Through the years, Clemson has had many heroes in the Clemson-Carolina Game.

Names like Willie Underwood, Rod Gardner, Charlie Whitehurst and Deshaun Watson, to name a few, come to mind. However, the hero of all heroes in the 121-year-old rivalry, regardless of which side, is Jerry Butler.

The former Clemson star made the play, that even in today’s world, would be an unbelievable play and a SportsCenter’s Top 10, if you will. No matter who you ask, Clemson or South Carolina fans, if you ask them what the greatest play in the rivalry’s history was, they will all have the same answer – “The Catch.”

The Catch happened at the end of the 1977 game, 49 seconds remaining to be exact. That is when Butler made a leaping-twisting catch on a pass from Steve Fuller that seemed unhuman to those watching at Williams-Brice Stadium or on television back home.

Fuller later said he was just trying to throw the football away. As for Butler, he did not even know what the call was. It’s crazy how things work out like that sometimes.

The greatest play in the history of one of college football’s oldest rivalries and it happened by chance.

“I am going to be honest with you, it was so loud in that stadium, I did not even know what play he called,” Butler admitted earlier this week on the Bleav in Clemson Podcast. “I am just being honest, and he usually repeated it. He said it the first time and then everybody started breaking out of the huddle. I am yelling, ‘I did not hear it. What’s the play? What’s the play?’

“I knew it was a pass play, but I did not know if it was a post or a corner or what. I am being honest.”

The Catch was set up after the Gamecocks rallied from 24 points down to take a 27-24 lead with a little less than two minutes to play. The South Carolina bench was going crazy. Their fans were hysterical. As Butler said the place was loud.

The Gamecocks were about to ruin Clemson’s best season in 18 years and likely prevent the Tigers from going to their first bowl game in 18 years.

But somehow, someway, Butler shut them all up, though he had no idea what the play call was.

“I got caught right in the middle, and I am sure it confused Carolina too because they were probably thinking, ‘We have not seen this route on film.’ I kept looking back to see what the quarterback was going to do,” Butler said. “Did I have the post or did I have the corner. I was right there and thought he must be throwing to the post, so I started to do a post and then I saw him throw the ball and I thought, it must be a corner…”

Prior to the game, Butler took his Flintstone vitamins. That’s right, his Flintstone vitamins, which he felt gave him extra energy when he needed it the most.

When he saw he was running the wrong route and Fuller threw the ball towards the corner, Butler, to this day, feels the Flintstone vitamins gave him that extra juice to climb the ladder and make the greatest play in the history of the Clemson-Carolina Game.

“I had to twist around, and the Barneys took off. The Dinos took off and the Bamm-Bamms,” Butler said. “They went to work.”

And the result was history.

The Catch signaled a new era in Clemson Football. It paved the path for the 1981 National Championship and success in the 1980s. And yes, it also helped Dabo Swinney’s Tigers believe they can achieve anything.

The Catch is the greatest play in the history of the Clemson-Carolina Rivalry and arguably the greatest catch in Clemson Football History.