Years before Dabo Swinney tied Frank Howard as Clemson football wins leader they met at his mom's birthday party

CLEMSON – Despite being a player and later an assistant coach at Alabama, Dabo Swinney never had the privilege of meeting legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

But he met fellow coaching icon Frank Howard, and it was an introduction he’ll never forget.

The occasion was Swinney’s mother’s birthday and the location was a banquet room at the Holiday Inn in Hoover, Alabama.

Howard was present because he was in the area for the Auburn-Alabama game and shared a mutual friend with Swinney’s parents.

Swinney was around 10 years old but remembers the moment.

Howard came strolling in and in his gruff, gravely voice demanded that Swinney's mom have a happy birthday. Then he proceeded to hold court.

“He hung out, told some stories and some jokes,” Swinney recalled. “He just stood up and took over the room.”

Swinney also is capable of as much, as he’s proven time and again in his 15-plus seasons as Clemson’s football coach. Like Howard, Swinney is seldom at a loss for words.

They also possess at least one other common denominator: Winning.

Howard, who coached the Tigers from 1940-69, has been the winningest football coach in Clemson history for nearly 54 years. He passed Jess Neely, a former Vanderbilt standout who guided Clemson to 43 victories in nine seasons (1931-39), for the top spot in the eighth game of an 11-0 season in 1948.

Neely, who later served as Vanderbilt's athletic director, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Howard, whose final ledger was 165-118-12, join him in the Hall in 1989.

Clemson football’s Dabo Swinney, Frank Howard share common bonds

Swinney has matched Howard’s victory total in essentially half the time, although Howard’s teams averaged just under 10 games per season while Swinney’s have averaged nearly 14.

Swinney can pass Howard, who died in 1996 at the age of 86, as soon as Saturday when the Tigers play at Miami. Swinney's overall record is 165-41.

“I can’t even process that. I never even dreamed of that,” Swinney said. “I’ve dreamed a lot of things, but that never was on the list. It’s mind-blowing to even think about it.”

Truth be told, there’s no small amount of coincidence as far as Swinney and Howard are concerned.

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Both played football at Alabama and both are natives of the state – Swinney from the small town of Pelham just south of Birmingham; Howard from Barlow Bend, an unincorporated community in southwestern Alabama not far from the Alabama River and tucked away between the larger destinations of Sunflower and Burnt Corn.

Swinney was born on Nov. 20, 1969, two days before Coach Howard coached his final game.

Swinney got his first career victory on Nov. 1, 2008; Howard earned his last win on Nov. 1, 1969.

“I don’t think it’s coincidence,” Swinney said. “What webs we weave. After meeting him as a kid, who knew one day I'd be rubbing his rock? It has been my calling in life to have the opportunity to be here at Clemson.”

Billy Ware, a former walk-on at Clemson who earned a starting job – and a scholarship – while playing under Howard from 1966-69, is a huge fan of Swinney, but rejects the notion that Howard’s status will be diminished when Swinney wins game 166.

“It’s a major deal to some people, but I don’t see it that way,” Ware said. “Coach Howard will always be a legend no matter what the number of victories are.

“I’m totally enamored by him and what he did for me. He gave me a full scholarship and I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”

Former Clemson players recall Frank Howard

Bobby Johnson, who was recruited to Clemson by Howard but never played for him, still has his recruiting letter signed by Howard, circa 1969.

The future Vanderbilt coach returned to Clemson as defensive coordinator in 1993 and immediately ran into Howard in one of the halls of Jervey Gym. Howard paused to survey Johnson up and down, prompting the following exchange:

Howard: “Did I recruit you?”

Johnson: “Yes, sir. I was in your last recruiting class.”

Howard: “Well, hell. No wonder the alumni retired me.”

That was quintessential Howard, Johnson said.

He may have been widely known as the “Bashful Baron of Barlow Bend,” but Howard was anything but bashful.

He was straightforward, brash and no-nonsense.

“He didn’t mince words,” Ware said. “He told it like it was. He cussed. He invented words. That was true Coach Howard.”

He was old school throughout, a devoted tobacco chewer who was all about three yards and a cloud of dust on Saturdays and all about preaching toughness while providing comic relief Monday through Friday.

“He took his job seriously, but he was a very humorous fellow,” said Jimmy Howard, who played for his father in the early 1960s. “He tried to inject a lot of humor into everything, even at football practice.”

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Charlie Waters, who played for Howard from 1967-69 before enjoying an 11-year NFL career, is convinced that Howard would have admired Swinney’s player-friendly approach.

“He used a lot of common sense, but he was not as comfortable as Dabo is with his players,” Waters said. “I think he would appreciate Dabo’s energy. He might not handle things the way that Dabo does because Dabo’s level-headed most of the time and he’ll fly off the handle every once in a while. But Coach Howard used to fly off the handle all the time.”

Whatever their approach, both proved effective, albeit decades apart.

Swinney soon will be the one to rewrite history.

“The significance of it is not lost on me, but it’s just a blessing to be a part of it,” Swinney said. “As we all know around here, Coach Howard is a legend. It doesn’t matter how many wins that I may finish with here, there will never be another Coach Howard. He is Clemson.”

Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ScottKeepfer

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: Dabo Swinney, Frank Howard share more than 165 wins