Remembering the Days: A UofSC Podcast: Recent Episodes
University of South Carolina
Discover the rich and sometimes quirky history of the University of South Carolina, with entertaining stories from its more than 200 years as the Palmetto State’s flagship university.
Campus ghost stories, USC's first national championship (yes, there's an asterisk beside it), the Mother Superior of the business school and a look back at USC's first dean of women — that's just some of what's in store for the fall 2026 season of Remembering the Days*, which kicks off in late August.
The start of softball as a USC varsity sport goes back more than 50 years, and it's a rich history — the very first team made it to the College World Series. Since then, USC has had a parade of great coaches and players and an enthusiastic fan base to cheer them on.
When it was dedicated in 1955, the Russell House University Union building was an instant hit with students — a place to gather, eat and have fun in the middle of campus. Several additions and more than 70 years later, the Russell House is still that place. Remembering the Days co-host Evan Faulkenbury talked with several alumni who share their Russell House memories.
The presidency of Donald S. Russell at the University of South Carolina was an intersection of the right person at the right time with the right resources. Russell's presidency helped to usher USC into the modern age and set the stage for the university's dynamic growth in the 1960s and beyond.
Students at Carolina have been taking chemistry since the institution began in the early 19th century. The story of the chemistry and biochemistry department is about science, for sure, but it's mainly about people.
Nearly 60 years ago, USC and the Greene Street United Methodist Church were caught up in a legal battle over whether the church's building could remain standing in the path of the university's campus expansion. Decades later, both sides agreed to an elegant solution.
For 40 years Dennis Pruitt served as vice president for student affairs at USC, where he was responsible for nearly every facet of the student experience. In the face of near constant change, Pruitt helped create an ecosystem where successive generations of students could thrive in and out of the classroom.
Since opening its doors in 1805, Carolina has made foreign language learning an essential part of its curriculum. Classical languages — Latin and Greek — are still taught, but they're now among a much larger group of languages offered, along with many opportunities for students to put their foreign language skills in practice.
Built before WWII as the newest dorm for men, Preston College experienced a renaissance 30 years ago when it was completely renovated for its transformation into USC's first residential college for men and women. Since then, the centrally located residence hall has become a magnet for students with a bent toward creativity and leadership.
Join us Tuesday Jan. 27 for another season of Remembering the Days, as we explore the rich and sometimes quirky history of the University of South Carolina.
Jim Bowers was among the second small cohort of Black students to desegregate the University of South Carolina in the early 1960s, and he would later become the first Black professor in the university's School of Law. More than 50 years later, Bowers has returned to the law school with a substantial gift to improve the institution where he served as a trailblazer.
Fifty years ago, USC established what would later become known as the Arnold School of Public Health, the state's only accredited public health college. It's mission, then and now, is to improve the health of all South Carolinians and help fill the pipeline of the public health workforce.
USC has had 30 presidents, thus far, in more than two centuries of serving as the state's flagship university. But along with a solid president, a university needs great professors, department chairs, college deans and provosts. In his 43-year career at Carolina, Jerry Odom served USC with distinction in each of those roles and more.
In 2021, the University of South Carolina became home to the Anne Frank Center, the only such center in North America and one of only four in the world. Here is the story of how the center came to be at Carolina and the larger story of its message of hope and understanding.
More than 200 years ago, students at Carolina tried to start a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa — now the nation's most prestigious honor society — but their application was rejected by an Ivy League college. More than a century later, they tried again and succeeded, paving the way for high-achieving students to earn membership in one of academia's most exclusive clubs.
USC's swimming and diving team jumped into the deep end of competition in 1922, 17 years before the university even had a pool on campus. Over the years, the team has included a number of All Americans and Olympic competitors.
Built in the 1950s as USC's first fraternity dorms, the McBryde Quad saw its share of keg parties and frat boy shenanigans back in the day. McBryde's reputation for rowdiness eventually gave way to more serious conversations among its residents in later years. Now, as the last of McBryde's buildings are slated for replacement, it's an auspicious time to consider the long arc of McBryde's story.
He was a star quarterback for the Gamecocks more than 50 years ago, and for most of the years since then Tommy Suggs has been the color commentator for radio coverage of USC football games. He recently sat down with Remembering the Days co-hosts Evan Faulkenbury and Chris Horn to look back on his career and look ahead to the fall 2025 football season.
What do Phi Beta Kappa, the McBryde Quad and the swimming and diving team at USC have in common? They're part of the fall season lineup on Remembering the Days, kicking off Aug. 26.
As an architectural historian, Lydia Brandt is trained to read the world around her, which at USC means understanding the context of the campus' buildings — why they were built in a certain style, why they were named for particular individuals and how the institution defines its identity through its physical space. Today's conversation with Dr. Brandt touches on those ideas and the university's recent efforts to tell a larger story of its past through figurative monuments.
You can stay up to date on Gamecock sports through multiple news outlets and platforms, but to delve into the history of Gamecock sports, Alan Piercy is your guy. He writes a blog about Gamecock sports history and has written a book on USC sports during the independent era of 1971-91. He's also contemplating another book on the men's basketball program in the early Frank McGuire era and construction of the Carolina Coliseum in 1968. Join us for a conversation with Alan.
The Reconstruction Era after America's Civil War brought about big changes as the former Confederate states were readmitted to the United States. Education professor and director of the Museum of Education Christian Anderson studies the history of higher education and is leading efforts to remember the changes that took place at USC 150 years ago during Reconsruction.
In the decade after USC desegregated, the small but growing number of Black students wanted to establish a sense of belonging on a big campus that was growing bigger every year. In 1975, they established the Southern Christian Fellowship student group with a gospel choir called A Touch of Faith.
When USC's historic Horseshoe underwent major renovations in the 1970s, a series of archaeological digs uncovered 19th century water wells and other artifacts from a bygone era. Now Kelly Goldberg, an Honors College instructor of archaeology, is leading a series of excavations with students on the Horseshoe to find more artifacts that help tell the story of USC's past.
For nearly 40 years, Walter Edgar taught the history of South Carolina as a member of USC's history department faculty and continues to illuminate the history of the Palmetto State on his podcast, Walter Edgar's Journal. In this conversation, he remembers his early days as a graduate student and young faculty member at the university.
Ph.D. graduate Jill Found wrote a dissertation on the history of enslaved people at South Carolina College, which helped tell the story of some of the university's overshadowed people from the past.
More than 25 years ago, Harry Lesesne was a doctoral history student at USC, tasked with writing a new history about the university that would cover the years 1940 to 2000. He recounts how he took on the assignment to narrate the six decades that transformed Carolina into a modern research university.
Remembering the Days will launch its spring 2025 season with a new co-host — university historian Evan Faulkenbury. Join us Jan. 21 for a new season of the podcast featuring short conversations with those who uncover stories about USC history and those who have been a part of it.
Almost from the beginning in the early 19th century, the Carolina campus has had its share of natural and manmade disasters, including earthquakes, windstorms, fires and floods. Those threats persist in the 21st century, but the modern campus has a facilities team that works around the clock to prevent or at least mitigate the effects of those threats.
Imagine if all of the clues in the popular TV gameshow Jeopardy! were related to the University of South Carolina. USC archivist Elizabeth West's new book, The University of South Carolina Trivia Book, provides plenty of material — more than 500 questions and answers — for a "Gamecock" Jeopardy version of the show. Tune in to see who wins!
The USC Rugby Club has been on the field for more than 50 years, and the squad's success in its early years included a dramatic match and rematch with British naval personnel in 1973.
Jonathan Maxcy was Carolina's first and longest-serving president and the only former president to have his own monument on campus. His leadership helped lay the foundation for South Carolina's flagship university.
WUSC-FM got its start in 1947, providing a training ground for generations of DJs, radio engineers and station managers. Students are still eager to be WUSC DJs, but the motivation today is more focused on sharing a personal passion for music.
In the early 1970s, USC's historic Horseshoe buildings had fallen into disrepair while new buildings sprouted across the campus. The university began a long renovation and restoration project that systematically rejuvenated each 19th century building, and the vigilant maintenance process continues to this day.
The University of South Carolina has been around a long time — long enough to celebrate its 100th and 200th birthdays with the 250th less than 30 years away.
It began as a music department with only two professors and grew into one of the region's premier music schools. USC's School of Music is celebrating its 100th anniversary of making beautiful music in 2024.
When Frank McGuire arrived at USC in 1964, Gamecock fans knew they had a winning basketball coach. But early in McGuire's second season, the team had three starters who had never played against a conference opponent. Their first such matchup on Dec. 6, 1965 — the No. 3-ranked Blue Devils of Duke University.
Everyone knows the Horseshoe is the oldest part of the University of South Carolina campus. But there are two things — the university motto and seal — that are even older than USC's historic district.
USC's modern desegregation took place in 1963 when three African American students enrolled at the historically white university — but they actually weren't the first black students in the university's history. For a brief window in the 1870s, USC became the only state-supported public university in the South to open its doors to white and black students alike.
A century ago, USC built its first dormitory for women, whose presence on campus had not been warmly welcomed when the first females arrived in the 1890s. While women's dorms have come and gone on campus, the Women's Quad retains its status as the original location for and the only present location of women's-only residence halls at the university.
From training fighter pilots in World War II to offering the state's only aerospace engineering degree, USC's ties to aviation are sky high. One of the early players in the story was a Wisconsin farmboy who flew a plane solo at the age of 12.
USC's first basketball season tipped off in 1908 and since then the men's and women's teams have competed on seven different courts across campus. Today's fans are used to watching the Gamecocks play at Colonial Life Arena, but hundreds of games were played in a now-demolished fieldhouse that once occupied a spot in the middle of campus.
As a blind student, John Eldred Swearingen had to make a case for admission to Carolina in 1895. The university went on to become a pioneer in accommodating students with major physical disabilities and continues to provide opportunities for students with disabilities both visible and invisible.
The two decades between USC's departure from the Atlantic Coast Conference and entry into the Southeastern Conference were a challenging time for Gamecock sports. But USC sports enthusiast Alan Piercy's new book about that era reminds us that a lot of cool things — including a Heisman Trophy winner and a new iteration of USC's mascot — came about in the midst of those wilderness years.
For nearly 80 years, the University of South Carolina Press has been publishing books — more than 1,000 and counting — on topics ranging from the history of the Palmetto State to literary figures, cuisine and much more. Pull up a reading chair and learn more about the Press came to be.
Visit any urban campus in America and the No. 1 complaint on everyone's lips will be the parking situation. Parking at USC became an issue in the 1960s, and the university dealt with it by building parking garages and adding a campus shuttle system. And to enforce the parking rules, there was a regiment of parking officers that, for nearly half a century, included Miss Pat.
As World War II was nearing its end, the University of South Carolina was making plans to welcome thousands of returning soldiers. And at the urging of one of its trustees, the university was also planning what we would now consider the unthinkable — abandoning the historic downtown campus and building a new campus several miles away.
Registering for classes at Carolina used to be an ordeal of computer punch cards and long lines at the Carolina Coliseum. But the advance of technology — and a January ice storm — eventually drained the drama from the process.
Housed in the oldest building on campus, the Rutledge Chapel has been in continuous use since 1805 and has a rich history of its own. But that history is still being written as, every year, alumni say their wedding vows inside the venerable chapel's walls.
Since its founding in 1801, the University of South Carolina, its students and alumni have been profoundly affected by wars, most notably the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. As Memorial Day draws near, it is a fitting time to remember.
Decades ago, an illustrator named Robert L. Ripley presented tales of the strange, the bizarre and the unexpected — and challenged the public to 'believe it or not!' In that spirit, here are three such tales from the University of South Carolina's past.
USC desegregated 60 years ago, admitting three Black students whose enrollment made headlines. But what about the students who would follow immediately in their footsteps, continuing the university's desegregation? Two men who were part of the small, second wave of Black students in 1964 recall their experiences.
Ever made a meal out of a few appetizers? In today's episode, we’re serving up three bite-sized stories from the centuries-old history of the University of South Carolina.
In the past 100 years, USC has been a member of four athletics conferences. Here's a quick primer on the whens and whys of each affiliation and a look back at the university's 21-year stretch as a football independent.
The state of South Carolina has a surprisingly rich history of Jewish presence dating back more than three centuries. It's not surprising, then, that the University of South Carolina would have its own history of Jewish life on campus.
USC students in 1977 buried an eclectic assortment of items in a time capsule that was unearthed in 2001 for the university's bicentennial celebration. That same year, another more elaborate time capsule was buried on the Horseshoe with a scheduled opening of 2051. Here's a sneak preview of what's inside.
USC alumni and students have been singing the university alma mater for more than 110 years. But what, exactly, is an alma mater and how did USC end up with one?
For two centuries, social dances have been knitted into the fabric of the campus social scene at Carolina. Waltzes, the One-step, shag and hip-hop—the style of dance changes but the beat goes on.
When The Gamecock student newspaper began publishing in 1908, there were only 300 students on campus to read it. Since then, the award-winning paper has published myriad stories about campus life and helped launch the careers of innumerable writers and journalists.
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engaged in an infamous duel in 1804, and a number of South Carolina College students nearly got tangled up in duels in the years before the Civil War. History records only one duel involving South Carolina College students that ended in fatality — and this is the strange story of that tragedy.
USC's South Carolina Honors College was born in the 1970s when several other of the nation's first honors colleges came into being. But rather than becoming an also-ran, USC's Honors College emerged as one of the nation's best by offering hundreds of unique honors courses across every academic discipline at the university.
Curtis Frye, head coach of field and track head at USC, knows a thing or two about coming in first place and being the first to do something. He's done all of those in his time at Carolina, including bringing home the university's first-ever national championship trophy. Perhaps most importantly, Coach Frye understands the importance of putting first things first.
Every year, tens of thousands of prospective students and their families visit the University of South Carolina for a campus tour. Here's the story of how the university's Visitor Center came to be, as well as a peek behind the curtains at some unscripted moments in the lives of campus tour guides.
“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world … is a garden.” When Frances Hodgson Burnett penned those words more than a century ago in her classic children’s book The Secret Garden, there probably were very few, perhaps not any flower gardens on the University of South Carolina campus. But we’ve made up for it in the past 50 years or so. On this short tour, you'll learn the history of several not-so-secret gardens on campus and what's planted in each one.
What building on the University of South Carolina campus was named for a Confederate navy commodore and commemorated on a picture postcard? It's a trick question! A high-rise residence hall was featured on a postcard in the late 1960s, and the caption on the postcard said the building was named in honor of alumnus Epaminondas J. Capstone. But how that came about is the real story!
Fifty years ago, it wasn't uncommon to hear professors give the 'look to your left, look to your right — one of you will have failed by the end of the semester' speech. But exactly 50 years ago, Carolina tried something different: a course designed to help freshmen feel like they belonged along with the academic tools they needed to succeed. It was called University 101, and it became model for hundreds of colleges across the country.
Women's college sports were in their infancy in the 1970s, but Title IX changed everything by leveling the playing field for men's and women's sports at the collegiate level. Meet two of the first 18 women to receive athletics scholarships at the University of South Carolina.
Scores of University of South Carolina graduates have died in military service since the Spanish-American War at the close of the 19th century. In observance of Memorial Day, we remember three, who died serving their country in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War.
Pranks and pratfalls are part of life in any college residence hall, but one dormitory complex at the University of South Carolina seemed to have more than its fair share. Stories about life in the Towers, also known as the Honeycombs and the Veilblocks, are now almost the stuff of legend. Here are a few anecdotes from yesteryear about the now-demolished dorms.
Sarge Frye knew how to make grass grow, and for five decades he made sure the University of South Carolina's athletic fields were green and trimmed. But much more than that, Sarge had a heart for people and connected with everyone he met. It's why his name continues to be synonymous with Gamecock sports.
The third-longest serving president in the history of the university, Tom Jones led Carolina during a period of unprecedented growth, both in student enrollment and campus expansion. And he did it during a tumultuous era of Vietnam War protests and a rapidly changing society.
Nearly 60 years ago, a Hungarian-born choral conductor named Arpad Darazs launched the University of South Carolina's Concert Choir, which quickly earned a reputation for its musical prowess. Darazs is long gone but the Concert Choir remains the university's premier choral group, and Darazs' former students remain stalwart fans.
No one writes letters much anymore, but back in the day, University of South Carolina students wrote letters to home as frequently as today's students send texts on their phones. Technology changes, but one thing remains constant: college students always need more money.
Built in 1840 as the nation's first freestanding collegiate library, the South Caroliniana Library is now the repository for a vast collection of materials that capture the culture and history of the Palmetto State. Massive renovations at the library promise to return the venerable building to its early glory and make it a more comfortable place for patrons to visit and use.
When Jotaka Eaddy arrived at the university from her rural dirt-road home in the Pee Dee, she quickly joined several organizations, including Student Government. By her junior year, the small-town girl was making a big splash — and making history.
Cupid's arrows find their mark in this special Valentine's Day episode about eight couples who fell in love on the University of South Carolina campus.
Intended as a large lecture hall when it was built in 1855, the building we now know as Longstreet Theater never lived up to its intended purpose. Poor acoustics turned it into an echo chamber that was ill-suited for almost any academic purpose. But an engineering miracle in the 1970s transformed the building into a premier stage for live theater.
For much of the first half of the 19th century, students at South Carolina College were not pleased with the quality of food served on campus. In 1852, the wormy biscuits and rancid meat were too much to stomach, so the students issued an ultimatum — that ultimately gave them a case of indigestion.
JFK once had a bad night's rest in the President's House, and Burt Bacharach tickled the ivories there. Pope John Paul II addressed a crowd of thousands packed onto the Horseshoe. This trip down memory lane has us remembering some of the famous visitors who've come to campus over the years.
For nearly 40 years, Havilah Babcock inspired students in his English classes with his "I want a word" course — and entertained outdoor enthusiasts with his tales of hunting and fishing. Reminders of the beloved professor still linger on the university campus.
Were there always so many squirrels on the Horseshoe? And how else has campus changed in the past 200 years in regards to insects, birds, snakes and such? Take a stroll with naturalist-in-residence Rudy Mancke to learn what's changed and still changing in the natural world of campus.
Like other universities across the nation, the University of South Carolina needed more land in the 1960s to keep up with skyrocketing student enrollment brought on by the Baby Boom. In a previous episode, we talked about the campus migration that created the east campus in the University Hill neighborhood. This episode explores the underpinnings of the campus expansion into Ward One and Wheeler Hill, which were largely obliterated by the 'urban renewal' efforts that acquired more land for the university.
In the late 19th century, students at South Carolina College who were stalwart members of the institution's two debate societies felt that their esteemed clubs were somehow threatened by the existence of fraternities on campus. So they contrived a way to boot the Greek letter organizations off campus. It was a quirky chapter in the university's history that, ultimately, ended badly for one side.
They were tiny, blazing hot in the summer and had more than their fair share of bugs, but the long-gone University Terrace Apartments were a first home for many married couples at the University of South Carolina. For Missie and Joe Walker, living at UT was the first rite of passage in their 40-plus years of marriage.
When students at the University of South Carolina elected a new Student Government president in 1971, the event made national news. That's because, just eight years after the university was desegregated, an African American student won the election, riding a wave of support from white and black students who were tired of the 'establishment' and 'the system.'
When the Gamecocks take to the football field every fall, Williams-Brice Stadium roars with the full-throated spirit of 80,000-plus diehard fans, a battalion of marching band members, cheerleaders, baton twirlers and dancers. It’s a far cry from the first football game played on the University of South Carolina campus in 1898 when a few hundred fans huddled on simple wooden bleachers on a field situated about where the Russell House now stands on Greene Street.
Since its inception more than 200 years ago, the University of South Carolina has had three different names and several nicknames. But Juliet was right — that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
More than 50 years ago, the University of South Carolina expanded its campus eastward, building an 18-story dormitory/conference center in the middle of the University Hill neighborhood. Residents there protested the project, and students did, as well, in 1972 when a pedestrian bridge was built to link to the new east campus.
Patricia Moore-Pastides and her husband, Harris Pastides, lived in the President's House from 2008 to 2019 with thousands of university students as their closest neighbors. As you might imagine, there were some interesting moments in those 11 years.
The current President's House has been home to every university president since 1952. Former university first lady Patricia Moore-Pastides talked to the now-grown children of those former presidents to find out what life was really like in the President's House all those years ago.
In the long history of schoolteachers in South Carolina, Matilda Pinckney's story stands out. Born a slave on the historic Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina, Pinckney was later trained at a Normal School on the university campus and would go on to a 30-plus year career as an educator.
Since its founding in the early 19th century, the University of South Carolina has been keenly interested in building its library collections. Since then, the library's holdings have grown exponentially and now include rare books and special collections that make it a destination for scholars near and far. You can check out a lot of them from your own couch.
In 1955, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional, the School of Education dean at the University of South Carolina had the temerity to agree with that position. He paid a heavy price for speaking up.
In the spring semester of 1974, the streaking fad swept college campuses across the country. For about a week, the University of South Carolina laid claim to the largest group of streakers — 508. Now, 47 years later, one of them recalls that warm night in early March when he and the other Gamecock streakers made their historic run.
From the early 1800s to the 1920s, the University of South Carolina built three observatories for the study of astronomy. The first one is long gone but the third, the Melton Memorial Observatory, remains operational. On clear Monday evenings, the observatory's telescopes offer spectacular views of the night-time sky.
A statue of Richard T. Greener is on display on the University of South Carolina campus as a tribute to the first Black graduate of Harvard College and the first Black professor at the University of South Carolina. But there was more to Greener's life than merely being a "first."
Ninety years ago, the pathways crisscrossing the Horseshoe were just that — dirt pathways that were dusty in dry weather and muddy when it rained. A young English professor devised a campaign to convert the paths to brick-covered walkways without spending a penny in state funding.
Dress codes and curfews persisted at the University of South Carolina until well into the 1960s, but were mainly focused on female students. Kit Smith, a 1967 graduate, recalls the dire consequences of returning to campus 15 minutes late.
The 1961 Carolina-Clemson football game was a close-fought match that ended with a dramatic goal line stand. But the most memorable part of that game began during the pre-game warmups, when things weren't at all what they appeared to be.
University of South Carolina architect Derek Gruner likes to say that walking across the Carolina campus is like a visual lesson in American architecture from the past two centuries. Join us for a stroll and learn more about some of the university's most iconic buildings.
Come time travel with us to the Carolina campus in 1840. All you need is a sense of imagination to experience the sights, sounds and smells of the campus in a very different time.
What was it like in America and on the Carolina campus a hundred years ago during the Roaring '20s? Contrary to popular belief, not everyone was having a roaring good time, but that memorable decade brought lasting change to the university and the nation.
The Mighty Sound of the Southeast, the University of South Carolina's Marching Band, celebrates its 100th anniversary this fall, and what a century it's been! Find out what the band has in common with Elvis Pressley and how you can enjoy a virtual concert on Facebook.
The towering shade trees on the historic Horseshoe aren't the original specimens that were planted nearly 200 years ago. But there are some pretty old ones there — and, with a little effort, you can grow your own piece of Carolina's urban forest.
Forty years ago, Cocky was born. But that feisty garnet-feathered bird wasn't the University of South Carolina's first mascot.
In May 1970 America was turned upside down amid anti-Vietnam War protests, including a deadly confrontation between National Guardsmen and students at Kent State University. The University of South Carolina wasn't immune to the societal unrest, and things turned ugly on campus in several incidents 50 years ago this month.
For the past 40 years, women have outnumbered men in the University of South Carolina's student body. But the history of women on campus goes back to the institution's beginning, long before women were even allowed to attend.
Today's COVID-19 landscape of quarantines and sickness bring to mind another pandemic — the 1918 influenza outbreak that hit hard on the University of South Carolina campus. One young student, Gadsden Shand, answered the call of duty and helped keep many of his classmates alive.
Like many early 19th century colleges, South Carolina College had a complicated history with enslaved people. One of them was named Jack, and almost everyone agreed he was a vital cog in the college’s academic mission.
Written 30 years ago by students, professors and staff members, the Carolinian Creed embodies the University of South Carolina's core values of respect, integrity and kindness.
Painting the college president's horse green, removing wooden steps from the only building on campus, serenading professors with tin pans — those were just some of the pranks that students pulled at South Carolina College in the 19th century. Campus archivist Elizabeth West explains why those free-spirited students rebelled against the puritanical rules imported from New England colleges.
The history of enslaved people at South Carolina College — the precursor of today's University of South Carolina — is a difficult one to tell. But research has brought to light the names of many of those individuals, and the university is acknowledging the vital role they played in the college's early days. Here's the story of one of those enslaved workers — a man named Jack.
How difficult was it to get admitted to the University of South Carolina in 1897? Not too bad so long as you knew grammar, geography, algebra, history — and Latin and Greek! Admission standards at the university have varied in the past two centuries. The bar for admission is set high now, but it guarantees that those who get in are ready to succeed.
When Professor Richard Brumby asked his chemistry students in 1850 to attend extra lectures, you'd have thought by their agitated reaction that he had asked them to jump off of a cliff. What resulted was a mob scene, a textbook bonfire and suspension of nearly the entire junior class of students at South Carolina College.
It's nearly seven feet tall, 3,000 feet long and is made of 160,000 bricks. And it's older than half of the buildings on the University of South Carolina's historic Horseshoe. It's the campus wall, a structure that never succeeded in its original purpose — keeping mischievous 19th century students on campus. But during one tumultuous night in 1865, the wall very likely saved the campus from a fire that consumed one-third of the surrounding city.
Of all the mascots the University of South Carolina might have chosen, how did the gamecock — a feisty bird that relishes a scuffle — get the nod? It all goes back to the aftermath of a football game in 1902 in which Carolina students nearly came to deadly blows with their in-state rival.