re: Clemson team takes a bus from locker room around the stadium

How the tradition started:

-From 1940-1969 the field house/locker rooms used to be on the hill side of the stadium in a building down the street. They would enter the stadium by running down the hill. Really wasn’t considered a big deal.

-In the mid 60s an alumn gifted Frank Howard a rock from Death Valley. It was used as a door stop until Howard directed someone to get it out of his office. So an athletic department employee put it on a pedestal at the top of the hill to rub as good luck.

-In 1970 during an expansion they built new locker rooms on the opposite end of the field of the hill. Obviously there was no reason to run down the hill so that entrance was discontinued.

-In 1972 after two or three losing seasons the coach at the time thought the team needed some inspiration against their rival South Carolina in the last game of the season. So they broke out the buses, rubbed the rock and ran down the hill to enter the game.They won that game in the last minute so the tradition of riding the buses to hill has continued since.

-So they’ve been running down the hill 85 years minus the three seasons after the new locker rooms. It’s origins are not as contrived as what people assume. Like, “Let’s build this hill so our players can run down it. We’ll bus them over there” LOL

See, it’s much more interesting to me now that I know the history. Seems like a lot of risk to players, though.