CLEMSON — Saturday was Military Appreciation Day at Clemson. It’s a tradition at Clemson that began way before most schools—not named Army, Navy and Air Force—even thought about honoring the military with a special day.
Clemson, which was all-male Military College from 1893-1955, started celebrating Military Appreciation Day in 1994, when it had a special flyover for the Georgia Tech game on November 12 of that year, just one day after Veterans Day. The flyover of four F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base during pregame was the highlight of the celebration.
Since then, Clemson has celebrated its military history every year during games held in November or when the Tigers play host to a school with its own military heritage. The Tigers don their purple uniforms for the Military Appreciation Day game in reverence to the Purple Heart, the oldest United States military decoration.
“It is special,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said following the Tigers’ 42-21 win over Georgia Tech Saturday at Memorial Stadium. “You have the Scroll of Honor above the hill there. This was a military school for a long time. It is not a check the box thing here at Clemson. There is a deep heritage here and it means a lot.”
Beginning with the first graduating class of 1896, more than 10,000 Clemson men and women have served in the armed forces. Throughout the decades, Clemson’s military heritage has remained, even as the university transitioned to a coeducational civilian institution in 1955.
“It was just a great day, and it is always fun to be a part of it,” Swinney said. “I told the players we dress up in the camo and kind of wear the colors to show our appreciation of all the service men and women and we wear purple in honor of them as well.
“As I told the players, ‘Y’all show your appreciation by how you play. Let’s put on a show for them.’”
The Tigers (6-4, 3-4 ACC) did that by crushing Georgia Tech. It marked Clemson’s 16th straight victory on Military Appreciation Day, improving its overall record to 26-4 on this special day.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik threw four touchdown passes, while the running game—led by Phil Mafah and Will Shipley—totaled 260 yards. The defense was even more impressive as they intercepted Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King four times and held the Yellow Jackets to 254 yards.
Shelton Lewis returned one of the picks 46 yards for a touchdown.
“They are here for a show, let’s put one on,” Swinney said. “Let’s don’t just be about the halftime show. Let’s don’t let it be about the flyover or (Blackmon) Huckabee—I didn’t tell them this—signing the National Anthem, right?’ It is about how you play on the field.
“Hopefully, we can play in a way today that somebody far away, somebody in the middle of the night watching the Tigers play, that is in the Military, maybe they had a little bit of joy and a little bit of relief from whatever they are dealing with, like real life issues and challenges. So, hopefully, we were able to do that today.”
As always, Clemson did.
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