Anna Orr

Not that anyone is going to see this or possibly even care, but I’m putting it out there anyway. My connection to @ClemsonUniv @ClemsonTigers and especially @ClemsonFB has never been tied to wins and losses. It’s much deeper than that. When I was 10, my dad took us to the Gator Bowl to see Clemson play Pitt. It was my first ever time to watch live football. Clemson was destroyed in that game. The final score was 34-3. But, I was hooked. A 10 year old girl being enamored by college football wasn’t common. And it wasn’t so much football that hooked me. It was that my dad sat beside me at the game and patiently answered all the questions I had about what was happening on the field. He willingly shared his passion for the sport and for his team. My dad grew up in a little community off Hwy 201 called Level Land, played every sport possible at Dixie High School in Due West, and bounced between Erskine College and Clemson College (not a University at the time) until he graduated from Clemson in 1963. We moved to the upstate when I was in 2nd grade, I consider the areas around Greenville, Easley, Anderson, and Clemson to be my collective hometown. Every trip back is like a homecoming for me. Because we lived in close proximity to Clemson, it made sense for my dad to invest yearly in Clemson football season tickets for our family. We were there to see Clemson’s historical 1981 National Championship season and the many mediocre seasons that followed. I never once heard my dad threaten to remove his support from Clemson due to a disappointing season. Sure, he was disappointed and had his complaints, but the thought of abandoning his Tigers never crossed his mind. For years after I moved away and had our own families, my dad continued to attend football games. He enrolled all his grandkids in the Tiger Cub Club soon after each was born. He was truly a diehard fan. He continued to attend football games long after I had moved away. In fact it was at a Clemson game that my dad’s legs went numb paralyzing him from the waist down. He was taken to the ER and within 48 hours was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Cancer. A tumor had grown into his spinal cord and had caused his paralysis. Three years later, he passed. Fifteen years after he died, I shot my first Clemson game from the sidelines (shout out to @MDavidHood and @SCRNPhilK for giving me the opportunity). Then in 2019, with tears in my eyes I shot my first frame of a Clemson playoff game in Arizona at the Fiesta Bowl. The moment was emotional because my dad was with me in so many ways. I continue to shoot games always in my dad’s memory and in gratitude for this orange path he set me on. My brother is a Clemson alum and two of my kids are Clemson alums. Although I applied to and was accepted to Clemson, I graduated from Erskine. I hope to get my masters in Fine Arts at Clemson one of these days. For me, this Clemson connection is deeper than a football score, more meaningful than the record at the end of the season, and not dependent on the person who is head coach. It’s a legacy. Maybe that’s the reason I don’t get angry and frustrated when a football season doesn’t go the way I hope it will. When I’m called a sunshine pumper or criticized for perpetual optimism about Clemson, I just remind myself those doing the criticizing just don’t know why my allegiance is so strong. Now, if they take the time to read this, they will know. Go Tigers until the day I die.

If I ever decided to get a Masters in psychology, no doubt my thesis would revolve around the mindset of the common college football fan. What a wild and interesting study that would be.