Clemson fans prepare for game with ‘confidence, but trepidation’

Columbia-area workers and business owners who bleed Clemson orange have their plans all set for watching the Tigers in today’s Orange Bowl.

Some have taken off work and headed to South Florida for the game against Oklahoma, where the winner will play for the national championship on Jan. 11. Others are content to watch at home.

“Been there, done that; got the T-shirt to prove it, but I won’t be going to the game,” said Terry Klosterman of Columbia. “That’s for the younger fans.”

Instead, Klosterman, who owns an insurance agency in the Capital City and is a 1975 Clemson graduate, will head off to Edisto Beach, where he and his wife, Melissa, will gather with several other couples to watch the 4 p.m. game.

On the other hand, Eddie Robinson, owner of Midlands Veterinary Practice and a 1979 Clemson graduate, flew to Miami Wednesday morning with his wife, Cynthia. They will be joined there by their son, Randall, an attorney who flew from Atlanta.

“Fortunately, we have a two-veterinarian practice, so my other doctor – Dr. (Robert) Cave — will be here working. I think we are scheduled to be open until 4,” said Robinson, who couldn’t suppress a hearty laugh. “It just coincidentally happened that we are closing at 4. We actually had planned to close at 4 before we knew that Clemson would be playing at 4.”

Whenever Clemson is playing, Robinson, who opened his own practice in 1991, said he schedules time off.

Clemson’s 81-year-old student athletic support program, IPTAY, has nearly 15,000 members, including more than 1,000 in the Columbia area. This year, the group raised more than $25 million for school athletics.

David Mitchum, who has been chairman of the Richland County IPTAY chapter for more than 20 years, said he had plans to go to Miami today, but a work assignment to do inventory couldn’t be re-arranged. Inventory starts at 1 p.m.

“There will be nothing that’ll stand in the way of me watching the game at 4 o’clock,” said Mitchum, who now plans to watch at home with his brother.

Everybody has a plan.

“My wife and daughter and I are driving down,” said Jack Carter, a 1970 Clemson graduate and Army veteran who retired as Fort Jackson’s chief of staff in 1999.

Known for holding a couple of “Roll Tigers” rags in each hand during a game to avoid biting off his fingernails, Carter, a Richland District Two employee, said many of the Clemson fans who work with him are going to the game in Miami.

“Everybody has their little odd things that they do (on game day), though I think most Clemson fans are looking at this game with confidence, but trepidation at the same time,” Carter said.

The Tigers have to play their best to win, he said, and the Orange Bowl will be no different.

Robinson, the vet, said some of his friends who aren’t going to the game and have to work are trying to “finagle” to get away from the office early today, while also arranging viewing parties.

“People are excited about this,” said Robinson, who also is IPTAY’s national vice president. “It’s something we haven’t seen at Clemson since 1981. I expect that stadium to be cloaked in orange.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 5:56 PM.