By Will Vandervort, Picture Clemson University.

By Will Vandervort

Today we continue our series of articles at theClemsonInisder.com that will take a look back at the best Clemson victories in the Clemson-South Carolina Rivalry. In the days leading up to the State’s Big Game, we will count down, in our opinion, the Tigers 10 best victories over the hated Gamecocks.

No. 7: Clemson 27, South Carolina 0 (October 22, 1959)

Frank Howard had enough.  Ever since Clemson first played South Carolina in 1896, Clemson’s players, coaches, students and fans had to get on a train, hop on a bus or drive down to Columbia every October during State Fair Week to play the state’s biggest game.

“We always had to sit in the sun, and we got tired of having to go down there every year,” Howard said in the book The Clemson Tigers From 1996 to Glory. “We weren’t getting half of the tickets, half of the program and concession sales, and it knocked one game out of our schedule because we could not play the Saturday before or the Saturday after the Thursday game.”

In fact, Big Thursday, was a big pain in Clemson’s side, despite the fact it was good for the state and the rivalry as a whole.

Big Thursday was played at mid-season and always during State Fair Week in Columbia. Originally a sideshow for the State Fair, it blossomed into the main attraction. The game was a state holiday as schools and state agencies closed their doors and took the day off on the fourth Thursday of every October.

“I came from Alabama, and I never saw anything there like the atmosphere before Big Thursday,” said Clemson hero Gary Barnes to The (Columbia) State Newspaper in 2004. “Even the bus ride was special. People would be standing along the streets and roads cheering.

“The rivalry is still there, but playing on Thursday like we did set the game apart and I don’t know if that is true today.”

Big Thursday was an event.  Families made a holiday weekend out of the game.

“I came from the Tennessee mountains and I thought, ‘Boy, this is peculiar.’” said Phil Prince, who blocked a punt that led directly to the Tigers’ game-winning touchdown in 1948.

Though it was peculiar, it was an event Clemson was tired of participating in, even though the Tigers posted a 33-21-3 record against South Carolina during that time. By 1958, Clemson made additions to Memorial Stadium to increase its size, and more plans were on the way to make it the same size as Columbia’s Carolina Stadium by 1960.

Plus as Howard said, “It was time to see some of those tourist dollars in Clemson, and give people the chance to see Clemson’s beautiful campus.”

Eventually, Clemson won out and it was decided the 1959 battle was going to be the last Big Thursday matchup in the history of the rivalry. Being the last Big Thursday Game was the only thing memorable about the 1959 game.

Well, that and Howard’s famous goodbye kiss to Big Thursday above Carolina Stadium moments afterwards.

As for the game itself, the Tigers got two touchdown passes from Harvey White—one to Bill Mathis and one to Gary Barnes— a Mathis scoring run from four-yards out and a one-yard run by George Usry in the 27-0 victory. White finished the game with 162 passing yards.

It was a fitting end to what has become known as “The Death of Big Thursday.”