Friends, family gather to remember Tucker Hipps on anniversary of his death

It was nothing like the huge crowd of Clemson students who gathered on Bowman Field one year ago to mourn the death of one of their own. But the prayer service and celebration of the life of Tucker Hipps on Monday night at Clemson First Baptist Church was no less filled with the spirit of the young man whose loss has touched so many.

About 100 friends and family joined their hearts in prayer and song to remember the 19-year-old Clemson sophomore who died during an early morning run with his fraternity on Sept. 22, 2014.

Gary Hipps, wearing his son’s red checked bow tie, talked about the dark times he and his wife, Cindy, have gone through since then, and thanked his friends for supporting them through it all.

“In those moments, in those times when I was the lowest, ‘Where are you God, Where is your comfort? – I would get a text message: ‘Just wanted you to know I’m praying for you.’ ”

“I guess what I would say to you tonight is that you have been the arms of God that wrapped around us,” he told the group.

He said he found some comfort during the past months by going through his son’s posts on social media. Many of them sounded out of place with all the usual chatter.

“Prayer is more powerful than hate.”

“Passion is everything.”

“Life is too valuable to just go through the motions.”

“Life is a one-time thing. Don’t waste it.”

Tucker “was a normal kid in every way,” his father said. “He was special, but he wasn’t special. He was unique, but in a way, he was like everybody else.”

The congregation sang, “It is well with my soul,” and gathered around the altar to lay hands on the Hipps family, and on Paul and Angie Hammond, whose son was killed by a Seneca police officer in July.

A group of about 20 young men with Boys State T-shirts, representing an organization with which Tucker was actively involved, joined in the prayer.

The Oconee County coroner said Hipps died from a head injury, consistent with having hit his head on rip-rap rocks in Lake Hartwell near the S.C. 93 bridge, not far from campus.

Members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, which Hipps was pledging, have said they don’t know what happened on the run. The Hipps family has sued them and the university, claiming he was the victim of hazing.