Frank Howard ( American football coach ) Frank J . Howard ( March 25 , 1909 – January 26 , 1996 ) was an American college football player and coach . He played college football for Alabama . After a career - ending injury , Howard joined the staff at Clemson College and became head coach in 1939 . Howard would coach the Clemson Tigers for 30 years , amassing the 15th most wins of any college football coach . He led Clemson to ten bowl games , an undefeated season in 1949 , and several Top - 20 rankings during his tenure as head coach . During his stay at Clemson , Howard also oversaw the athletic department , ticket sales , and was an assistant coach for the baseball team . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame , the South Carolina Sports Hall of Fame , and the Clemson Ring of Honor . The playing surface at Clemson ' s Memorial Stadium is named after him . Early life and playing career . Howard was born at Barlow Bend , Alabama ( " three wagon greasin ' s from Mobile " ) . He spent his early days on the farm playing mostly cow pasture baseball because there were not enough boys around the community for a football team . Howard said he left Barlow Bend walking barefoot on a barbed wire fence with a wildcat under each arm . He graduated from Murphy High School in Mobile where he played football , baseball and basketball and served as president of both the junior and senior classes . After finishing at Murphy , Howard entered the University of Alabama on an academic scholarship provided by the Birmingham News in the fall of 1927 , and the 185 - pounder played reserve guard his sophomore year . During his junior year he started every game but two , as an ankle injury sidelined him for the two games he missed . Again his senior year he was a regular . Howard was president of the freshman class at Alabama , was member of Blue Key and president of the " A " Club . Coaching career . Howard stepped onto the rolling hills of Clemson in 1931 fresh from the varsity football ranks at Alabama where he was a first stringer on Wallace Wade ' s 1930 team that drubbed Washington State 24 – 0 in the 1931 Rose Bowl Howard was known as the " Little Giant ' of the Tide ' s " Herd of Red Elephants . " The bald veteran came to his first coaching post under Jess Neely as a line tutor . " At least that was my title , " Howard recalls . " Actually , I also coached track , was ticket manager , recruited players and had charge of football equipment . In my spare time I cut grass , lined tennis courts and operated the canteen while the regular man was out to lunch : ' Howard was not only track coach from 1931 – 39 , but served as baseball coach in 1943 and his 12 – 3 record that year is still among the best percentages for a season in Clemson history . Howard held the line coaching post until Neely went to Rice University as head coach in 1940 . When the Clemson Athletic Council met to name a successor to Neely , Prof . Sam Rhodes , a council member , nominated Howard to be the new head coach . Howard , standing in the back of the room listening to the discussion , said ; " I second the nomination . " He got the job and never left . When he retired as head coach following the 1969 season , he was the nation ' s dean of coaches , having been a head football coach at a major institution longer than anyone else in the United States . When he retired , he was one of five active coaches with 150 or more victories . While line coach in 1939 , the Tigers ' record ( 8 – 1 ) was good enough to merit a trip to Dallas where Clemson met undefeated Boston College under Frank Leahy in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic . The 1948 mark of 10 – 0 carried Clemson to the 1949 Gator Bowl and two years later , a 9 – 0 – 1 record sent the Tigers to Miami ' s Orange Bowl ( 1950 ) . The Country Gentlemen were champions on their first three bowl ventures . Boston College fell 6 – 3 , Missouri was nipped in the Gator , 24 – 23 ( Howard said this is the best football game he ever witnessed ) , and Miami felt the Tiger claws , 15 – 14 . The total point spread in these three bowl wins was five points . The Gator Bowl beckoned the Tigers again in January 1952 , and by being conference champions in 1956 , Clemson played in the ' 57 Orange Bowl classic again . Miami downed Clemson 14 – 0 in the second Gator Bowl trip , and Colorado led Clemson 20 – 0 , then trailed 21 – 20 before finally defeating the Tigers 27 – 21 in the second Orange Bowl . The Tigers then played in the 1959 Sugar Bowl and held the # 1 - ranked LSU Tigers to a standstill before losing 7 – 0 , leading to an LSU National Championship . The invitation to play in the first Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston in December 1959 was the eighth bowl that Howard had been a part of either as a player , assistant coach or head coach . It was the seventh bowl trip for a Clemson team and the sixth in 12 years . Howard said that Clemson ' s 23 – 7 triumph over seventh ranked Texas Christian in the Bluebonnet Bowl was the best performance he had ever witnessed by a Clemson team . Clemson was the first school to play in two bowls in the same calendar year . The Tigers ' victory over TCU was their fourth success in seven post - season appearances . In all seven Clemson was the established underdog . Howard served on the coaching staff of the Blue - Gray game in Montgomery , Alabama in 1941 , 1952 , 1959 , and 1966 ; was on the East staff of the annual East - West game in San Francisco in December 1960 , and again in December 1962 ; and was named coach of the South squad in Miami ' s 196l and 1969 North - South game . He coached in the 1970 Hula Bowl , which was his ninth postseason all - star game . While still in active coaching Howard served as one of the rules committee members for A period of three years . A Single Wing expert for 22 seasons ( including nine as a line coach ) , Howard changed to the T - formation and its many variations in 1953 . Still another major change in the offense was installed in 1965 with the " I " and pro - type set . In his 13 seasons as head coach using the single wing , Clemson won 69 , lost 47 and tied 7 . In 12 years of " T " teams , the Tigers won 71 , lost 47 and tied 4 . While using the " I " in his last five years of coaching , Clemson recorded a 25 – 24 – 1 record . The year 1958 was a red letter one for Howard . During halftime of the Spring Game , Howard , his staff and secretaries were given an appreciation day . Howard received a 1958 car while other staff members were presented gifts . That summer Howard and three members of his staff were given a trip to Europe by the Department of Defense to conduct clinics for the Armed Forces in Germany . Then came the football season and the Tigers presented Howard an 8 – 2 season , which led to the Sugar Bowl invitation . One of these 1958 wins was the l00th of Howard ' s coaching career . That came against Jim Tatum of North Carolina , a coach Howard had never beaten . And , the Tigers had to come from behind three times to win , 26 – 21 . Howard was named Southern Conference Coach - of - the - Year in 1948 . In 1959 he was named Atlantic Coast Conference Coach - of - the - Year and was accorded the honor again in 1966 . His teams won ACC championships six times ( 1956 – 58 – 59 – 65 – 66 – 67 ) in the first 15 years of the conference . The Tigers were co - champions in 1965 . He guided Clemson to the Southern Conference crown in 1940 and 1948 . In his 30 years of coaching , Howard won 165 , lost 118 and tied 12 . That victory total is still among the top 40 coaches in the history of the game . In addition to heading up the Clemson football program Howard also had the job of directing Clemson ' s entire athletic program , and at the same time raising all the required scholarship funds . The athletic department was always on a sound financial footing under the guidance of Howard . Later life and family . Howard retired from coaching on December 10 , 1969 , after 39 years on the Clemson coaching staff , 30 of which were as head coach . He was also athletic director during this time and he kept this position until February 4 , 1971 , when he was named assistant to the vice president at the university , the post he held when the mandatory retirement age of 65 rolled around . An era at Clemson University ended June 30 , 1974 , when Frank Howard officially retired from the payroll . Another era ended January 26 , 1996 , when Howard died at the age of 86 and forever silenced a voice that had been synonymous with Clemson for nearly 65 years . He was the school ' s best known ambassador . Although he retired from all official duties in 1974 , he never quit coming to the office and he never stopped representing Clemson in a manner which continued to win friends for the place that was so dear to his heart . Shortly after his retirement the Clemson Board of Trustees named the playing surface of Memorial Stadium as " Frank Howard Field " in honor of his long service to the university . It was only the third time that a building or installation had been named by the trustees for a living person . Over the years , Howard has been inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and the Clemson Hall of Fame ( charter member in both ) , as well as the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame and the State of Alabama Hall of Fame . On December 5 , 1989 he joined an elite group in the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame . The ceremonies took place in the Waldorf - Astoria in New York City . He joined former Clemson mentors John Heisman and Jess Neely in the membership . Howard was also honored in December 1981 , when he was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Honor along with former Alabama coach Paul " Bear " Bryant , and Tommy McDonald , a former Oklahoma star . In the summer of 1990 he was inducted into the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame . For over three decades Howard was in great demand both as a banquet speaker and a clinic lecturer . Few states escaped his homespun oratory , which brought the house down on many occasions . After his retirement , Howard was active in other endeavors . He served as state chairman of the South Carolina Heart Fund drive , was roasted several times on behalf of the Multiple Sclerosis Society , and was active in selling the Kickoff Publication out of Knoxville , TN . Howard kept his hands in football as he served as the chief recruiter for the Gray squad in the annual Blue - Gray game in Montgomery , Alabama . The Blue squad recruiter was Don Faurot , who opposed Howard in the 1949 Gator Bowl . Howard has also been inducted into the Helms Foundation Hall of Fame in San Francisco , was an honorary member of the National Athletic Trainers Association , and is a member of the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics . Clemson University has also honored Howard once more with the presentation of the Clemson Medallion , which is the highest public honor bestowed by the university to a living person who exemplifies the dedication and foresight of its founders . He was a charter member of Clemson ' s Ring of Honor at Memorial Stadium in 1994 . After coming to Clemson , Howard married the former Anna Tribble of Anderson , South Carolina ( who died May 15 , 1996 ) on August 23 , 1933 . They were the parents of a daughter , Alice ( Mrs . Robert McClure of Gastonia , North Carolina ) and a son , Jimmy , of Pendleton . The Howards also had three grandchildren and one great - grandchild . Jimmy followed in his dad ' s footsteps as a football player , only at a different position . The son was regular fullback on the local high school ( Daniel ) team for three years and was a halfback - fullback for three years on the Clemson varsity . Jimmy gained over 1 , 400 yards his senior year in high school and scored over 100 points . He graduated from Clemson in June 1964 with honors , and earned his masters degree in horticulture from Clemson in 1967 . Today he is district entomologist with the Plant Pest Regulatory Service at Clemson .