Known to many opposing teams as Death
Valley, Memorial Stadium, home of the Clemson Tigers is one of the top
stadiums in college football. By the mid to late 1930s Clemson
officials were pondering the idea of building a new stadium for the
football team. Football coach at the time, Jess Neely, was opposed to
a new stadium, but his departure in 1939,led to the building of a new
facility. In 1940, officials decided to build a new stadium on the
west side of Clemson’s campus. Land was cleared and a 20,000 seat
stadium was erected at a cost of $125,000. Named Memorial Stadium the
Clemson Tigers played their inaugural game at the stadium on September
19, 1942.
As the team’s success grew,
along with its popularity, expansion of the stadium became apparent.
By the start of the 1958 season 18,000 seats were added along the
sidelines. Two years later, an additional 5,600 seats were constructed
at the west end zone. Both of these additions increased the capacity
at Memorial Stadium to 53,000. With continuing success and growing fan
support upper decks were added in 1978 and 1983 bringing the capacity
to over 78,000. The main lower grandstand is in a horseshoe shape with
suites and luxury areas between the lower decks on the upper decks on
the north and south stands. The latest addition to Memorial Stadium
occurred before the 2006 season. This project, on the west side of the
stadium, includes club and general seating, an athletic heritage
museum and new locker rooms increasing the seating capacity of
Memorial Stadium to 80,301. The Clemson Tigers remain a team to be
reckoned with in the ACC. Throughout their history at Memorial
Stadium, the Tigers have won 70% of their home games. The stadium has
become known as Death Valley for several reasons. It sits in a valley,
the university cemetery once overlooked the field before the
construction of the upper decks and because opposing teams said they
got killed at Memorial Stadium. Clemson Coach Frank Howard began
calling the stadium Death Valley in the 1950s.
Memorial
Stadium
