When South Carolina and Clemson football square off for the 121st time on Saturday, battle lines will be drawn. Gamecocks vs. Tigers. Midlands vs. upstate. State school vs. agricultural college. Garnet and black vs. orange and purple.
These lines span generations in the midst of the state’s most anticipated annual sporting event and most people will tell you are never, ever to be crossed. There's more than a century of brawls, battles and even an armed riot to suggest as much.
Except for one fan.
Meet Kathy, the CVS employee in Columbia and self-proclaimed. She calls herself the world’s biggest Clemson fan, and is actually pulling for the Gamecocks this Saturday.
How is this even possible? It all comes back to her interactions with Shane Beamer and a friendship more than two years old now. She first remembers seeing him in the store around Halloween 2022, just a month before Beamer picked up his first win in the rivalry.
“He’s my guy,” Kathy told GamecockScoop. “I went up to him and introduced myself and said, ‘I’m a Clemson Tiger, but I see you on TV a lot. It’s nice to meet you.’”
The friendship grew, as Beamer continued his pit stops in CVS, and Kathy always enjoyed talking to the head coach despite her Clemson allegiances. It is a constant reminder of everything this rivalry stands for, the 365-day nature of conversation in schools, offices, grocery stores or in this case pharmacies in a state with no major professional sports teams and two passionate collegiate fanbases.
Putting aside the potential College Football Playoff implications the 2024 meeting comes tethered to, your entire year in the Palmetto state pivots off these 60 minutes. There is, quite literally, no escaping the result.
“You can’t help but hear about it because it is a small state,” Beamer said. “You certainly hear about it. Whenever I pop into CVS pharmacy, the awesome lady that works in there, Ms. Kathy, she’s a Clemson fan. Everytime I go in there I get the rundown for 10 straight minutes about Dabo [Swinney] and the Clemson Tigers.”
Last year during rivalry week, Beamer took it to another level.
He went into CVS on Thanksgiving, just over 48 hours before kick-off at Williams-Brice Stadium. As always, Kathy was there.
Beamer wanted her to talk to Swinney himself.
The two made a facetime call which unfortunately did not land, but pivoted to the next best solution. Kathy recorded a video on Bemaer’s phone, and the contents were quintessentially South Carolinian.
“I said my name is Kathy, how are you,” she said. “I said, ‘You better watch out, because I’m in love with Beamer. Y’all are going to have to both share me.’ And I wished him good luck on winning the game, but I said if Beamer wins, I’m happy for him, too. There’s enough of me to go around.
“And he sent the video to Dabo. Isn’t that something? Mr. Beamer took his time. I thought that was so sweet that he sent it to him.”
Once that happened, there was no turning back. Yes, she still loves her Tigers. But as arguably the most important game in the rivalry’s history approaches, there is only one possible choice for a rooting interest this Saturday.
“I want South Carolina to win,” Kathy said. “I want Beamer to have this. I really do.”
Some lines are meant to be crossed.
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