CLEMSON, S.C. — Thousands of smiling, cheering football fans are turning out for the biggest party Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has thrown yet at Death Valley to celebrate the school's first national championship in 35 years.
Last year, more than 30,000 people showed up for Swinney's pizza party when Clemson was picked for its first College Football Playoff berth after the 2015 season. The gathering Saturday may top that, with more than 50,000 fans expected along the parade route through town and in the stadium.
Clemson won the title with a 35-31 victory over defending national champ Alabama last Monday night. Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow on a 2-yard TD pass with one second left.
The fans loudly cheered that moment when it was shown on the stadium's video board.
The parade began on College Avenue, where 5,000 fans withstood 30-degree temperatures to watch the Tigers' victory. This time, Swinney and his family rode in a blue roadster while Clemson stars role in orange jeeps while people stood three-and-four deep to catch a glimpse.
Fans began lining up to enter the stadium well before dark, dressed in all sorts of championship orange . There were plenty of Watson's No. 4 jerseys, plus several No. 13 for national title game hero Hunter Renfrow, the one-time walk-on who caught the game-winning pass.
Erwin Heins, a 1971 electrical engineering graduate at Clemson, experienced his second national title as a Tigers' fan after the breakthrough 1981 championship. "I almost did a double back flip when we scored at the end," said Heins, who drove up from Summerville on Friday - about 4 hours away - to make sure he was at the stadium to celebrate.
"You can tell we've gone in the right direction," Heins said. "We have the chance to stay at the top for a while."
The thousands in the stands cheered and booed at appropriate moments as the national title game with Alabama was shown on its video boards. The people started clapping as the Tigers lined up for the game-winning play, then erupted into screams of delight as Watson connected with Renfrow for the decisive score.
Joel Wash, 30, followed Clemson since he was young because his father attended the university. Wash drove 2 hours north from Saluda with 2-year-old son Garner to honor the Tigers.
"This was the only place we were going to be today," Wash said.
