Lowcountry woman shares a historic century-old piece of the Clemson and South Carolina rivalry

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – One Lowcountry woman shares that she has a historical piece of the Clemson University and University of South Carolina rivalry.

The game ticket dated Oct. 23, 1924 went unused when the Tigers faced the Gamecocks on that Thursday over a century ago. The score was 0-3 for the Tigers. However Carla Jean Hart hopes that isn’t the result this time around.

Hart is the owner of the ticket and reached out to both schools to get it validated.

“They needed to authenticate it to make sure it was valid, and that’s perfectly understandable,” Hart said. “So, they sent it to archives at Clemson. They could not 100% authenticate it at that point because they didn’t have a ticket this old in their archive.”

The Mount Pleasant woman added that they also sent it to South Carolina, which ended with the same result. However, both colleges agree that it is authentic.

The 100-year-old has since been passed down from Carla Jean Hart’s great-uncle. Hart said it was found by her grandmother, and then one day – her dad gave it to her.

“My father surprised me by handing me this ticket out of the blue about 25 years ago,” Hart said. “I kept it safely before I had it framed and ever since then, I’ve had it on display at my house.” 

The storied rivalry has always run in the Hart family, with many members of her family being alums – including herself.

Since becoming the owner, Hart has taken good care of the historic ticket by getting it framed and sealed over the past couple of years. Now, being able to share this with the public, she is happy a piece from her family’s history is being seen.

“He would be exceptionally proud right now, I know he’s smiling in heaven for sure,” Hart said, thinking of her father.

Although Hart will not be in attendance at the Palmetto Bowl, she will be watching at home. She said she has thought about reaching out to Clemson earlier so it could be seen at this year’s game, but there wasn’t enough time.

For now, Hart will hold onto the ticket.

“Well, it’s always been cool to me. I look at it every day in my home,’ Hart said. “If I knew it had this history of being the oldest ticket, maybe I would’ve come out 15 years ago or so. But I decided a long time ago, just to sit tight and wait until the centennial anniversary to make known as a symbol of this great rivalry.”

Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Clemson tomorrow.