re: Deaf Valley...when did it change to Death Valley?

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It was called Deaf Valley when I was a student back in the 70s.

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I was at pretty much every LSU home football game in the 1970's and do not remember this.

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Former LSU Sports Information Director Bud Johnson said LSU Tiger Stadium wasn't known as Death Valley until 1959 when the Tigers beat Clemson in the Sugar Bowl, but the name stuck ever since.

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We beat Clemson in 59 in NOLA in the Sugar Bowl. What does that have to do with Tiger Stadium?

ETA Tiger win 7-0. Billy Cannon HB pass to TE Mickey Manghum.
Chinese Bandits Chop Chop.

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We beat Clemson in 59 in NOLA in the Sugar Bowl. What does that have to do with Tiger Stadium?

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Clemson started calling their stadium Death Valley in the 40's. LSU students highjacked the nickname after they beat Clemson (at Tulane stadium) in '59.

And according to one of my paternal uncles, lots of students called Tiger Stadum 'deaf valley' in the 40's and 50's because apparently, it was a fricking drunken lunatic asylum by the time the sun set.

I dunno, lots of stories and all of the lore predates marketing and merch. I started attending LSU games in the 70's and I only remember Death Valley. I also vaguely remember grabbing funyons and a can of coke at Deaf Valley Shell.

2023 Advocate Article about Deaf Valley

I remember as a teenager Tiger Stadium still being referred to as Deaf Valley.

Also remember some Pete Finney columns in the NOLA papers saying Deaf Valley.

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The nickname originated at Clemson in the 1940s, while LSU's Tiger Stadium adopted the name later, around the 1950s-60s. If LSU wins this game, then BK can call them Death Valley Jr., however, and I hate to say it, Tiger Stadium is actually Death Valley Jr.

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Not an official nickname but there were early references. One even to State Field prior to 1910. I’ll try to go back and find but there were Tiger Stadium ‘Death Valley’ references dating back to the 1930s. Prior to facing Clemson in 2020, someone actually found and pulled Advocate microfiche articles.

Maybe someone here remembers….

I used to talk to Bud Johnson all the time. As I told Bud around 2001, I have seen articles calling Tiger Stadium Death Valley even in the late 1950's before we played Clemson.

Word has Grantland Rice calling it Death Valley in the mid to late 1930's which I cannot prove.

There is a Clemson fan and he and I have done the most research on the subject.

Tiger stadium was never called Deaf Valley until after the Pete Maravich assembly center was call Deaf Dome around 1979.

The gas station at the LSU gates was called Deaf Valley before 1963, this is a play on words, which like Death Valley had a gas station called Deaf Valley in the 1940's.

The gas station also gives the hint Tiger Staduim was called Death Valley before 1959.

There was even a player on the LSU team from the early 1970's that thought the sign said Deaf Valley in Tiger Stadium, I had to show him pictures from 1970 it said Death Valley.

Bud was getting old by 2001 and he started working in Sport information at LSU before the 1958 season. His book on the 1958 team is nice but has a mistake in it, that being Istrouma football team started working out at Alvin Roy place in 1947. My father was on the 47-49 Istrouma football teams. I got this confirmed by an Army Air crop vet who worked out at Alvin Roy's place between 47-49 with the Istrouma team. I told Bud about the link to Grantland Rice around 2001 on Death Valley and that I could not prove it.


It will take 1000's of hours of research to go through the newspapers from 1934-1939 to find that article, by Grantland Rice. I had no problems finding Grantland Rice's articles on the 1908 LSU team.

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It was called Deaf Valley when I was a student back in the 70s.

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Absolutely this was the case.

There was even a banner or some sort of sign on the press box that said Deaf Valley. I think it was Welcome to Deaf Valley.

Very few people seem to recall that.

wallowinit Really?

I just posted the sign said Death Valley and you can find the pictures online.

1970 the sign said Death Valley.

I have all the old football Media press guides, the first one that says Death Valley is from 1962 if i remember correct and the 1970's game days have pictures of the sign, it said Death Valley


To give you a hint on how long I been researching this subject, I told Jimmy Hyams in 1982 in the future LSU fans would mix up Death Valley and Deaf Dome. I used to research LSU football and Basketball in the early 1980's at LSU weekly. I did the research on Assist, Block shots and steals and had Jimmy put it in the LSU basketball Media guide. Jimmy had me look for Rudy's missing 2 points, which I found, it was a math error.

Don't know why you got all the downvotes, but you're right.

When I lived in BR as a kid it was definitely called DEAF Valley.

It was referred to as Deaf Valley in the sixties when I was a student.