May 14, 2008

By Jim Sumner
theACC.com

"We really didn't have a tremendous amount of talent but we had heart and we wanted to play. We didn't quit, we didn't take off plays; we came after you for nine innings. Everybody did their jobs, everybody pulled for their teammates."

That's former Clemson shortstop Bud Spiers summing up a special season 50 years ago, when he led one of the most dramatic single-season turnarounds in ACC baseball history, a season that ended with Clemson's first appearance in the College World Series.

Clemson had sporadic baseball success in the years before 1958. They went 24-5 in 1947 and advanced to Eastern Region Finals and went 20-11 in 1950. But the program was up and down in the early days of the ACC, finishing first in the league in 1954 but bottoming out at 4-14-2 in 1956 and 6-12 in 1957. Head coach Bob Smith was an overburdened football coach, the program was chronically under-funded and eventually Athletic Director and football coach Frank Howard decided new it was time for a specialist.

So Howard went to a rival, seeking advice from North Carolina baseball coach Walter Rabb. Rabb had a young assistant coach named Bill Wilhelm and suggested that Howard give Wilhelm a shot.

It was one of the best decisions Howard ever made. Wilhelm was only 27 when Howard hired him to coach baseball and run the school's intramural program, but the Landis, N.C., native had played minor league ball and had tutored for a season under Rabb. He knew what he was doing.

To use a modern expression, Wilhelm went about changing the program's culture. He instituted an intense fall practice, focusing on defensive fundamentals. Wilhelm got his team better uniforms, better equipment, new Louisville Slugger bats, things that he says "made them feel better about themselves. I had them wear a coat and tie on the road. I told them not to argue with the umpires, to respect the game. They were able to perceive that things were going to be different and they bought into it."

Wilhelm wasn't much older than his team and Spiers says, "We just kind of felt like he was one of us." But there was no question who was boss. Right fielder/pitcher Bailey Hendley recalls, "He was tough. We started out running in the snow. Wilhelm didn't believe in working out indoors. He emphasized fundamentals. He was demanding but fair. If you didn't do your job, you didn't play. He was big on not talking back to the umpires or the opposition. His attitude was `never talk to other team. Let `em sleep. We'll beat their brains out before they wake up.' "

It was a thin team. Only about 15 played. The pitching staff was anchored by Harold Stowe, a junior left-hander from Gastonia, N.C. Wilhelm says,

"Stowe had a fastball with good movement, a decent curve, a ton of grit. He was a great competitor. The more I used him, the better he pitched. He had more movement if he was a little tired but didn't lose any control. His pick-off move was as good as any pitcher I ever saw." Ed Lackey was the second starter, Hendley the third. These three got most of the innings on the mound.

Stowe says, "I tried to move the ball around, keep it down, keep it in play. I trusted our defense. We were very strong up the middle and the infield could turn a double play." Clemson's defense was an asset. Stowe says catcher Butch Coker "was as good as anyone I played with in the pros. He was smart, could catch and throw, and knew how to call a game. I rarely called him off." Spiers was a superb shortstop, able to go into the hole and make that difficult throw to first. Hendley adds, "Spiers was quiet but a leader. Everyone looked up to him."

Then there was centerfielder Doug Hoffman, who Hendley says "was the best outfielder I ever saw. He could run like a deer and catch anything between the lines." Hendley recalls several times when he lost a fly ball in right field and Hoffman bailed him out by making the catch.

Wilhelm predicted about a dozen wins at the beginning of the season, not an unrealistic expectation given Clemson's recent records. But, as Hendley says, "We kind of snuck up on people; we didn't know any better and we just kept winning." The first victim was Michigan State and their ace pitcher Ron Perranowski, who would go on to a distinguished major league career. The Spartans came back and beat Clemson a few games later but that was Clemson's only loss in its first seven games.

The Tigers started out 8-0 in the ACC. Several of these early wins stand out. Larry Bagwell had a single, a double and a triple in a 10-4 win over Virginia. Coker and Hendley each had two-run homers in a five-run second that keyed a 13-4 rout of Maryland.

On April 16 Clemson scored five unearned runs in the top of the first at North Carolina State. The Wolfpack, owners of a seven-game winning streak, fought back to tie the game but Clemson won in the ninth on an RBI single by Bagwell.

The most dramatic early win was at home on April 17 against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons, only three years removed from an NCAA title, roughed up Hendley and led 6-1 in the fifth. But Spiers hit two homers, one with the bases loaded and the other with two on, to spur a stunning 12-8 comeback that convinced Clemson that they were on to something.

Clemson suffered its first two ACC losses on a disappointing late-April road trip to North Carolina. UNC edged the Tigers 2-1, the winning run keyed by a fifth-inning quick-pitch balk by Stowe. The loss dropped Stowe to 7-1.

The following day Clemson fell behind Wake Forest 4-0 before tying the game in a bizarre seventh-inning, when they bunched a walk, a hit, two errors, and two wild pitches by hard-throwing but chronically wild Wake pitcher Ben Tench to tie the game. But Wake came back with a single run in the bottom of the inning and held on for the 5-4 win.

Clemson entered the May stretch run fighting North Carolina and Duke for the title and the league's only NCAA tournament bid. They began the month with an 8-1, 19-hit win over Duke, moving Stowe to 8-1 and dropping the Blue Devils off the pace. Hendley led the way with four hits, including a triple. North Carolina State and South Carolina fell to the Tigers, leaving Clemson and North Carolina each entering the season's final week with two conference losses.

Maryland helped Clemson out by scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to edge North Carolina 7-6. But the same night, Clemson fell to Duke 7-1. The Tigers could muster only four hits against Dick Burton, while Stowe was pounded for one of the few times in the season. North Carolina forced a tie a few days later by beating Wake Forest 1-0, the only run coming on a passed ball in the eighth.

A one-game playoff was held in Gastonia, home turf for Stowe. Given a second chance to clinch the ACC title, Stowe brought his `A' game. Clemson gave him a 3-0 lead in the first and he made it stand up for a 4-1 victory.

Gastonia also hosted the NCAA District 3 Regionals. Clemson began the double-elimination tournament with an 8-6 loss to Florida. The Tigers made seven errors - four by the usually reliable Coker - Florida committed four errors and the teams combined for 19 walks. Stowe didn't even make it out of the second inning. When asked to explain the sloppy performance, Wilhelm switches sports. "Sometimes I miss a two-foot putt and I can't explain why."

Facing elimination, Stowe and Clemson fell behind George Washington 7-0 in the second. Spiers says, "That bus ride to Clemson seemed not far away." But a torrential rain cancelled the game. They started over the next day at 0-0. Given a reprieve, Clemson defeated GW 4-2 behind a three-run first and a solid outing from Lackey. Florida edged Florida State 2-1 in the other game.

Clemson and Florida State turned around and played each other in an elimination game. Clemson jumped to a 5-0 lead but the Tigers couldn't hold it and it was tied at 5-5 after nine.

In the top of the tenth, Clemson pinch-hitter Bobby Norris hit a slow-roller that Florida State pitcher Frank Slusser threw into right field for a three-base error. Inexplicably the Seminoles intentionally walked the next two batters to get to Spiers, who says, "I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now." Spiers cleared the bases with a double and Florida State came up empty in the bottom of the tenth.

This all took place on Saturday, June 7. The NCAA didn't play on Sundays in those days, so once-defeated Clemson and undefeated Florida had a day to rest.

When they resumed on Monday, they put on an exhausting and entertaining show. Florida's Charlie Smith started it off with a grand slam in the first. The Tigers trailed 10-3 going into the bottom of the fifth and once again that bus ride back to Clemson seemed close at hand.

First baseman Fred DeBerry, who had four hits in the game, led the Tigers' explosion. Clemson took a 14-11 lead into the ninth. Hendley had a chance to close it out in relief of Lackey and Stowe, but Smith hit his second home run - this time with two on board - and it was tied. Hendley redeemed himself in the bottom of the ninth with a bases-loaded single that ended the game at 15-14.

The two teams had to turn around and do it again, after the briefest of rests. The deciding game was the exact opposite of its predecessor. Clemson could mount only two hits, both by Spiers. But they bunched a Spiers single around three walks and an error for three runs in the third.

It was enough. Stowe had demanded the ball yet again and he was never better. He allowed four hits, struck out 17 and delighted the home folks with a 3-1 victory that ended around 1 A.M.

The 1958 College World Series team was recognized earlier this season.

Clemson was on its way to the College World Series. There was a coda. Wilhelm spent hours trying to find airline tickets to Omaha but nothing was available. He was about to give up when he received a call back informing him that "a team from Florida has just turned in a bunch of tickets to Omaha."

The Tigers got off to a great start in Omaha, defeating Arizona 4-1 in their opener. Stowe was superb, striking out 13. All four Clemson runs came in the seventh, two on a single by Bagwell, two on a double by Larry Wilson.

Then the wheels came off. Stowe says, "We were all dead tired, just exhausted," while Hendley notes that "we just ran out of pitching. Southern Cal had 16 pitchers on its roster and we only had 15 players."

Holy Cross pounded the depleted Clemson pitching staff for 19 hits in a 17-4 mauling.

Wilhelm gave Stowe one last chance at keeping the season alive against Western Michigan. Clemson scored single runs in the third, seventh and ninth but Stowe couldn't retire Marv Winegar when he had to. Winegar put Western Michigan up 2-1 with an RBI single in the sixth, extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI triple in the seventh and homered with a runner on in the ninth to make it 5-2. Bagwell homered in the bottom of the ninth but it wasn't enough. The final was 5-3.

Spiers notes that "none of us expected to be in Omaha" when the season began and they enjoyed their stay. Hendley laughingly recalls, "I'm not sure they even knew where South Carolina was. But they loved us southern boys. They would ask us questions and then tell us they didn't care what the answer was, they just wanted to hear us talk."

Stowe ended the season at 14-4, leading the NCAA in wins and innings pitched. He also was the only member of the team to make the majors and then only a single inning with the Yankees; Spiers' son Bill, however, played 13 years in the big leagues.

Stowe gives Wilhelm a lot of credit for that season. "We were a bunch of country boys. Wilhelm put us in new uniforms, something you could go to town in. His attitude was to get after it. Have fun, be assertive, don't beat yourself. He gave us confidence and confidence can take you a long way."

Wilhelm, who would stay at Clemson for 36 years, recalls Rabb jokingly giving him a hard time about making the College World Series in his first season as a head coach but acknowledges that "I was so new to college baseball, maybe I didn't realize how hard it was. The College World Series wasn't as well known as it later became but it was still a big deal. My 1958 team wasn't my best but it was my first and we accomplished something memorable."

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Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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