By Tim Bourret<\/p>\n
Clemson, S.C.\u2014Former Clemson Academic All-American Ben Anderson, the Tiger football player most responsible for the tradition of \u00a0\u201cRunning Down the Hill,\u201d as it exists today was laid to rest in the cemetery behind Memorial Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Anderson died peacefully on May 16, 2015 after a five-year battle with lung cancer.\u00a0 In addition to his career as a student-athlete, Anderson served Clemson as General Legal Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Trustees for 21 years.\u00a0 Anderson was 63.<\/p>\n
Anderson aspired to play for Clemson when he was in junior high school and actually wrote a letter to Frank Howard, telling him that he would one day play for him.<\/p>\n
As a senior at Strom Thurmond High School in Johnston, S.C, Anderson helped his team to its first state championship in 1968.\u00a0 But at 6-0 and 170 pounds, he was not offered a scholarship by any school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anderson came to Clemson as a student in 1969 and walked-on the football team. \u00a0He impressed the coaches immediately and started all the freshman games in 1969 (freshmen could not play on the varsity until 1972).\u00a0<\/p>\n
A defensive back by trade, Anderson started all 33 games in his Clemson career one of the few walk-ons in Clemson football history to start every game in his career.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0He was a three-time first-team Academic All-ACC selection and was a second-team Academic All-American in 1971.\u00a0\u00a0 He and Don Kelley both made Academic All-American that year, the only season before 1999 that Clemson had two Academic All-Americans on the same team.<\/p>\n
Anderson finished his career with nine interceptions, fifth best in Clemson history when he graduated.\u00a0 His total included a pair of interceptions at South Carolina in 1971.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to his final game as a senior in 1972, Anderson led a group of seniors to Head Coach Hootie Ingram\u2019s office the week of the South Carolina game, the final game of Anderson\u2019s career.\u00a0 One of the players who attended the meeting was teammate Bobby Johnson, who went on to a long coaching career and is now a member of the College Football Playoff Committee.<\/p>\n
Johnson gave a eulogy at Anderson\u2019s funeral on Wednesday afternoon.\u00a0 \u201cI went a long to the meeting as support, but this was all Ben\u2019s idea,\u201d said Johnson.\u00a0 \u201cHe had it all planned out.\u00a0 It was like he was trying his first law case.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Coach Ingram liked the idea and then worked with Anderson on the plan to bring the team around the stadium on busses to the top of the hill just before kickoff.\u00a0\u00a0 Clemson had not run down the hill since 1969.\u00a0 Prior to the 1970 season, Clemson\u2019s locker room moved from Fike Fieldhouse to the West endzone of the stadium, so there was no longer a need to run down the hill to get to the field.<\/p>\n
When Clemson had run down the hill from 1942-69, it was not quite as celebrated because the team did that entrance for pregame warmups, over an hour prior to the game.\u00a0 The pregame tradition did not occur just minutes before kickoff until that 1972 South Carolina game, and that important aspect of the tradition was Anderson\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n
Clemson went on to beat South Carolina, 7-6, that rainy afternoon.\u00a0 The game ended with South Carolina attempting a long field goal.\u00a0 Anderson caught the ball just short of \u00a0the goal line and took a knee.\u00a0 Fittingly the ball was in his hands as the final seconds of his career ended.<\/p>\n
In the spring of 1973, Anderson received the ACC\u2019s Jim Weaver Award as the outstanding student-athlete in any sport.\u00a0 In the spring he was the recipient of Clemson\u2019s Norris Award, which goes to the top all-around student in the school. \u00a0\u00a0He was also the recipient of the Frank Howard Award, which is given to a student-athlete for bringing honor to Clemson.<\/p>\n
Anderson enrolled at South Carolina Law School and earned his J.D. Degree in 1976.\u00a0 He wrote a letter to President Robert Edwards asking if there was an opening in the school\u2019s legal department.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was not, but Edwards was so impressed with Anderson, that he created an assistants position.\u00a0 Anderson served that position and as secretary to the Board of Trustees for seven years.\u00a0 In 1984 he was named General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Trustees.\u00a0\u00a0 He went on to serve five Clemson Presidents before his retirement in 2005.<\/p>\n