How one Clemson fan came to love South Carolina football and, more importantly, Shane Beamer

Kathy Bush, a lifelong Clemson fan, watched from her bed as her Tigers beat South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium last year.

As the game ended, she began to cry. These weren’t tears of joy to see Clemson beat the Gamecocks for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons. No, these were tears for a completely opposite reason. They were meant for South Carolina. And most of all, head coach Shane Beamer.

“Even when they lost playing last year, it broke my heart,” Bush told GamecockCentral. “My son said, ‘Mama, you’re not truly a Clemson fan. If you were truly a Clemson fan, why are you upset that the Beamer and them lost?’ I said, ‘Because I know him, and it just breaks my heart that they lost.’ And he said, ‘Mama, but we won. We kicked their ass!’ I said, ‘I’m sorry. I can’t help the way I feel.’ I said, ‘I love the Beamer, and ain’t nothing gonna change that.’ I wanted them to win.”

As strange as it might sound, Bush loves her Clemson Tigers, but her affection for Beamer seemingly runs deeper. And it all started when she met him for the first time while working at a nearby CVS Pharmacy in Columbia.

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While at work on day, her manager pulled her aside and pointed out a man inside the store. Bush didn’t seem to recognize who it was that she was looking at. But once her manager told her who it was, she couldn’t contain her excitement.

“She said, ‘That’s the Beamer.’ I said, ‘Of the Carolina Gamecocks?’ She said, ‘Yeah,'” Bush explained. “I said, ‘Oh, my God. I gotta get to know this man. He is so nice looking.’ And she said, ‘Miss Kathy, he’s not Clemson.’ And I said that I don’t care. I wanna get to know to him. And I’ve been crazy ever since. He’s an awesome guy.”

About once a week, Beamer will go to that CVS store to get whatever it is that he needs. Bush, who will be working her shift, takes a few minutes to go over and talk to Beamer, and of course, makes sure to take a selfie with him. And there are plenty of pictures they’ve taken together over the years that she loves to brag about.

“My boyfriend, he said, ‘You know, you better be glad I’m not a jealous man.’ And I said, ‘Well, you can get jealous all you want, because I love my Beamer,'” Bush said. “And my children said, ‘Mama, you can’t do that. You’re a Clemson Tiger.’ And I said, ‘No, I’m not. I know who I love. I love the Beamer, I’m sorry.'”

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When Beamer listens to what Bush has to say, she usually tells him all about Clemson. As if he doesn’t hear about the other prominent team in this state enough, especially around this time of year, Bush gives him the full rundown.

“He treats me so wonderful when he comes here,” Bush said. “He take his time and talk to other people when they in here and they’d be trying to take over my time. I just push them away and get my hug time on.”

And this gave Beamer an idea. When he went to CVS on Thanksgiving Day last year, he told Bush that he would give Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney a call and let her talk to him.

“I was like going to let her tell him all about Clemson. If you tell me all about Clemson, tell Dabo also,” Beamer said. “But you can’t help but hear about it just being in in the state of South Carolina. That’s part of it and that’s what makes rivalries great.”

But as it turned out, Swinney didn’t answer the phone. Bush thinks he might have been having dinner at the time when Beamer tried to FaceTime him. Fortunately, Beamer had a backup plan in mind to try and make Bush’s day. He recorded a video message from Bush to send to Swinney.

“(Beamer) said, ‘Okay, Miss Kathy, do your thing. I said, ‘Hello, Mr. Dabo Swinney. I’m a fan of the Clemson Tigers,'” Bush said. “And I said, ‘I just want to let you know you gonna have to share me, because I’m in love with Mr. Beamer.’ I said you both gonna have to share me. I said, it’s enough love to go around. And he sent the video to Dabo. Can you believe it?”

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To this day, Bush has yet to personally meet Swinney. She almost did one time when she was in North Carolina and believe to had seen him in a black SUV. However, she couldn’t get close enough to talk to him or anything.

Someday, she hopes that will change.

“I would shake his hand and hug him up and tell him, ‘I love you but I’m in love with the Beamer, too.’ I would love to meet Dabo,” Bush said.

With South Carolina and Clemson playing this weekend in Death Valley, Bush doesn’t plan on going to the game. So, she won’t get her chance to meet Swinney yet. But she’ll still be watching the Palmetto Bowl, just like she always has.

And even though she’s a Clemson fan, she believes Beamer and South Carolina will come out on top on Saturday.

“They’ve been doing good,” Bush said. “And I’m going to tell you something. I got a feeling, and I could be wrong, they gonna beat Clemson this year.”

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