Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The CI *A By LLOYD HUNTINGTON Staff Writer In 1930 the full impact of t stock market crash was just h ginning to penetrate the Unive sity of South Carolina campus. various parts of the count prominent people were taki their lives because they we ruined financially. But, all was not gloom Carolina. The first of the fabulo Clgrys had arrived. That autumn, Earl Clary spar ed an amazing frosh team to t state championship. For the ne ten years, the Clarys descend on the Carolina campus like ma na from Heaven. Earl Clary was the most illu trious member of an illustrio1 family. In his sophomore ye he. ran roughshod over all oppos tion. Headlines such as "Clai Leads Birds to Thrilling Win" "Clary Outstanding in Loss" we Imost every week occurrenc or three years. Best remembered of the Clai xploits is the State Fair gan f 1931. Carolina had not d ated the hated Clemson tigi ince 1926. Earl Clary t4r harge that afternoon, thoug and led the Gamecocks to victor In succeeding weeks, that ses son, he starred in every gami At Orangeburg against The Cits del, he ran wild. Against Dul he was easily the most outstan ing player on the field. Carolina met Clemson for tI state championship that year an defeated them. Earl Clary we again the dominant force on tb Gamecock team. Former Secretary of Stat. South Carolinians who have Clemson game. Byrnes, now game when a record crowd< traction. ary Fami Carolina Sonietime during the year, Earl earned the title "the Gafney Ghost." This name stuck with he him the remaining years that he played although it was varied r somewhat to the Galloping Ghost. In During the othe' years that Earl Clary wore the Garnet and 2g Black he won every honor the re school, state and conference had to offer. He was awarded the Carolina Theater trophy as the at most valuable player; he led the iL state scoring with a total of 66 points; he was picked on the All South Atlantic team, and received honorable mention on All-Ameri i can selections. In three games xt in 1933, he scored 33 points. Earl Clary, now an established ' business man, makes his home in his native city. Few of the peo ple who know him thinks of him as anything other than the line is smashing daredevil halfback who kr ran to glory on the gridiron of i- the South. v The story of Wilburn Clary is )r almost identical, though not as il ie lustrious. He came to Carolina s in 1933, when Earl was a senior. That year, even though he was for the most part Earl's understudy, y he did not fail to win recognition. Le In the games with Wofford, Clem 3. son, The Citadel and others he )r teamed with Earl to give Carolina an almost unbeatable combina Ition. Wilburn was injured though in the first game of the 1934 sea son. After that hq noave ant e. started and ended the year with a mediocre record. e Wilburn, however, struck terror .-in the hearts of Carolina oppo nents in 1935. He came back strong. In the first game he e scored three touchdowns. Carolina ,d went on to a moderately success WI ful season that year, but his fly-i e ing feet made the Gamecock a constant threat. Fames F. Byrnes and Mrs. Byrnes thrilled as witnesses of the great S a life trustee of Clemson, was onte f 35,000 poured in tarolna. adm l1y, i Dream %True to the Clary tradition es tablished by Earl, Wilburn was All-State for two years and won the Carolina Theater trophy as the most valuable player. In 1986, there was controversy as to whether the most important man on the Carolina campus was the new presideit, J. Rion McKis sick, or Ed Clary. Ed was a sophomore, and already he was showing that he was entirely" fit to carry the name. His, first varsity game was against Erskine. In that game, he scored three touchdowns. In other games that year, he was easily the best player on the field. One of his greatest exhibitions was against a Duke team that was high among the leaders of the nation. Carolipa was a decided under log that afternoon. Most people thought Duke would win by at least 30 or 40 points. In Ace Parker, they had the outstanding player in the country. The Blue Devils did win, but t was only after they had worn )ut a Carolina team that fought ;hem bitterly for three quarters. And the biggest factor in their rreat showing that day was the )ooming punts'of Ed Clary. Statistics show that Ed out cicked Parker, whom many called ;he best in Duke history. The beginning of the new dec ide found another Clary enrolled it Carolina. This time it was 3uford. He never reached the ieights that the other three did, )ut for one deed he will be re nembered in at least two states. it t( Some people credit him with p )reaking Frankie Sinkwich's fa- it nous jaw in the Georgia game. t< Wilburn Clary is now coaching f, it the Children's Home in Win- n iton-Salem, N. C., and Ed is an ir -mployee of the Columbia post g u >ff ice. g e f: ti ii C ~Lt are among the thousands of p tate Fair classie, the Caroliaa- e of the spectators at the 1946 inn for the Big Thursday at- ' "I Q - - Al Grygo, now a member of the Carolina coaching staff, and Jane Crum Covmngton, a member of the Board of Women Vis itors, were among the greatest stars of university athletics. Mrs. Covington was a nationally known golfer and Grygo, a gridiron star. Jane Crum Covington, NIatonal %"oit Star By JACK MORGAN should be such, and Jane had to Siarr writer quit the team. Playing golf is still 'the favor- The biggest thrill of her five e pastime of Jane Crum Coving- years of tournament play came in n, but that's all it is today-a 1941 when she defeated the cur istime-for her main interest is rent national women's champion, ist being Mrs. Herbert Coving- Elizabeth Hicks, at Palm Beach, >n and taking care of her family. Fla. She needed only a par to The former university coed win but ran down a 20-foot putt -om Orangeburg, who achieved for a birdie deuce. itional fame as a golf star back Jane was runner-up to Dorothy [ i941-44, began playing the Kirby of Atlanta in the North %me at the age of 13, picking South at Pinehurst in the spring p . the habit from her father, of 1943, to Georgia Tainter, of ill Crum. Fargo, N. D., in the Ormond One day after Mr. Crum had Beach, Fla., tournament in 1942; Atten off a good drive Jane man- and to Mrs. Estelle Lawson Page, ged to persuade him to let her of Chapel Hill at Greensboro in ike a whack at the ball. She August, 1941. During this same anged the first golf ball she'd month she won low net score at ver hit only a few inches away Nassau, Bahamas, golf wars, om her father's. exhibiting her talents before the After that it was only a mat- Duke and Duchess of Windsor. er of time before she developed She qualified for the National ito a tournament threat. Open at Brookline, Mass., in She made her tournament debut 1941, and for the women's West the men's championiship at the ern open in 1942, but lost out in Trangeburg club and won the run- first round matches. er-up cup--at the age of 15! Jane became the wife of Cap-. Jane entered the university in taini Herbert S. Covington, of 938, and with ideas about being Aberdeen, Maryland, on Oct. 14, newspaperwoman she majored 1944. Spsychology and philosophy She not only plays a great rhile studying journalism, game of golf but she has a stu In her freshman year she made dent pilot's license and likes to ie men's golf team and set a fly. And to prove that athletes recedent for two other girls to have brains as well as talent, she r'ash the boys' tennis and swim- taught classes in aerodynamics iing teams. Athletic officials and physics at Orangeburg high iter ruled that the men's teams school fom e time.