More on Clemson Memorial Stadium aka "Death Valley" where the Tigers Play.
First, just to further clarify some confusion regarding the moniker "Death Valley" as it is used to refer to Clemson Memorial Stadium versus LSU Tiger Stadium.
The late Paul Manasseh, who the LSU Tiger stadium press box is named for, insisted that Tiger stadium was to be called Deaf Valley, because the crowd noise made it impossible to hear. The original nickname of "Deaf Valley" was applied to the stadium (distinguishing it from Clemson University's Memorial Stadium), but over the years was misunderstood for "Death Valley." This probably resulted from the misunderstood southern accent of the LSU supporters or maybe LSU fans just thought it was cooler to copy Clemson and call their stadium Death Valley also. The term “Deaf Valley” as a moniker for LSU’s Tiger Stadium postdates the use of the term “Death Valley” for Clemson Memorial Stadium.
Regarding Clemson, the use of the term "Death Valley" comes from a statement made by the late Lonnie McMillian, the former football head coach at Presbyterian College. He told sports writers in 1948 that he had "to take his team up to Clemson and play in Death Valley" where they rarely scored or gained a victory. The nickname stuck to an extent, but when Clemson Head Coach Frank Howard started calling it that in the 1950s, the nickname really caught on. In addition, there are two other facts that add to the mystique of “Death Valley”. First, a cemetery sits on a hill (appropriately called “Cemetery Hill”) that once overlooked the field before the upper decks were constructed. This cemetery is the burial place for many Clemson dignitaries including the late great Frank Howard and Clemson’s first football coach Walter Riggs. Second, the field is physically situated in a valley. A significant portion of the lower deck is below road level and this is the reason why the entrance of the Clemson football team involves “running down the hill”.
Oddly, in the year 1896 when the Clemson Tigers first started playing football the LSU mascot was the "Pelican". That's right, the LSU Pelicans. I find it troubling that a lot of LSU fans want to imply that Clemson stole their "Tiger" mascot and their "Death Valley" moniker.
In the following video you can see cars driving above "The Hill". You can ignore the message. I just posted this to show how "Death Valley" really does sit in a valley. This recent video shows the grass on the hill has already gone dormant for the winter but during most of football season the grass is green. People sitting on the hill are issued general admission tickets labeled for section "GG" for "Green Grass".
Ignore the message but watch the cars driving above the valley
This is an interesting top the list. Really the top 5 toughest?
The Top 10 Toughest Places to Play in College Football
Sheesh, even Clemson Memorial stadium "could" be the real "Deaf Valley" as well as the original "Death Valley".
Oddly, Clemson's "loudness" record is higher than LSU in this video
And, just for kicks, I'll add a couple of links here to further put the "death" into Clemson's "Death Valley" stadium.
Clemson's Football graveyard
As indicated previously, Clemson does in fact have a true cemetery next to Clemson Memorial Stadium. Clemson's Woodland Cemetery or "Cemetery Hill", as it is referred to, sits above the south side of the stadium overlooking the valley below. You can easily throw a rock from the cemetery and hit the stadium below.
It would be very cool for Clemson to host Nebraska in "Death Valley". I wouldn't be surprised to see us set another attendance record if y'all were in town.
