CLEMSON, S.C. Steve Berlin, the defensive captain of the 1985 Clemson football team, passed away on Monday, Dec. 5 at a hospital in Anderson, S.C. He had just turned 60 on Nov. 20, 2022. Berlin was a reserve on Clemson’s 1981 National Championship squad and then redshirted the 1982 season. He was a top reserve in 1983 and started two years for the Tigers in 1984 and 1985. A native of Bethel Park, Pa, Berlin had 31 tackles on Clemson’s 1983 team that finished the season with a 9-1-1 record and No. 11 final ranking. He started all 11 games in 1984 at defensive tackle alongside All-American William Perry and finished with a career-high 78 tackles, third on Danny Ford’s 1984 team. The leading returning tackler for 1985, Berlin was on his way to an All-America season as a redshirt senior in 1985 when a knee injury ended his season in the eighth game. Berlin had 67 tackles in the first seven games that year and was on pace to set a school record for tackles per game by a defensive li
Note: The following appears in the South Carolina football gameday program. Former Clemson All-ACC defensive back Dexter Davis was named the recipient of the 2022 Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award. He is being honored during today’s game. Since 2013, Head Coach Dabo Swinney has presented the Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award to a former Clemson player who has consistently demonstrated the qualities of leadership, community service and other high qualities that are consistent with excellence since graduating from the Tiger program. “Receiving the Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award is a great honor,” said the former Tiger standout. “It was a memorable evening in January when I received the award at the football banquet.” One of the reasons it was memorable for Davis was seeing his former head coach (1990), Ken Hatfield, return for the event to support him. It was the first time Hatfield had been back to Clemson since he last coached the Tigers during the 199
I love that the state of South Carolina embraces this game the way it does. When I talk to an outsider and try to explain what makes the Clemson-Carolina rivalry so great, I always say, “It’s because they do not like each other.”