“B” is for Big Thursday. For more than six decades the story of the lively football competition between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers was the story of “Big Thursday,” the culmination of State Fair week. The rivalry started on Thursday, November 12, 1896, at the fairgrounds in Columbia. By the 1910s it had become a “combination picnic, fashion parade, political rally and drinking bout.” Big Thursday’s popularity exploded after World War II. Each school developed Big Thursday traditions, including burning the Tiger at USC the night before the game and the burial of the Gamecock at Clemson on the Tuesday before students traveled to Columbia. By the late 1950s Clemson was pushing for an end-of-season game played on an alternating home schedule. Both schools agreed and 1959 was the last Big Thursday game.
“B” is for Big Thursday
