FRANK AND PEAHEAD
Only one coach in history — Wake Forest's Peahead Walker — won as many as four games against Clemson without a loss in Death Valley. Frank Howard and Walker had a close friendship, but Peahead had a 4-0 record against Howard in Death Valley.
Walker fielded some tough teams, but lost five in a row to the Tigers from 1937-41, including his first two outings against Howard, 39-0 and 29-0, after Jess Neely's departure to Rice in 1940. Peahead's response was to win six in a row against Howard from 1942-47, knocking No. 16-ranked Clemson out of a likely AP Top 20 finish in 1945 with a season-ending 13-6 victory.
Even if Peahead conceded that three of his wins from 1942-44 were during Howard's depleted "war years," he still held a 3-2 edge over his soon-to-be comedic partner on the gridiron speaking circuit.
In the final three years of the Howard-Walker rivalry from 1948-50, both the Tigers and Deacons were at their strongest. In going undefeated in both 1948 and 1950,
Clemson faced only one Top 20 team in regular season play each year: Peahead's No. 19 Wake Forest in 1948 and his No. 17 Deacs in 1950, both on the road. Howard's 21-14 and 13-12 wins, respectively, enabled his Tigers to finish No. 11 and No. 10 in the nation; Peahead's 1948 Deacons settled for a No. 20 national ranking.
