'Chicken Curse' continues to plague Gamecocks
By: Roy Welsh
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Since the University of South Carolina was established in 1801, one of the legacies of the school has been failure on the fields of athletic competition. The schools' most three popular sports, football, baseball and men's basketball, have given Gamecock fans a total of five conference championships on the field and on the court. The Gamecocks' lone conference championship in football, an ACC crown from 1969, was later forfeited due to the fact that Carolina had fielded a team with ineligible players.
There are a number of reasons and excuses frequently given for Carolina's shortcomings on the field, with the "the Chicken Curse" being the most famous. While one who is unfamiliar with sports in the Palmetto State might initially scoff at such a superstition, many believe that some sort of dark cloud hangs over fields of competition in Columbia.
The most common legend concerning the origin of the Chicken Curse centers on Ben Tillman, a former South Carolina Senator and an instrumental figure in the establishment of Clemson University. Legend has it that after the South Carolina State Legislature made its initial effort to prevent Clemson's existence, Tillman slammed a pitchfork into the ground on campus at Carolina, declaring the University to be cursed. Whether the Curse was then born or not is up for debate, but it seems to be a strange coincidence that the Gamecocks subsequently suffered through more than a century of futility.
There could be other explanations for the Curse. Perhaps South Carolina officials invoked the wrath of some orange-clad demon when they refused to play the annual football grudge match on a home-and-home basis. Maybe the Curse has been perpetuated by the ill-fated decisions of players like Steve Tanneyhill, who danced on the Tiger Paw after Carolina's 33-7 victory over Clemson in 1994. Such decisions, which surely provoked the anger of the ghosts of the likes of Thomas Green Clemson, have haunted the Gamecocks ever since. Don't believe it's possible? Check the record books - Carolina has lost nine out of eleven to Clemson since that fateful afternoon in 1994.
Like all Curses and hexes, the Chicken Curse has hobbled the Gamecocks at the worst possible times over the years. The most famous of Carolina's cursed moments came in 1984. After the Gamecocks started off the season 9-0 and earned a No. 1 ranking, they traveled up the Annapolis to take on the Naval Academy in a game which was surely to be a small bump in the road on the way to a national championship season. Enter the Chicken Curse. The Midshipmen delivered one of the biggest upsets in college football history, thrashing the Gamecocks 38-21 in a contest which ranks at the top of the long list of Carolina football debacles.
The Naval Academy is not the only military institution to give the Gamecocks problems in recent years. In 1990, the Citadel Bulldogs paid a visit to Williams-Brice Stadium in a game which would surely bolster the Gamecocks' win total. Just as Carolina faithful settled in for what they assumed would be a relaxing day of football, the Curse reared its ugly head once more, and the Citadel stunned South Carolina 38-35 in Columbia.
Even more damaging than losses to schools like Navy or the Citadel may be the sense of defeatism associated with the Curse. An article about the Chicken Curse published in The Carolina Reporter a few years ago looked deeper into the mindset of the Curse and proved that some Gamecock fans take the hex quite seriously. The piece focused upon Ken Scarlett, a 1976 South Carolina graduate, who urged Gamecock supporters to join him in a movement to change Carolina's mascot back to the jaguar, which was the school's original mascot.
"The Curse says that any team that calls itself a Gamecock will be doomed to a life of athletic mediocrity," Scarlett was quoted as saying in the article. "If we change, we can get rid of the Curse forever." If the Curse is actually somehow related to the school's nickname, Gamecock brass has no intention of buckling to the pressure that has built from years of inferiority. "We've always been the Gamecocks, and we always will," said a somewhat misguided Gamecock Club Director Jeff Barber in response to Scarlett's campaign.
If Gamecock faithful decide to hang on to their mascot for generations, they may have to resort to drastic measures in order exorcise the Curse from the University's athletic teams. Carolina faithful will hope that the remedy comes fast, before they add the tombstones of Steve Spurrier and Dave Odom to their world-renowned coaching graveyard. One thing is clear - few collegiate athletic programs had centuries as bad as the Gamecocks did in the 1900s. If Carolina fans wish to avoid lives filled with depression, sorrow and anger, a solution to the Chicken Curse will have to come before 2100 rolls around.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
anonymous863
anonymous863
posted 1/27/06 @ 6:00 PM EST
That was horrible. For an university that dominates a sorry school then brag about is so cowardly. Thats like a guy beating up on a woman then bragging about. (Continued…)
anonymous863
anonymous863
posted 1/30/06 @ 12:02 AM EST
This is typical non-sense. Clemson's history on the field is somewhat better but nothing compared to leading institutions. Clemson is simply a mediocre university which tries to improve it's image by lowering that of USC. (Continued…)
anonymous863
anonymous863
posted 2/01/06 @ 3:03 AM EST
Now lets focus on the last ten years where four of five listed accomplishments have occurred. Meanwhile Clemson has not achieved anything...Except perhaps the re-emergence of Pitchfork Ben admirers. (Continued…)
anonymous863
anonymous863
posted 2/08/06 @ 2:44 AM EST
In reference to the other posts, this is actually a very factual article. The "Chicken Curse" is something that is constantly mentioned by alumni of both universities, whether in a positive or negative tone. (Continued…)
Terry
posted 4/30/08 @ 5:55 PM EST
I really don't think there was ever a curse, I just think that politics has played a part in the rivalry over the years. the state of South Carolina has mostly always been a farming state, and of course Clemson is the farming school, where South Carolina has always been called the school for lawyers and or rich kids, and the theory is(at least what they brainwash the students at Clemson with) South Carolina was for lawyers and cared nothing for farming communities, all a load of BS. (Continued…)
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