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When AAU coach Paris Coles received a phone call from his brother, who coached a Little League football team in Eastover, South Carolina, he only heard a few words: “Get down here and take a look at this kid.” The player he was referring to was 13-year-old Clyde Trapp, now a regular starter on Clemson’s basketball team. 

Coles did just that. He went to a local gym and watched Trapp during a pickup game. Within a few seconds, Coles was certain the 13-year-old was a special talent. He recruited Trapp to his AAU team — the South Carolina Tigers — where Trapp later dominated tournaments as a sophomore, putting up as much as 40 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists per game, Coles said. 

“He was that guy,” Coles said. “It didn’t matter who was at the tournament, you were coming to watch Clyde play.”

Now at Clemson, Trapp has started 15 games for the Tigers. Seven months after an ACL tear, he averaged over 25 minutes per game during the 2019-20 season. A year ago, Trapp scored the game-winning shot in the final two seconds as the Tigers beat Syracuse 71-70. He posted a career-high in every category that day — 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists. And on Feb. 6, Trapp and Clemson will host Syracuse in Littlejohn Coliseum.

Trapp has developed from the young, budding talent who Coles watched in Eastover, a small town in Richland County, into an Atlantic Coast Conference star. He went from “basically a nobody” to being “on the radar” in a matter of one summer, Coles said, and that was because of his drive.

“His work ethic went from good to the next level,” Coles said. “He did his homework so fast, so he could get to the gym night and day.”

Coles started training with Trapp only two or three times a week after school. Little by little, they increased the frequency of training sessions, and by the end of Trapp’s freshman year, sessions were before school, during lunch, after school and before and after practice. Because Coles was a manager at the recreation center and had the keys to the facility, the two trained as early as 4 a.m. and as late as 11 p.m.

Trapp played varsity basketball at Lower Richland High School starting his sophomore year, and he was “the stud of the team” by his senior year when he led Lower Richland to a state championship title. Eastover has always been a small basketball town, former teacher Liz Still said, and Trapp never failed to rise to the occasion. He regularly had clutch performances, former teammate Savion Townsend said.

Clyde Trapp (left) played varsity basketball at Lower Richland High School and led his team to a state championship title. Courtesy of Clemson Athletics

Against Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, Trapp — then a senior — was injured as his team tried to lock up the No. 1 seed in its region. By half, Lower Richland was “down big,” head coach Caleb Gaither said, and the crowd began to chant as the team walked into the locker room at halftime. 

“We want Clyde, we want Clyde,” Townsend remembered the crowd yelling.

So, Trapp changed into his uniform for the second half, “put on his shoes with a bum ankle and balled out,” Townsend said. Trapp did a 360-dunk near the end of the game, too, and the Diamond Hornets recovered from their deficit to win and to take his team to the state championship game.

“His composure, leadership and athletic ability on display that game set in stone what we already thought about him — a Division I player and probably the next level,” Still said.

Going into his senior season, Trapp didn’t have any Division I offers. But that’s when he took off, Gaither said, and earned offers from a number of ACC programs following the state championship victory.

“On the court, there have been ups and downs, but playing in the ACC has been a dream come true,” Trapp said.

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Three years later, during his junior year at Clemson, Trapp tore his ACL and missed five months. Most ACL recoveries take 12-13 months post-surgery, but Trapp was back on the floor by December 2019 with the support of a knee brace. He had his career-night in the Carrier Dome just over a month later. 

His high school point guard, Townsend, was in attendance that night for Trapp’s shot.

“I have seen buzzers-beaters and game-winning shots on television, but to see it in person, and it be an old teammate, was surreal,” Townshend said. “I haven’t seen him that happy in awhile.”

Off the basketball court, Trapp is a “country boy at heart.” He still makes the two-hour drive from Clemson back to Eastover. He’s one of few from the “small country town” who stayed and played basketball in the area.

“I get a lot of love when I go back home, in the grocery stores and places like that,” Trapp said. “It is a blessing to look out for the kids and be an inspiration to somebody else.”

Published on February 4, 2021 at 8:57 am

Contact Nolan: ncshay@syr.edu