The 1939 Clemson Tigers football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Clemson College Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

in the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

during the

1939 college football season The 1939 college football season concluded with the Aggies of The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M) being named as the national champions by the voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. Led by consensus All-American ...

. In their ninth and final season under head coach

Jess Neely Jesse Claiborne Neely (January 4, 1898 – April 9, 1983) was an American football player and a baseball and football coach. He was head football coach at Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) from 1924 to 1927, at Clemson University f ...

, the Tigers compiled a 9–1 record, outscored opponents by a total of 165 to 40, and defeated

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

in the

1940 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1940 Cotton Bowl Classic was the fourth edition of the postseason college football Cotton Bowl Classic, bowl game, between the 1939 Clemson Tigers football team, Clemson Tigers and the 1939 Boston College Eagles football team, Boston College Ea ...

. The 1940 Cotton Bowl was Clemson's first bowl game. Joe Payne was the team captain. The team's statistical leaders included tailback

Banks McFadden James Banks McFadden (February 7, 1917 – June 4, 2005) was an American football and basketball player and coach. McFadden is best known for his association with Clemson University, where he spent 43 years as a player, coach, and administrator. H ...

with 581 passing yards, fullback

Charlie Timmons Charles Truman Timmons (February 8, 1917 – March 27, 1996) was an American football fullback in the All-America Football Conference for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played college football at the University of Georgia and Clemson College; as a so ...

with 556 rushing yards, and wingback Shad Bryant with 32 points scored (4 touchdowns, 8 extra points). McFadden remained with Clemson for more than 40 years as a coach and administrator and was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1959. Five Clemson players were named to the All-Southern team: tailback Banks McFadden; wingback Shad Bryant; center Bob Sharpe; end Joe Blalock; and tackle

George Fritts George Henry Fritts Jr. (December 30, 1919 – February 7, 1987) was an American football player and coach. A native of Lenoir City, Tennessee, Fritts attended Lenoir City High School before accepting a full scholarship to Clemson University. H ...

.Clemson 1960 Football Media Guide, p. 22.

Schedule

References

{{Clemson Tigers football navbox Clemson Clemson Tigers football seasons Cotton Bowl Classic champion seasons

Clemson Tigers football The Clemson Tigers are the American football team at Clemson University. The Tigers compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic C ...