Glossary Chapman, Tommy Atlanta resident Thomas F. Chapman, retired chairman and CEO of Equifax, Inc., gave Clemson University $2 million to form a leadership program in the College of Business & Behavioral Science and to expand and enhance Doug Kingsmore Stadium. One-million dollars of the gift will support the Thomas F. Chapman Leadership Scholars Program and $1 million was used to build the Thomas F. Chapman Grandstands, adding 1,000 seats to Clemson’s baseball stadium. As a student-athlete, Chapman received an IPTAY scholarship that funded his Clemson education. “I believe in paying back what is given to you,” he said. “My athletic scholarship provided me an outstanding college experience and a future career in professional baseball upon graduation, as well as a quality education.” Chapman graduated from Clemson with an economics degree in 1965. While at Clemson, he was a two-time All-ACC pitcher, including a first-team selection in 1965 when he led the ACC in strikeouts (100). In his three years in a Tiger uniform, he had a combined 12-7 record and 3.12 ERA. Upon graduation, he became the first Tiger to be selected in the Major League draft when he was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1965. He played professional baseball until April of 1968, when he was called to active military service. Additional seating at Doug Kingsmore Stadium was the top need for students and season ticketholders. The Thomas F. Chapman Grandstands, completed prior to the 2010 season, has added 500 seats for students. An additional 500 grandstand seats are available for season ticketholders.
Clemson played its home games on Bowman Field, named after their first baseball coach (R.T.V. Bowman (pictured right)), in front of Tillman Hall during its first 19 seasons through 1915. Doc Ezell pitched Clemson’s first no-hitter on Bowman Field in a 5-0 win over Erskine on April 15, 1913.
Coaching Consistency One element that a Clemson baseball player can depend on when he comes to Tigertown is consistency in coaching and winning. Clemson has had just two head coaches since the 1958 season. Bill Wilhelm guided the Tigers for 36 years (1958-93) and Jack Leggett, who had been the head coach at Western Carolina and an assistant under Wilhelm for the two years prior to his retirement, has been at Clemson as head coach for the past 17 years. That is 53 consecutive non-losing seasons for the Tiger program. A look to the NCAA recordbook shows that Wilhelm is tied for 16th in victories in NCAA Division I history with 1,161. Gene Stephenson, who is still active as the head coach at Wichita State, has 1,724 wins in his 33 years, all with the Shockers.
Conference Clemson is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tigers were charter members of the league, which started in the 1953-54 academic year. Prior to that year, Clemson was in the Southern Conference from 1921-53. Clemson was in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association before then and has been a charter member of every conference with which it has been affiliated. Clemson has won the ACC regular-season title 21 times in 57 previous years, more than any other school. The Tigers have also won nine tourney titles, more than any other school, and been to the finals 21 times, also a league-high. Overall, Clemson has been the declared ACC Champion 14 times, again more than any other school. Competition in the ACC took a step up in 2005, when Miami (FL) and Virginia Tech were added to the conference. Then in 2006, Boston College joined the league as the 12th member. ACC members still play 30 conference games, meaning each team will not play one other team during the regular season. The Tigers will not face Miami in 2011.
Ezell, Doc Doc Ezell threw the first no-hitter in Clemson history when he no-hit Erskine on April 15, 1913. The game was played on Bowman Field, the field in front of Tillman Hall. He faced just 28 batters and struck out 12. Not only did he throw a no-hitter, he also hit a home run in the seventh inning. He is the only Tiger to throw a no-hitter and hit a home run in the same game. One of the odd facts in Tiger history involves Erskine. Clemson’s first no-hitter was thrown against the Flying Fleet and the first nohitter against Clemson was thrown by Erskine.
Guyon, Joe Joe Guyon was a Native American who attended Carlisle Indian School (1912,13) and was a teammate of the great Jim Thorpe. Guyon also played two seasons on the gridiron under Head Coach John Heisman at Georgia Tech and played on the 1917 National Championship team. Guyon had the distinction of playing both professional football and baseball, and he was also named to the National Football Foun-
Score 18-9 26-0 15-4 24-2 10-3
The man whose name is most recognized with college football holds a unique distinction at Clemson. Many people know that he was the head football coach for four seasons at Clemson, posting a 19-3-1 (.848) record, still the best winning percentage in Tiger history. But he also served as the head baseball coach at Clemson between the 1901-03 seasons. Heisman, who was Clemson’s second baseball coach, had a record of 28-6-1 (.814). It still holds today as the best winning percentage in Tiger history. Thus, he has the winningpercentage record in both baseball and football at Clemson. In late 1903, Georgia Tech, who had suffered a 73-0 loss to Heisman’s gridders that same season, offered the young coach $2,250 plus 30 percent of the net gate to coach football. Unfortunately for Clemson, he accepted.
Frank Howard is synonymous with Clemson football. But most people do not know that Howard was Clemson’s baseball coach in 1943 and did quite well. He led the Tigers to a 12-3 record. The 80.0 winning percentage is one of the highest by any coach in Clemson baseball history. The native of Barlow Bend, AL won 165 football games in 30 seasons at Clemson and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. He served Clemson for 65 years, including as the track coach from 1931-39 and athletic director from 1940-71, all the while being the school’s best-known ambassador. Howard died at the age of 86 on January 26, 1996. His ability to “bring the house down” when he spoke with his homespun oratory will forever be remembered by players, coaches, sportswriters, and fans alike.
One of the most difficult team accomplishments in baseball is to score at least one run in every inning. It has happened just five times in Tiger history. Only once was Clemson the visiting team so that it scored in nine different innings. The first time it happened was at Clemson on May 16, 1950, when the Tigers beat South Carolina 18-9 in a nine-inning game. Clemson actually scored five runs in the second, one in the fourth, and exactly two in the other six innings. The Tigers accomplished the feat in a 26-0 win over South Carolina in 1960 at Clemson and in a 15-4 victory over Buffalo in 1969 at Clemson. Both of those games were seven-inning contests. The only time Clemson accomplished the feat over nine innings in a road game took place on March 19, 1974 in a 24-2 win at Florida. That was an odd linescore, as Clemson scored seven runs in the fifth inning, 10 runs in the seventh inning, and exactly one run in the other seven innings. Clemson last accomplished the feat at Duke on April 9, 1988 in a 10-3 win in seven innings.
W-L W W W W W
Heisman, John
Howard, Frank
Every Inning
Scoring in Every Inning Date Opponent Inn. 5-15-50 South Carolina 9 4-25-60 South Carolina 7 3-29-69 Buffalo 7 3-19-74 at Florida 9 4-9-88 at Duke 7 Note: Home games in bold.
dation Hall of Fame and the NFL Hall of Fame. An injury in baseball ended his playing career. From 1928-31, Guyon was Clemson’s head baseball coach. He had a 42-36-3 (.537) record in four seasons in Tigertown.
IPTAY
John Heisman holds the Tiger record for best winning percentage (.814). His three baseball teams 2011 (1901-03) combinedClemsonTigers.com for a 28-6-1 record. Tiger Baseball
IPTAY stands for “I Pay Ten a Year,” the original name with a meaning deriving from the minimum contribution of its donors when the organization began in 1934. It is the Clemson athletic department’s scholarship fundraising organization. Nearly 15,000 donors contributed close to $19 million during the 2010 IPTAY year, providing scholarship support and helping to fund capital projects such as the Thomas F. Chapman Grandstands addition to Doug Kingsmore Stadium. In the 1990s, IPTAY added two clubs to create an influx of youth into the organization. The Tiger Cub Club and Collegiate Club allow young and college-age Tigers to be a part of IPTAY. These two clubs are the largest of their kind in the country. Call (864) 656-2115 to reach the IPTAY office, located at the northwest corner of Memorial Stadium.
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