Harold Stowe Experience: 1957-59 Sport: Baseball

Harold Rudolph Stowe's baseball career at Clemson left quite an impression on the Tiger baseball program. Stowe was a three-year letterman on the Tiger baseball team from 1957-59 and is considered one of the top pitchers in early Clemson history.

In 1958, Stowe led the nation in appearances, innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins. Throughout the course of that 14-win season, he also tossed eight complete games. During the 1958 NCAA Tournament, he won three games and struck out 45 in his six Tournament starts. In 1959, Stowe was also a leader on the Tiger pitching staff. During the Tigers 3-2 12-inning loss to Arizona in the opening round of the 1959 College World Series, Stowe pitched the entire 12-innings of the game. This number still ranks as the individual record for the most innings pitched in a game.

Stowe's record still cover the Clemson record books. He finished his career with 24 wins (eighth all-time), pitched 16 career complete games (tied for fourth all-time), and finished with a career 2.32 ERA (fifth all-time). Among other stats, Stowe is seventh all-time with 279 strikeouts and tied for 10th all-time with 279.1 innings pitched.

To see just how valuable a player Stowe was to Clemson baseball, all one has to do is look at the Clemson record for the NCAA tournament. Stowe still holds two individual game records, six individual tournament records, and four individual career records. The previously mentioned 12-inning game is a record for innings pitched in a single game by a single player and Stowe also holds the records for strikeouts in a single game with 17 versus Florida on June 9, 1958. Stowe's performance in the 1958 NCAA Tournament is almost legendary. He set records for appearances (6), starts (4), wins (3), innings pitched (35.0), complete games (2; which he matched again in 1959), and strikeouts (45). Among the career NCAA Tournament records held by Stowe are innings pitched (58.1), wins (5), complete games (4), and strikeouts (77).

Due to his contributions to the program, the Stowe Award has been given to the team's most valuable pitcher each year since 1984. Stowe was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979.