R.T.V. Bowman

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Randolph T. V. Bowman, born August 1, 1875, was one of Clemson's first assistant football coaches and the very first baseball coach. He was also an instructor in forge and foundry from February 1895 to April 1899. It was Bowman who cleared the former sedge field that now bears his name of much of the rocks and other detritus in preparation for its use as an athletics ground. Bowman holds the Clemson distinction of having coached the very first intercollegiate match played at Clemson, a baseball game with Furman on April 24, 1896, which, unfortunately, the Tigers lost, 13-20.

Bowman had apparently suffered from ill-health or a compromised constitution from his early years, a tribute by President Hartzog noting that "Though physically unable to take any considerable part in athletics, he helped you by his counsel and presence." Bowman passed away on April 14, 1899 at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bowman had just recently finished carving the commemorative plaques for Professor H. A. Strode and Professor W. L. McGee, now in Tillman Auditorium, before his death. (Hartzog, Henry Simms, "President Hartzog's Tribute", The Chronicle, May 1899, Volume II, Number 8, page 346.) Bowman Field is named in his honor.

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