12 • Spurs & Feathers
December 3, 2014
Tigerburn kicked off rivalry week by kyle heck Reporter As “Sandstorm” blared over the loudspeakers on Monday, Nov. 24 hundreds of fans eagerly waited for the moment when the nearly 30-foot tall tiger would burst into flames. When the flames started to consume the wooden structure those in attendance screamed and yelled and a “U-SC” chant broke out. It was just another edition of “Tigerburn,” a tradition that has been around since 1902 and is the unofficial start to the ClemsonSouth Carolina rivalry week. The 30-foot-long and 25-foot-tall tiger was built by South Carolina undergraduate students in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. According to mechanical engineering student Andrew Mohs, who led the design team, the tiger took two weeks to build. The team usually has more time to design it, but they ran into supply problems that cut into their preparation time. The finished product went up Monday and a few hours later to the delight of Gamecock fans everywhere it was reduced to a smoldering ruin. “Clemson can’t really talk much; they just have a little funeral,” Mohs said. “We actually burn a 30-foot tiger. I’m kind of a pyro (maniac) at heart, so it’s awesome and exhilarating.” The design team built the tiger about as big as they could get it, as they aren’t allowed to make it higher than 30 feet. However, there was a never-before-seen edition this year. Mohs and his peers included Howard’s Rock, the famous icon at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium. “It’s awesome that we’re getting more complicated and building that rivalry even more,” Mohs said. There was an hour long celebration leading up to the tiger being burned that included free food and giveaways, live music and dancing, trivia and Cocky and the USC cheerleaders pumping the crowd up. Tigerburn was something that has been in the works since August and it was nice to see it all come together and have the rain hold off long enough to not be a factor. “This is just another one of those traditions that have been around for a long time,” said Allison Toney, a leadership coach in the USC Leadership and Service Center who was in charge of putting Tigerburn together. “So it’s nice to be able to do something every year that celebrates the tradition and gets everyone excited.”
Photos by Allen Sharpe