O ' Rourke – McFadden Trophy The O ' Rourke – McFadden Trophy was created in 2008 by the Boston College Gridiron Club in order to honor the tradition at Clemson and Boston College to honor the legacy of Charlie O ' Rourke and Banks McFadden , who played during the leather helmet era . The club plans to make this an annual presentation . Trophy history . The Boston College Gridiron Club initiated the trophy to honor the relationship between Clemson and Boston College that goes back almost 70 years . The trophy was started to recognize the efforts of Tiger fans welcoming Boston College into the ACC . The trophy features two leather helmet replicas of those used by Charlie O ’ Rourke of Boston College and Banks McFadden of Clemson , when they competed against each other in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas , Texas . In addition to the trophy presentation , the Boston College Gridiron Club presents a replica leather helmet to the MVP of the winning school . The helmet will reflect the colors of the winning team . Namesakes . Charlie O ’ Rourke led Boston College from the quarterback position to a 26 - 3 - 2 record in his three years as the quarterback of the Eagles between 1938 - 40 . One of those three losses was to McFadden and Clemson in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic . O ' Rourke later went on to play quarterback and defensive back for the Chicago Bears , Los Angeles Dons , and Baltimore Colts . After two years as an NFL coach , he coached at Massachusetts from 1952 - 59 . He later served as commissioner of the Pop Warner League , a national organization of junior football teams . O ’ Rourke had his jersey retired at Boston College and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972 . Banks McFadden led the Tigers to a 9 - 1 record in 1939 as the starting quarterback . He was an All - American in football and basketball at Clemson . The 1939 football team finished 12th in the final AP poll , Clemson ’ s first top 20 season on record , and the win over Boston College in the Cotton Bowl Classic was Clemson ’ s first bowl appearance . In the spring of 1939 he led Clemson to the Southern Conference Basketball championship . McFadden was Clemson ’ s first inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 . McFadden was the # 4 overall pick of the 1940 NFL Draft by the Brooklyn Dodgers . After one year in the NFL and a stint in the Army Air Corps during World War II , he returned to Clemson and held coaching positions in football , basketball and track . McFadden became the first coach in college basketball history to improve his conference wins in five consecutive seasons . Series History . Clemson first met Boston College on the football field in the 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic , a 6 - 3 Tiger victory and the first ever bowl game for the Tigers . Over the next forty - three years , the teams met a total of thirteen times with Clemson winning six of eleven meetings . In 2005 , Boston College joined the Atlantic Coast Conference and was placed in the Atlantic Division . Since then , the divisional match - up has been played on an annual basis with Boston College leading the series 4 - 3 . As of 2012 , Clemson leads the all - time series at 11 - 9 - 2 .