Clemson to Hold “Clemson Sons Bowl” at Death Valley on Saturday

April 9, 2008

Clemson, SC – Clemson will hold its first Clemson Sons Bowl at Clemson Memorial Stadium on Saturday, April 12. The flag football game that will involve former Clemson players, will precede the Clemson Spring Football Game. The players will take the field for pregame warm-ups at 10:30 AM and the game will begin at 11:00 AM on Saturday.

At the conclusion of the Clemson Sons Bowl, players will be available for autographs and photos in the West Endzone concourse.

Forty former Tigers who played over the last 25 years have committed to play in the event. Other former Tiger greats will serve as coaches. The coaching staff for the White team will be Jeff Bostic, Homer Jordan and Michael Dean Perry. Bostic was an All-ACC center for the Tigers who went on to win three Super Bowl Championships with the Washington Redskins. Jordan quarterbacked Clemson to the National Championship in 1981 and Perry was an All-American and ACC Player of the Year in 1987, then went on to play in six Pro Bowls as a professional.

The coaching staff for the Orange team will be Danny Ford, Brian Dawkins and Charlie Whitehurst. Ford coached Clemson to the 1981 National Championship and five ACC championships between 1979-89. Dawkins was an All-American at Clemson in 1995 and has been named to six Pro Bowls in his NFL career, tying Perry’s record for a former Clemson player. Whitehurst set 46 Clemson records between 2002-05 and led the Tigers to 25 victories, second most in school history. He is in his third year with the San Diego Chargers.

The White team will be led by Woody Dantzler, who was a first-team All-ACC quarterback in 2001 when he became the first player in Division I history to pass for at least 2000 yards and rush for at least 1000 yards in the same season. Other prominent former players for the white team will be former All-ACC and Academic All-America linebacker Chad Carson and former starting defensive linemen Carlos Curry.

The Orange team has five former NFL players on its 20-man roster. That list includes three-time first-team All-ACC linebacker Levon Kirkland, a recent inductee into the South Carolina Hall of Fame, and Rod Gardner, a first-round draft choice in 2001 who was an All-American in 2000. Other former NFL players on the Orange team include James Trapp, a 10-year veteran and a Super Bowl Champion with the Baltimore Ravens, Tony Horne, who led the NFL in kickoff returns in 2000 and played on a Super Bowl Championship team with the Rams, and Patrick Sapp, a quarterback and defensive end at Clemson who played four years at outside linebacker in the NFL, will also compete for the Orange team.