1899

1899 in Clemson History

Notable Alumni

• Alonzo Sheck Shealy - only alumnus to become head football coach

Events that occurred in 1899

• April 14: Assistant football coach and instructor in forge and foundry, R. T. V. Bowman dies. Bowman Field is named for him. Bowman was responsible for the removal of all the rocks and natural detritus from the field that bears his name, to prepare it for use as an athletic ground.
• May 10: Robert Lee Atkinson, future Clemson Cadet, and victim of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, is born at Lowryville, South Carolina this date.
• August 25: J. F. C. DuPre, professor of Horticulture, July 1891-August 1899, dies. He was born August 1, 1831.
• October 7: Clemson opens season with road game against Georgia, the third meeting with the school, but the Tigers are defeated, 0-11.
• October 14: The Tigers defeat Davidson in the first meeting with that school, 10-0, in a match played in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
• October 28: Clemson plays Auburn for the first time, but loses the road game, 0-34. The school had just just changed its name from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College to Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
• November 9: In the fourth game of a six-game season, Clemson administers second dose of shut-out to poor South Carolina team in two years, winning in Columbia, 34-0. The Tigers have a 4-2 season record, USC a 2-3 final. Clemson leads the series, 3-1
• November 10: The football association stands on a very weak financial basis. The organization cannot even afford to hire a coach. Walter Merritt Riggs agrees to coach the Tigers for free, and thus, becomes the first Tiger coach to return to the position.
• November 18: Clemson takes on North Carolina State for the first time in a game played at Rock Hill, South Carolina. Tigers win, 24-0.
• November 22: Keller's Store is founded on the corner where the SBS bookstore is now located in downtown Clemson, by the Hon. Isaac Leonard Keller, Class of 1896, when he takes title to a one-story woodframe building on this date. His ability to size up cadets for their custom-fitted uniforms earns him the name "Judge" Keller. (Source: Original business license, still displayed in the store, interviews with Leonard Keller.)
• November 30: In the second meeting with Georgia Tech, Clemson is again victorious, 41-5, in a game played in Greenville, South Carolina. The Tigers finish season, 4-2, while Tech suffers 0-5 outcome.
• December 8: After John Heisman accepts the coaching position for the 1900 football season, there is doubt about the salary the Clemson Athletic Association can afford, and a document dated December 8 is circulated soliciting contributions from faculty and staff to guarantee him something. Pledges of $415.11 are secured.
• December: Stand-out four-year Clemson football player and 1898 team captain Alonzo Sheck Shealy graduates. After two years as a player at Iowa State, he will be hired as John Heisman's replacement in 1904, the only Clemson grad ever to serve as head football coach.

1898

The 1890's

1900