Clemson Tigers Howard’s Rock bobblehead unveiled by HOF Museum By Mike Gillespie

MILWAUKEE, Wi., – This morning, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a limited-edition Clemson Tigers Bobbleheadfeaturing The Tiger with Howard’s Rock. As Clemson fans know, Howard’s Rock is a large piece of white flint that is displayed in Clemson University’s Memorial Stadium. The rock is the center of a longstanding tradition where players touch it before running down the hill in the east end zone at every home football game.
The limited edition bobbleheads, which are individually numbered to just 2,017, just arrived and ship now. The bobbleheads are $40 each with a flat rate shipping charge of $8 per order.
Howard’s Rock was given to football coach Frank Howard as a gift in the early 1960s by Samuel C. Jones. Jones found the rock while driving through Death Valley, California and gave it to Howard as a reference to “Death Valley,” the name that Howard used for to Memorial Stadium. The coach used the rock as a doorstop until 1966, when he told Gene Willimon, a Clemson booster, “Take this rock and throw it over the fence or out in the ditch…Do something with it, but get it out of my office.” Willimon had the rock placed on a pedestal in the east end zone, where it remains today.
The rock made its first appearance on September 24, 1966 when Clemson was losing to Virginia by 18 points with seventeen minutes left in the game. The Tigers came from behind to win the game 40-35. The following season, the tradition of rubbing the rock upon entering the stadium began. Howard reportedly told his players, “If you’re going to give me 110 percent, you can rub that rock. If you’re not, keep your filthy hands off of it.”
The Clemson Tigers football team is set to face off against the Alabama Crimson Tide on January 1^st, 2018, in the Sugar Bowl. The semifinal game in the College Football Playoff is a rematch of the 2017 National Championship Game, which the Clemson won in dramatic fashion, 35-31. A very limited number of National Championship and Deshaun Watson bobbleheads remain.
“The Clemson National Championship bobbleheads were one of our best-sellers of all time, and we wanted to give Clemson fans another great bobblehead,” said Phil Sklar, Co-Founder and CEO of the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum. “Now Clemson fans can have a memento to Howard’s Rock, which can be passed down as a great collectible.”
The Clemson Howard’s Rock bobbleheads were produced exclusively for the National Bobblehead HOF and Museum by FOCO and are officially licensed.