By Heath Bradley.
By Heath Bradley
When No. 15 Clemson takes on Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon in Death Valley, the Tigers will be taking on a familiar rival. The two teams will be meeting on the gridiron for the 78th time, dating back to their first meeting in 1898, a game the Tigers won 2-0.
There is one very interesting bond that ties these two teams together. John Heisman was at one time head coach for both teams. Heisman was the head coach at Clemson from 1900-1903, and then left to become the head coach at Georgia Tech where he coached from 1904-1919.
In four season as the coach in Clemson, Heisman amassed a 19-3-2 record, giving him a .833 winning percentage as the head coach – the highest in Clemson history for a coach with a minimum of four seasons. Clemson also captured two conference championships during his time, winning the SIAA conference title in both 1900 and 1902.
Heisman also coached Clemson in their first postseason game, a matchup vs. Cumberland in Montgomery, Ala. The game was dubbed “the championship of the South,” and the two played to a tie (11-11) in what was the final game Heisman coached at Clemson.
Heisman took over at Georgia Tech in 1904, where he was named the first full-time coach in Georgia Tech history. He was paid $2,500 a year plus 30-percent of all net receipts from the football program. In 16 seasons as the head coach at Georgia Tech, Heisman accumulated a 102-29-7 record, which computes to a .779 winning percentage. Between the two schools, Heisman amassed a 121-32-9 record in 20 seasons.
One very interesting note is that Heisman coached both schools to their highest scoring game in school history. In 1901, Heisman led the Tigers to a 122-0 victory over Guilford College. Later on in 1916, as the coach at Georgia Tech, Heisman was victorious 222-0 over Cumberland in a game that is also the highest scoring game for one team in college football history.
Heisman was truly a difference maker as the head coach at both schools. As the coach at Clemson, he was 2-0 against Georgia Tech, outscoring the Jackets 117-5. As the coach of Jackets, Heisman led Georgia Tech to a 10-2-1 record versus the Tigers in 13 meetings.
October 28, 1903 may very well be one of the most interesting days in Clemson football history. Early in the afternoon, Heisman led Clemson to a 24-0 victory over NC State at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia. That evening Heisman married Evelyn Barksdale, becoming the only Clemson coach to win a game and get married on the same day.
It is very safe to see, this is an occurrence we will most likely not see again.
Most notably, Heisman is known for the trophy that is named after him. After a successful coaching career, Heisman became the Athletic Director of the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan. He is also well known for the changes he helped institute in college football. Heisman helped establish the forward pass, pulling guards, and how the game is played in quarters instead of just two halves as was the case when he started in the sport.
Heisman and the Downtown Athletic Club started to award a trophy to the nation’s best player east of the Mississippi in 1935. Following his death in 1936, the trophy was renamed the Heisman Trophy and is now given to the nation’s most outstanding collegiate football player.
When the Tigers take on Georgia Tech Saturday, Clemson will be playing for its own form of the “Heisman Trophy”, as the 2012 Tigers look to go 2-0 against teams formerly coached by John Heisman. Clemson opened the season with a 26-19 victory over Auburn.
Heisman was the head coach at Auburn from 1895-1899. By the way, Clemson has not beaten both Auburn and Georgia Tech in the same year since 1906.
During the last 106 years, the Tigers have had 20 instances prior to this season. In 17 of those years, they were 0-2 with 1969, 2010 and 2011 being the only seasons in which Clemson was able to at least beat one of the two when they played them both in the same season.