Remembering the Days: A UofSC Podcast

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.