CLEMSON — Clemson football defensive coordinator Tom Allen’s biggest challenge this weekend may come pregame.
No. 6 Clemson will host No. 9 LSU on Aug. 30 (7:52 p.m. ET, ABC) at Memorial Stadium. Allen, whom Clemson hired away from Penn State, is tasked to slow down LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and his talented skill-position players. Allen also hopes to not embarrass himself running down The Hill, Clemson’s historic tradition, before the game starts.
“I did my practice run down The Hill,” he said Aug. 26. “Nobody noticed me. That’s a good thing.”
Allen’s task will grow taller as he has to hurry to the press box, where he will be calling plays, if Clemson starts on defense. He said a golf cart will be waiting for him when he completes the sprint down the steep hill to transport him.
“That might be the biggest challenge of the night, but just the whole thrill of the environment, I can’t wait,” Allen said.
What Dabo Swinney said about running down the Hill
Touching Howard’s Rock and running down the Hill are Clemson’s beloved game day traditions. Coined “the most exciting 25 seconds in college football” by Brent Musburger, Clemson’s band plays “Tiger Rag,” the school’s fight song, as players and coaches exit the locker room in the West end zone and take three buses to the east side of Memorial Stadium.
Led by Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, players wait for the boom of a cannon, then they each touch Howard’s Rock atop The Hill and run into the end zone through a parted sea of fans to go to the Tigers’ bench. Clemson has conducted a total of 442 runs entering the LSU game with its streak starting in the 1973 season.
Swinney, who sprints down The Hill and greets every player and coach, doesn’t offer much advice for players and coaches for the invigorating burst of energy. Most players advise not falling and taking one’s time on their first attempt.
“Don’t fall,” Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik said. “That’s probably the best piece of advice you can be given. If y’all ever run down that hill, it’s pretty steep.”
Has anyone from Clemson been hurting running down the hill?
No one wants to suffer the fate of Gene Pate, a reserve wide receiver and holder who broke two bones in his leg while running down The Hill before Clemson faced Virginia on Oct. 11, 2003.
Still other players are creative and take things to this extreme like jumping while trotting down TheHill and doing a celebration. The freedom of expression and the extra care to preserve their bodies is everything this thrilling entrance is about.
Clemson’s history of touching Howard’s Rock, running down the Hill
Clemson’s tradition of running down The Hill dates back to 1942 but without cannon, the fight song and pageantry. The Tigers’ locker room used to be at Fike Fieldhouse, just northeast of the stadium, and the team would take a short walk to a gate at the top of The Hill and jog down to warm up.
Running down The Hill didn’t become popular until 1966 when Howard’s Rock was introduced. The artifact is named after longtime Clemson coach Frank Howard, who was gifted the stone from Death Valley, California, in the early 1960s. He initially used it as a doorstop, but when he spoke of getting rid of it, Clemson booster Gene Willimon instead arranged for it to be placed at the top of The Hill.
The first game played with the rock present was Sept. 24, 1966, and Clemson rallied from 18 points behind to beat Virginia 40-35. The tradition of rubbing the rock before running down The Hill began nearly a year later on Sept. 23, 1967, as Clemson beat Wake Forest 23-6.
Howard told his players before running down The Hill: “If you’re going to give me 110%, you can rub that Rock. If you’re not, keep your filthy hands off it!”
Why did Clemson stop running down the hill?
The tradition went away from some years when Clemson built new locker rooms in the West end zone of the stadium. Coach Hootie Ingram decided the team would make its final pregame entrance out of the new locker room. This had a negative impact on the Tigers, who posted a 6-9 home record in 1970, 1971 and the first four games of 1972.
In the final game of the 1972 season, Clemson seniors decided to come down The Hill before facing South Carolina and narrowly winning 7-6 in a rainy game.
Clemson has made the entrance at every home game since except for the first game of 1973. Willimon’s decision helped create one of the best entrances and traditions in college football and establish Memorial Stadium as one of the toughest environments in the sport.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dc*****@*****tt.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football tradition of running down hill before games explained
