Carolina Clemson Blood Drive
The Carolina Clemson Blood Drive is a longstanding tradition in the Carolina community. It is one of the largest service events on campus and has been helping bring together the area and save lives for the past 35 years.
In 2019, Carolina collected more than 2,000 units of blood from volunteer donors which have helped save more than 6,000 lives throughout the Midlands and across the country.
The Carolina Clemson Blood Drive is a week-long event that raises awareness about the importance of giving blood. Besides collecting much-needed blood, the event also creates a health competition between two state universities for a great cause. Together, we saved more than 13,000 lives in 2019, and over 128,000 lives since 1984.
Our goal for the 36th annual drive is to increase our number of pints we bring in. The impact of COVID-19 has been detrimental, and has caused a shortage of blood throughout the United States. But, you can help by donating blood!
meet our executive team
our history
The numbers through the years
year
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
winner
Clemson
Clemson
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Carolina
Clemson
Carolina
Clemson
Clemson
total pints
N/A
6,692
N/A
8,022
N/A
7,120
N/A
7,417
6,896
6,217
6,428
5,156
4,684
4,549
VS
The rivalry
The rivalry between Clemson and Carolina began in 1909 when the teams met against each other in football for the first time. Since that year, they have battled it out on the field consecutively for 111 years. This rivalry is almost the oldest in the United states only beaten by Minnesota vs Wisconsin.
In 1984, the schools came together to use this rivalry to do some good for South Carolina as a whole. By hosting a major blood drive during the rivalry week before the big game each year, they were able to bring in blood during a time of year where donations are historically low, and use the rivalry to promote a call to action. A way to battle each other outside the field, it is one of the largest drives in South Carolina and brings in thousands of pints each year.
Since the founding of the drive, the schools have collectively brought in over 128,000 pints of blood and saved over 384,000 lives (this is greater than the population of Columbia, Clemson, Greenville, and Charleston combined)