WBRD Open Letter to Clemson University
From the Fun Bunch Desk | June 2025
Dear Clemson University,
It’s official — beer is coming to Death Valley in 2025.
First of all: congratulations. On behalf of every tailgater, alum, fan, and sweaty student in orange polyester, we applaud you for making the bold leap into the 21st century. It’s time.
But as you bring beer in, we at WBRD and the Clemson Fun Bunch would like to make one humble, heartfelt request:
Honor the legacy of Edgar’s.
If you know, you know. Edgar’s was the legendary on-campus bar during the golden age of Clemson — the 1980s. It was smoky, soulful, loud, and proud. It served two things:
- Draft beer
- Good times
And those drafts came in just two sizes:
- Big Ed’s (if you meant business)
- Tall Fred’s (if you had time to kill and stories to tell)
So now that beer is finally coming into Memorial Stadium, we say: bring back Edgar’s in name and spirit. Name one of the new beer-serving locations Edgar’s, and please — bring back Big Ed’s and Tall Fred’s as the official beer sizes. Let today’s students and fans taste what we once did, and give tomorrow’s Tigers a tradition worth toasting to.
And while we’re at it…
There’s one other tradition we hope you won’t let slip through the cracks:
The glorious, mysterious, sometimes-soggy pass-out coupon.
For decades, it was the golden ticket to halftime freedom. You’d get your hand stamped or your paper slip, and you were off — walking back to the car, grabbing a cocktail, re-upping the tailgate, maybe burning one with your Fun Bunch. Then you’d stroll back in, recharged and ready for the second half.
So we ask: What’s the status of the pass-out?
Is it still a paper ticket? An app? A retina scan?
All we ask is that the spirit of halftime tailgating lives on. Let the people move. Let the party breathe. Let tradition evolve — just not vanish.
This is a season of change — and we love that. But it’s also a chance to bring the past into the present in a way that’s smart, funny, and full of Tiger pride.
So cheers to the future — and to the memory of Big Ed, Tall Fred, and that slightly bent coupon that still smells like barbecue and Boone’s Farm.
Forever orange,
The Clemson Fun Bunch
(WBRD Radio, Bowman Field Bureau)