band. The band was selected the best college band in the nation and performed at the East=West Shrine game in San Francisco. A few years later it was voted the best in the nation by other band directors, and has consistently been regardedas the all collegebest in the SEC. Copy from Clemson? I don't think so. If you don't believe me, ask Charlie Roberts.

GeauxBob
Tiger Stadium was never known as Deaf Valley, and if you take the time to look it up you will find 1000's of articles in newspapers about Death Valley and that is before 1970.

You will not find one, repeat one article calling Tiger Stadium Deaf Valley before 1986.

When the PMAC picked up the nickname Deaf Dome around 1978-79 many started to mix up the names, until by 1990 you even have sport writers mixing the two stadiums names.

Now Politz's take on Death Valley was deaf valley.

The question always comes up about Clemson and LSU and the name Death Valley, Clemson picked up the name form a sport writers article on a game around 1947.

But that is not the first stadium with the nickname Death Valley, that belongs to an old north eastern football power, that had the nickname before 1920.

Great LSU music history lesson here. Thanks!
That the great thing about LSU Football is the variety of great music and cheers that originate with the GBFTL. The tradition for the GBFTL rivals that of the football team.
My wife and I were laughing the other night watching the FSU game. If we were FSU fans we would probably jump off the top of the stadium by the end of the game because of that damn war chant. That is all those idiots have and do. OVER and OVER and OVER. The same goes for UT and and rocky top. USC tojans arent much better with that cartoonish fight song they have. Thank goodness for the GBFTL!!!

lsu stolt it

quote:

---

I don't think there is much question that LSU played it first. Clemson didn't begin playing Tiger Rag until 1942.
www.clemson.edu/tigerband/History_1940s.htm

LSU's band had played Tiger Rag well prior to that, probably by the 1920s at least. I recall seeing a photograph of an early LSU Gumbo yearbook from the 1930s that mentions the band playing Tiger Rag.

---

BOOM

quote:

---

I have the proof. I was in the GBFT from '62 - '67 when Bill Swor came to LSU and hired John Edmonds as the arranger. It was Edmonds and Swor who developed the pre-game show, rearranged ALL the fight songs, bought the rights and introduced "Hey Fighting Tigers" (a tune from a Broadway show) and subsequently wrote some of the finest arrangements for marching band that have ever been heard. The next time the chills run down your spine when you hear the notes of "Hold That Tiger" that starts the pre-game show, that's John Edmonds! John was not a Clemson knock-off; he hardly needed to copy anything from anybody. You'll never see John's name anywhere, at least I haven't, but he is a true hero for LSU. And perhaps I should mention that in the 60's we never heard of Clemson, or UGA for that matter. On the other hand, LSU was winning football games and so was the band. The band was selected the best college band in the nation and performed at the East=West Shrine game in San Francisco. A few years later it was voted the best in the nation by other band directors, and has consistently been regardedas the all collegebest in the SEC. Copy from Clemson? I don't think so. If you don't believe me, ask Charlie Roberts.

---

BOOM #3

quote:

---

Tiger Stadium was never known as Deaf Valley

---

yes it was

quote:

---

Incorrect. Mike the Tiger is named for Mike Chambers.

---

You are correct. Mike Donahue was the Auburn coach 100 year ago, not the trainer for whom Mike was named. I just f*cked post up good, didn't I? Mike Chambers was an Illinois alum who played with the legendary Red Grange and joined Bernie Moore's staff in 1935.

quote:

---

was under the impression Princeton had used TIger Rag since the 20's. Anybody able to shed light on that?

---

A number of sports teams, including the Detroit Tigers, have used various arrangements of Tiger Rag over the years. I am not sure that anyone knows who actually used it in conjunction with a sports team first. But we do know that LSU used it for some period of time before Clemson first used it.

On the subject of which stadium was first called Death Valley (at least as between LSU and Clemson), in all likelihood it was Clemson. But also in all likelihood the use of Death Valley for LSU was unrelated to Clemson's use. Clemson's use of Death Valley didn't become widely used until the 1950s, even though the Presbyterian College coach called it that in 1947. It wouldn't surprise me if the first use to describe Tiger Stadium was without any knowledge of or exposure to Clemson's use, since it is likely the widespread use of the moniker for both stadiums came at about the same time.

It is a myth/misinformation that got started somehow LSU wasn't called Death Valley, but rather Deaf Valley, before the 1980s. I was a freshman at LSU in 1972. I heard it called Death Valley, never Deaf Valley, while I was a student. In fact LSU has been called Death Valley for as long as I can remember, and I have been following LSU since the late 1950s. I doubt anyone who attended LSU during that time was simply mishearing. That said, there was the Deaf Valley Shell Station on the corner of Perkins and College during that era (the early 70s).

If someone were to search the archives of the Advocate, States Item, and the Times Picayune, it shouldn't be that hard to document that the use of Death Valley well predates the 1980s.