The Daily Gamecock: Traditions 11/15/21

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Cover DEsign: Michelle Ballman 3

7 Letter from the editor: Explore traditions around you

16 The history of the President’s House: Bluejays, panty raids, protests

26 Students should embrace USC’s tradition of protest

37 USC theater traditions create sense of belonging among students

46 USC Horseshoe continues to create peaceful area for all 4

8 Cocky’s legacy builds community since 1971

18 Column: Student section represents chaos in center of community

27 The building, blazing of Tiger Burn

38 Gamecock Walk allows fans to meet, cheer on football team

47 Horoscopes

10 Forever to thee kids: Dance Marathon remains one of USC’s largest philantrhopic organizations

20 Experts explain past of controversial names on USC campus

28 Palmetto Bowl rivalry crosses sports to pit Gamecocks against Tigers

40 Forever to thee: USC alumni reminisce on university experience

48 Crossword

12 Legacy in new light: ‘Sandstorm’ and its remix

22 Column: Campus traditions bring USC together

30 Photostory: The South Carolina State Fair

42 Student body president position grows alongside university

13 Soda City cultivates student entrepreneurs

23 Cockaboose is game day tradition unlike any other

33 ‘Everything has come full circle’: Upperclassmen students get class rings as part of tradition

44 Graveyard Shift, South Carolina women’s soccer team’s secret weapon

15 The story of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ Gamecock football

24 Tradition of inscribed bricks on the Horseshoe is unique to USC alumni

34 From dirt lot to party spot: Fraternity Lot continue to be tailgating staple

45 Column: Carolina versus Clemson rivalry builds, gives back to community

49 Solutions

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:

Explore traditions around you

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sually, we participate in events or pass by places on campus without thinking about how or when it originated — it’s just another part of USC and Columbia culture.

Some of these traditions are easy to spot — for example, “Sandstorm” and rally towels at the start of a football game or the rivalry against Clemson.

Others are visible, but maybe not so obvious as “traditions” — the bricks on the Horseshoe feel more like a part of the environment than something actively built, in the same way Dance Marathon seems to have an unchanging presence on campus.

Finally, there are traditions confined to specific communities — did you know it’s a longstanding superstition among theater performers not to call “Macbeth” by its name during rehearsal?

It is these things, and many more, that give the USC community a rich history and contribute to the subcultures around campus.

Next time you pass that one building on your way to class or attend one of campus’ many annual events, don’t be afraid to ask, “Why is this how it is?”

PHOTO: COURTESY OF MAKAYLA HANSEN

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PHOTO: JERRY BOWEN

Cocky on the sidelines of Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 9, 2021.

COCKY’S LEGACY BUILDS COMMUNITY SINCE 1971 HANNAH BALLANTYNE

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ocky, the beloved USC mascot, has been a core of campus culture for decades. He has evolved over the last half-century into his current feathered face that spreads the Gamecock spirit across state lines.

The wide-eyed, yellow-beaked mascot has gone through many makeovers through the years. He has not always had an easy upbringing and suffered disapproval at times. However, Cocky’s exhilarating spirit has worked his way into households across the Southeast and has even earned national recognition.

Cocky’s origins date back to 1971, when John Nelson, former professor within the university’s Department of Biological Sciences and alumnus, created the first homemade costume as an

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undergraduate student, dubbed “The Rooster.”

Nelson, who played drums in the marching band at the time, decided there needed to be a mascot that traveled with the cheerleaders and band.

Finding a mascot costume was challenging, so Nelson began working on a homemade one with help from his mom.

Nelson said the very first Cocky was “basically a jumpsuit” constructed from various fabrics with a big, yellow bill. The suit was completed by fabric feathers constructing the wings, rubber gloves sewed onto tennis shoes to replicate chicken feet and a black, velvet cape. Nelson said he cherishes the moments he had interacting with other mascots.

This first version of South Carolina’s mascot can occasionally be found in its former glory on display at the McKissick Museum.

A few years later, in the late 1970s, Sir Big Spur was officially introduced.

Big Spur was a taller, stiffer version of a mascot that led the university’s athletics with an intimidating aura until 1980, when Big Spur’s “son,” Cocky, stepped in and took over.

“He was more in line with the other mascots you’d see that could, you know, interact with the crowd a little more, move around a little better – kind of joke around,” university archivist Elizabeth West said.

The change from Big Spur to Cocky was not welcomed at the time, though, because of the softer and kinder appearance that contrasted Big Spur’s powerful demeanor.

Despite the mascot’s rocky start, Cocky’s popularity eventually increased with every game, and his friendly personality began to stand out.

West said Cocky garnered a lot of warm feelings for the university from his interactions with kids and others, being the welcoming feature of the culture here today.

Throughout the years, Cocky has changed, as he became more involved in university and community functions, more versatile and has gained immense support from fans all over.

“Even people that don’t really know much about Gamecock Athletics know who Cocky is,” said Jim Blakely, alumnus from the class of 1990 and former athletic trainer with the football team.

Blakely traveled with the football team during his time at USC and remembers the person in the Cocky suit having to be taped up before each game.

“It was just kind of cool. People knew who Cocky was and didn’t know who the Gamecocks were,” Blakely said.

This garnet and black rooster continues to connect students and community members beyond the state of South Carolina, and Nelson said he appreciates the continuation of his legacy for the community.

“If I did start something, there’s just been a continuation of mascots, and Cocky, as we know him now, is just the latest iteration,” Nelson said.

A woman wears a homemade Cocky costume from 1957.

The mascot Cocky on the football field in the 1980s.

Cocky and mascot Sir Big Spur in 1980.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ELIZABETH WEST

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Forever to Thee Kids: Dance Marathon remains one of USC’s largest philanthropic organizations Dance Marathon leaders and attendees dance on stage in front of the rest of the crowd at the 2016 Dance Marathon.

ALEX BLUMENTHAL he University of South Carolina Dance Marathon (USCDM) is the largest studentrun philanthropic organization on campus.

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Started in 1999, the organization has seen tremendous growth since it first began in the Russell House Ballroom. Over its tenure at the university, Dance Marathon has raised more than $7.2 million, with plans to keep growing and supporting the local children’s hospital.

The organization’s mission every year is to fully fund and spread awareness of the Child Life Program at Prisma Health Children’s Hospital-Midlands. “​​Basically, what the Child Life program does is make their hospital say a little bit easier and a little bit happier,” Ignite director Molly Mitchell said.

The Child Life program specifically focuses on the patients and their families’ emotional and developmental needs by helping to educate the children on their diagnoses and treatments and providing them with toys or even pet therapy.

As the organization has expanded, student leaders within Dance Marathon have made the organization more than just the 14hour Main Event.

“We’ve really focused on developing more of a year-round programming model as opposed to just the 14-hour main event, so that we can have all of our campus connected to a cause,” Megan Laurendeau, president of Dance Marathon, said.

This year-round programming model begins with the campaign reveal. This signifies the start of the year for USCDM and sets a theme and vision for what the year will be. This year’s 10

theme is “Every Moment Matters.”

“That’s really our energy for the year, is kind of making the most of every single moment,” Mitchell said. “We’ve lived through a pandemic, but we’re also still in one. We don’t know when it’s going to end. So, we have to make the most of every moment as it comes because the future is very uncertain, and so, we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Previous Dance Marathon campaigns included “Together We Can” in 2021, “More Than” in 2020 and “We Promise” in 2019.

Typically held on the first Monday of October each year, Child Health Day is a national Dance Marathon event that unites all Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs across the country. Each program fundraises and promotes the hospital they support and the Dance Marathon program.

This year, Child Health Day was held on Oct. 4, and USCDM was the top fundraising program in the country. This was an accomplishment celebrated by the hard work and enthusiastic energy of USCDM members.

Additional signature fundraising events for the organization include “Day of Miracles” in the fall and “Forever to Thee Kids Day” in the spring. Both of these days’ goals include getting the campus engaged and sparking a big fundraising push.

“I’m excited to see how we grow,” Laurendeau said. “This year we’ve seen so much more campus engagement than we ever have ... It’s been a really exciting year.”

The organization ends its year with the

FILE PHOTO: ANNA WALKER

Main Event. The Main Event is a 14-hour dance marathon and celebration of the participant’s fundraising efforts, according to the USCDM website. Participants also hear from Miracle Families, learn an easy line dance and dress up for theme hours during the main event.

At midnight, USCDM flips the total amount of money raised throughout the year.

These events are organized and created by a team of about 300 people who work together to make an impact on the Prisma Health Children’s Hospital-Midlands and the Columbia community, according to vice president of productions Justin Leggin. USCDM staff, the Morale team and the Ignite team are the branches of the organization that makeup what Leggin said they call, “One team, one dream.”

The Morale and Ignite teams are introductory branches of the organization that allow for students to have a better understanding of USCDM and bring new energy to the organization. The Morale team is tasked with teaching the line dance during the Main Event and keeping up morale, while the Ignite team learns more about USCDM and leadership skills.

USCDM first hit $1 million dollars in 2018 and hopes to raise even more this year, Leggin said. Members of the organization are excited about the possibilities this year and feel like the spirit of USCDM is back on campus.

“The energy is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before with this organization.”

Leggin said. “I don’t even know how to put into words how positive the atmosphere is.”

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Legacy in new light: ‘Sandstorm’ and its remix NOah watson

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n Williams-Brice Stadium, students stand “For the drop, I was like, ‘Well, let’s Although he wasn’t there for the first surrounded by thousands of others, have the first four counts of the drop, first playing of his remix, he got to witness it drenched in sweat, using a rally towel four bars, be the original,’” Washington in-person soon after. keeps their eyes dry. The Columbia heat said. “After that, I’m going to switch it up “Justin (King), he hooked me up with beats down on the eager students’ faces. and drop the trap with some snares, kicks, tickets to the Florida game two years ago,” There is a tangible excitement in the air. 808’s and stuff like that.”

Washington said. “That was my first time The sound of electronic music rides in Washington posted it to his Soundcloud, hearing it in the stadium. I was like, ‘Wow, slowly and in high-pitched synths as a sea MOST WANTED, and it started to gain man. Literally 80,000 people are going of white towels are thrown into the air: up, traction on Twitter, he said. He reached crazy and turning up to something I made down, up, down, up, down. out to Justin King, associate athletics in my bedroom.’”

“Sandstorm” drops and you become director for new and creative media, and The trap remix holds a special place in one with the entire student body as you asked if he would want to use the remix in the hearts of students. “Sandstorm” is the chant, “U-S-C! U-S-C!” any of his content. Little did he know, the rally cry for Gamecock football fans, but “Sandstorm,” by Darude, is a thing of legacy of his remix would change forever. the trap remix is the theme song for South legend in Columbia. First played in 2009 in “I think it was Vanderbilt,” Washington Carolina students. a game against Ole Miss, the song has since said. “It was a little pregame, little thing they “The remix really speaks to the heart become a staple of the South Carolina game did for Gamecock football, and (King) used of South Carolina, and the heart of USC day experience. the song, and next thing you know, a couple and Columbia,” second-year computer Eric Nichols, senior associate athletics of weeks later, it got played in the stadium.” science student Alex Lay-Calvert said. director for marketing and branding/chief Washington said he had no idea they Washington said he’s thankful for marketing officer at South Carolina, is the were going to play it in the stadium. He said, everyone who helped make the trap remix man responsible. He added the song to on that Saturday, he was watching the game what it is today. He said King and the the song pool at Williams-Brice Stadium from home and his phone started blowing media staff made his dreams come true. and subsequently formed a piece of South up with people sending him videos of the “That’s all I wanted, was something like Carolina culture. remix being played in the stadium. this to happen,” Washington said. “(‘Sandstorm’) was on a list of what we call ‘hot songs’ that you play in momentum situations,” Nichols said. “The situation at Ole Miss lended itself to playing it … And then it kind of became a thing. We kept playing it and kept playing it, and our fans found an identity with it.”

Since then, it has become tradition to play “Sandstorm” before kickoff and during the game, receiving a resounding crowd reaction every time.

Ten years later, “Sandstorm” was given new life, and in 2019, it evolved.

Coined by students as the “trap remix,” Marco Washington, Columbia native and music producer, created a remix to “Sandstorm,” which became an instant classic with South Carolina students.

“I went, and I bought the actual synthesizer that Darude used for the original – I bought that, and then I found the notes, the scales that he used to make the melody,” Washington said. “I literally recreated the entire song.”

Rebuilding the instrumental from the ground up, Washington added a new drum pattern in the drop that gives it a The Sandstorm begins in the student section of Williams-Brice Stadium as rally Photo: jer ry bowen totally new flare. towels are flailed around.

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C OLUMN:

Soda City cultivates student entrepreneurs Christina Ceniccola

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oda City Market is a longstanding tradition that supports local entrepreneurs and positively contributes to the community culture in Columbia. This event provides an outlet for students to transition their personal endeavors into profit and jumpstart their businesses.

According to the market’s motto, you will “find everything you need to nourish your brain, body, and belly" there.

One notable vendor Soda City supports is the Student-Made Store.

The Student-Made Store presents an online platform with real-life opportunities for students to gain momentum as small business owners.

The organization extends across multiple universities, with a branch serving the University of South Carolina.

The mission of the Student-Made Store is “to bring all of USC together, as a community that celebrates creativity and entrepreneurship.” Student-Made Store helps to promote a variety of eager artists at USC through their participation with Soda City.

Allison Lambert, a fourth-year sports and entertainment management student at USC, is one of those artists.

When she was a high school upperclassman, she began creating pieces of embroidery as a hobby, but it didn’t take long before her art caught the attention of close friends and family. Once she began receiving offers from others to purchase her work, she said an idea was born.

“I was doing my own social media, but I wasn’t getting the reach,” Lambert said.

Before discovering Student-Made, Lambert said she had never even thought about selling her art at a market. But with the store's support, Soda City was only one Saturday away.

Lambert is a loyal fan of Soda City: “I was there the first weekend they opened, and since then I've missed maybe, like, five or six Saturdays since then,” she said.

With that impressive attendance record, she couldn’t help but fall in love

with the close-knit community of vendors and customers. Lambert said her favorite thing is to see returning customers. She said some of these customers will return to her tent, ecstatic, to share pictures of her work hung up in their rooms.

Community doesn’t stop with the customers. Lambert said one vendor arrives early to set up his truck, allowing himself spare time to help another woman set up her tent before opening. It’s these simple, but intentional, actions that have Lambert (and the city of Columbia) eagerly awaiting Saturdays.

Connecting to the Columbia community is an essential aspect of the student experience at USC. College is an opportunity to meet people from different cities, states and even countries. Part of what brings us together is the excitement of exploring a new environment. Try something new Columbia has to offer — you might find the feeling of togetherness you've been searching for.

Lambert serves as an excellent example of a student who seized the opportunity Soda City presented to her. To folks who feel like they just don’t know where to start, she gives a few words of wisdom.

“Don’t be afraid to market yourself,” Lambert said. “Don’t be afraid to put your voice out there.”

Sometimes, we confuse pride with self-centeredness; Lambert said students are absolutely allowed to take pride in their creations. She said if she hadn’t personally decided her work has value, she wouldn’t have taken the leap.

And, as a professional Soda Citygoer, Lambert had a suggestion for next Saturday morning. Try jotting down a few things that catch your attention, so you’ll never run out of ideas to delve into on your next visit. Whether you want to explore a different international cuisine or talk with a vendor you’ve never met, there’s always something new to check out at Soda City.

Soda City is open on Main Street every Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Photo of Allison Lambert at her first Soda City as a vendor.

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THE STORY OF '2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,' GAMECOCK FOOTBALL

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Ellie Long he University of South Carolina has many traditions, but one of the staples of Gamecock football is the team entrance to “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Ranked as one of the best entrances in college football by sources such as Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Bleacher Report, this tradition is unlike any other.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” former wide receiver Tori Gurley said in an interview with “The Steve Spurrier Show” in 2009.

Tens of thousands of Gamecock fans partake in this tradition every home game, but few may know its origin.

The story starts in the ‘70s with Elvis Presley concerts and Tommy Suggs, a former Gamecock quarterback and current Gamecock radio commentator.

Suggs was once the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Columbia, and with this role sat on an advisory board for the Carolina Coliseum. Due to his role, he scored excellent seats to all the different entertainers that came through the Coliseum, Suggs said.

One of these shows happened to be with The King, Elvis Presley, himself. What was most notable about this concert was Presley’s entrance onto the stage set to Richard Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” more commonly known as the theme song for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Later that year, Suggs attended another Presley concert, this time at LSU, and witnessed Presley’s amazing entrance, once again, to “2001.”

“That is a powerful song,” Suggs said he remembered telling his friend, who he attended the second Presley concert with.

After this second concert, Suggs said he decided to bring the idea of the Gamecocks entering the field to “2001” to Jim Carlen, then the athletic director and head football coach.

“We’ve got to have that,” Suggs said as he sat in Carlen’s office playing “2001.”

The idea was a hit with Carlen, but he had one condition — the band must play “2001.”

Suggs said he wanted it to be played over

the loud sound system, as it would only be successful that way.

Suggs was right in his idea that playing “2001” on the sound system was the only way to go. The band played “2001” for about six games in the 1981 season under Carlen, but it had no effect on the fans.

After Carlen’s final season in 1981, Suggs brought the idea to the new athletic director, Bob Marcum, who liked Carlen’s idea. Still, there was another obstacle in Suggs’ path: The speaker system in the stadium was so bad that it would not be possible to play “2001” through it. However, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. The following season, Williams-Brice Stadium would have a new sound system.

Finally, in the season of 1983, Gamecocks hired a new head coach, Joe Morrison.

Along with a new coach, there was also a new sound system. Finally, at the opening game of the season, Suggs could play “2001.”

“It was so emotional for me to sit there and watch people react to it in the stands,” Suggs said.

As the “2001” entrance became a new

normal for the Gamecocks in the ‘80s, ESPN was not helping in getting the entrance national attention. According to Suggs, ESPN told Morrison the broadcast did not have enough time to show “2001.”

At this point, Suggs said Morrison told ESPN: “‘If you don’t play it, we’re not playing.’”

Since that opening game in the 1983 season, “2001” has become a lasting tradition at South Carolina.

“Surreal,” is the main word second-year international business and accounting student Laney Quickel used when describing her experience with “2001.”

In the nearly 40 years since, students have been able to witness the evolution of the tradition. Today, flames roar as the team runs out, along with the complement of “Sandstorm” that is played following the entrance.

“2001,” Suggs said, has had an important impact for people on Gamecock game days, from players, recruits, fans, students and even opposing teams.

“There is nothing that is as good as ours,” Suggs said.

The South Carolina football team rushing the field for kickoff at a home game against Troy University on Oct. 2, 2021.

Photo: Grace Sorrells 15

THE HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE:

Bluejays, panty raids, protests

Marina Catullo

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he story of the President’s House is one of protests, panty raids and a blue jay that liked to hide earrings in the draperies. It is also one intrinsically tied to the university and its students.

The President’s House was originally built as a duplex for faculty with families in 1854, then used as a women’s dormitory until the '40s. In 1952, former USC President Donald Russell and his wife, Virginia Russell, decided to renovate the then-abandoned building into the new President’s House, turning it into the single-family home we know it as today.

One of the “most expensive and rare” items that Virginia Russell brought into the house is a 19th century, blockprint French wallpaper called the “Procession Chinoise.” The wallpaper, which depicts a Chinese wedding procession, currently decorates the long wall of the second-floor ballroom.

“She had purchased it from somewhere in upstate New York, but originally we assume it had hung in some château in France,” USC First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides said.

At the entrance to that ballroom is a Second-Class Relic, a chair made for Pope John Paul II in which he sat during a visit to the President’s House in 1987. After Pope John Paul II was canonized, the Catholic Church sent the university a letter informing them the chair, having held a saintly body, was now a relic.

All of this is detailed in MoorePastides’ book, “At Home in the Heart of the Horseshoe.” To better paint a picture of life in the President’s House, Moore-Pastides decided to interview the wives and children of former university presidents.

Donald Russell Jr., the eldest of the Russells’ four kids, remembers when

One of the upper rooms of the President’s House with floor to ceiling 200-year-old French, block print wallpaper called “Procession Chinoise,’’ that depicts a European conceptualization of a royal Chinese wedding procession. The wallpaper is one of several valuable items and relics that are in the home.

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First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides

the police came to get his father out of bed late one night, citing a “panty raid” going on at the Women’s Quad residence hall.

"I didn't even know what a panty raid was, I thought that maybe the boys broke into the dorm and started stealing the young ladies panties. Well in fact, what I found out, he said, 'Oh no, the ladies would throw their panties out to the boys below. And some of them would have phone numbers on them,'” Moore-Pastides said.

Some women made a joke out of it. They would go down to a fiveand-dime store and buy the biggest bloomers they could find to throw out their windows.

Former USC President Thomas F. Jones took up residence in the President’s House between 1962 and 1974, which proved to be a tumultuous time, not only for USC, but for universities across the country.

Following the events of Kent State, students took over the Osborne Administration building on campus in protest of the Vietnam War, toppling files and burning records. The National Guard was called in. First Lady Mary Butterworth Jones refused to leave the

President’s House despite the rocks and Molotov cocktails being thrown at the building, and The Daily Gamecock called her a “Lioness Protecting her Den.” Though she instructed all five of her children to keep to the back rooms of the house, Cissie Jones went to one of the front windows and witnessed the confrontation between the protesters and the National Guard troops. When the National Guard began throwing tear gas at the students, Cissie was forced to close the window.

“I just think it was a sign of the times. Look, university communities are a microcosm of what's going on in your society, and this was going on everywhere. Everyone was an antiVietnam,” Moore-Pastides said.

The Jones family were also animal lovers, and they brought many animals into the President’s House. Puppies were born in the upstairs bedrooms, a rooster was gifted to former President Jones on Christmas and a blue jay called Vida Blue flew around the house uncaged.

Mary Jones had a cocktail every evening in the library, where she would remove her earrings and relax.

Over time, Mary Jones began to notice her earrings were going missing.

The mystery was solved when the draperies were taken down to be dry cleaned. The blue jay had been taking Mary Jones’ earrings and hiding them up on the valances.

The Pastides’ have their own stories to tell of the President’s House, where they lived for 11 years and are currently residing again. One of the “stranger” moments that MoorePastides experienced in her time in the President’s House was when she caught a student relieving himself in her herb garden.

"One of our trustees has passed away, and I'm going to his visitation," Moore-Pastides said. "And I could see a guy over there, standing like in the peeing posture, and I said 'Hey! What do you think you're doing?'"

Student judiciary let MoorePastides decide on the student's punishment, and, rather than making him scrub toilets, she decided on a simple letter of apology.

Along with Moore-Pastides herb garden, the backyard of the President's

House is also home to a fresco titled, "A Present Past."

After a trip to Italy, Moore-Pastides was inspired to commission a student, alumna Taylor Tynes, to paint her own approximation of the Italian fresco. The fresco features the Roman goddess, Minerva, in honor of the university seal, a pomegranate tree, modeled after one growing in the house’s garden at the time and the infamous kleptomaniac blue jay.

The backyard of the President’s House is also the location of the last remaining kitchen and slave quarters on any campus in the Southeast. The brick building and the names of the enslaved people who helped build or worked at South Carolina College are honored with two plaques on the Horseshoe.

Moore-Pastides' favorite memory of her time in the President’s House was the 50th anniversary of the university’s desegregation in 1963, when she was asked to read a prayer at the luncheon. Moore-Pastides choose "Help Me to Believe in Beginnings," originally written by Ted Loder, which she read again for me.

“So much has happened to us during these whirlwind days. We've known death and birth. We’ve been brave and scared. We’ve hurt, we’ve helped,” Moore-Pastides said. “And now another day begins.”

SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED TO US DURING THESE WHIRLWIND DAYS. WE FOUND DEATH AND BIRTH. WE’VE BEEN BRAVE AND SCARED. WE’VE HURT, WE’VE HELPED ...

AND NOW ANOTHER DAY BEGINS. - “Help Me to Believe in Beginnings” by Ted Loder

Though not all university presidents live on their campuses, at USC it is both a tradition and an expectation, according to Elizabeth West, the university archivist at South Caroliniana Library.

"I think it's a gift, to be situated right in the heart of the Horseshoe," Moore-Pastides said. "And I think if you talked to almost all of these people that I talked to, they would've said the same thing."

An Italian fresco by USC alumna Taylor Tynes, which features Minerva, Aristotle, Plato All Photos: Liz Intemann and some characteristics personal to USC such as the pomegranate tree, the seal, a squirrel and the Jones’ blue jay to pay homage to the history of this institution.

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C O LUM N

Student section represents chaos in center of community Win Hammond

T

here are two things you can always expect when going into a South Carolina home game: Rally towels and high-decibel chants. Although the student section can be obnoxious and loud, those practices are what foster a community.

Manners are seemingly nonexistent when "welcoming" an away team into a school’s home stadium or arena, and Williams-Brice Stadium is no exception. Booing is almost compulsory during another team’s warmup, and acting negatively toward the opposing team is an unofficial Gamecock tradition.

It was no Clemson game, but our football game against Kentucky stands out this year for the most lively student section so far. A sold out stadium welcomed the Wildcats with boos and shouts, and a yellow rope in front of the student section was placed to keep Carolina students contained.

Watching our football team has almost been like finding solidarity in the trenches: We are suffering, but suffering together.

For another example of our student section's community, consider our volleyball team. The season opener was a nail-biter between South Carolina and Washington State. After going down 2-0, the home crowd began to dissipate, with hope for our team evaporating by the minute.

Fast forward two sets, and suddenly the game is even, eventually becoming a USC win. The main reason? Our student section banging on the bleachers during WSU's serves. Home field advantage is real if there is enough sound and momentum in your favor.

However, our student section is not without drawbacks.

Sometimes individuals turn against other students for divisive chants — including those of the political variety.

For example, some of students coordinated an anti-Joe Biden chant.

It is hard to tell what the motive for the chant was, other than to serve the ego of anti-Democrat voters and to create

18

controversy on campus. It’s your own peers affected by that chant, certainly not Kentucky. The student section isn't a space for political discourse on metal bleachers; our student section is meant to foster the Gamecock community. Voices wasted on a political chant would be better used for shouting at the referees or the other team.

More than anything, our student section is meant for solidarity and community. Hayden Uzelac, a fourth-year mass communications student and a founding member of the Cockpit (Carolina's official student section), highlighted the fact that, although college student sections have a reputation of drunken rage for athletes, it is an expression of a college’s core: its students.

Members of the student section are part of a community supporting college athletes. Uzelac described wanting to keep the student section civil but also rowdy enough to invigorate the players to perform.

Uzelac said he led cheers during the volleyball game against Washington State. By banging on a sign above the court with others below, a chaotic rumble gave way to a clutch upset — what could have been considered disorderly created a movement of our students.

Another USC program that demonstrates the talent of our athletes alongside our fans' passion is women's basketball.

We all know that our women's basketball program is top-tier, and that excellence is expected to continue this season: The team is ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason poll. The Gamecocks benefit from a packed Colonial Life Arena; South Carolina consistently has the largest home attendance in the nation. Our students support many sports, but the success of women's basketball invigorates attendance to rates well above any other school in the SEC. The community found in yelling and banging on bleachers can represent the broader Gamecock student base. Along with chaos, the student section is the framework of a unique community coming out to support fellow athletes and students.

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Experts explain past of controversial names on USC campus MAX WHITE

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I

n recent years, the USC community has begun to question who should have a landmark or building on campus named after them.

In 2019, a history commission was created to “explore the university’s history and to make recommendations that will guide how a more complete story of the state’s flagship can be told to future generations,” according to its website.

In July, the history commission released its final report, which recommended changing 10 of the 13 names it examined and proposed 16 new names for future naming opportunities.

Some were not satisfied with the report, as its recommendations to change names is impossible without a vote from the state legislature, due to South Carolina’s Heritage Act. “If somebody’s values during their life didn’t live up to the standards that the university sets for us in the Carolina Creed and the standards of modern society, then they shouldn’t have a building or monument named after them,” Emma Schwertfuehrer, the head of USC’s College Democrats, said.

Of the names that were examined, some are more recognizable than others. Figures such as Strom Thurmond and Robert E. Lee are nationally known, while Marion Sims and Wade Hampton are lesser-known figures, even in South Carolina.

J. Marion Sims, the name of a residence hall in USC’s Women’s Quad, was the first name the commission recommended to be changed. Sims studied at South Carolina College — what is now USC. The women’s residence hall was named for Sims, as he is known as the “father of modern gynecology.”

Despite Sims’ contributions to modern science, he is notorious for performing live experiments on enslaved Black women without anesthesia. These women were rented as property and had no choice in the matter.

“There was a belief at the time, and this belief has lingered into the 20th century, that Black skin feels less pain than white skin and that, therefore, Black women, and these enslaved women, would be able to tolerate more pain than white women,” university archivist Elizabeth West said.

At the time, USC was naming buildings after prominent members of USC and South Carolina history. There was not a proper donor system for naming buildings like there is today.

Another residence hall at Women’s Quad is named for Wade Hampton. Hampton graduated from South Carolina College in 1836 and later served as a trustee for the school.

Hampton’s name was picked for the residence hall due to his connections to USC and his role as a Confederate military officer in the Civil War and a prominent South Carolina politician. He served as both a U.S. senator and a governor for the state.

Hampton’s family was also one of the largest holders of enslaved people in the Southeast before the Civil War.

“His family was incredibly well-known, politically connected, powerful and wealthy in South Carolina,” Chase Meyer, a political science professor at USC, said.

Hampton was also a leader of the movement known as Redemption, a movement of white Southerners who aimed to reestablish white supremacy in the South post-Reconstruction.

“This is where groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, or another organization known as the Red Shirts, come in,” Meyer said. “While he wasn’t as openly, vocally supportive of the terrorism, as others were, he clearly was a supporter of it.”

The commission recommended for Hampton’s name to be changed.

Thomas Cooper, the namesake of the primary library for USC students, is another name that was recommended to be changed. Cooper was the president of USC from 1820 to 1834, and an economist and political philosopher. The library was named after him due to his being a prominent figure in USC history. “(Cooper) was someone who kind of first advocated for the idea of South Carolina leaving the Union,” Meyer said. “His support for secession was more just about classical states rights.”

Cooper grew increasingly pro-slavery over the course of his life. In public and private writings, he shared racist sentiments, such as disagreement with emancipation.

Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center, the primary fitness facility of USC, is named after longtime U.S. senator of South Carolina, Strom Thurmond. The commission recommended the name of the fitness center to be changed.

Thurmond ran as a third-party candidate for president in 1948 under a pro-segregation and pro-Jim Crow platform. He is also known for holding the longest filibuster in U.S. Senate history, when he filibustered for just over 24 hours in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

The fitness center was named after Thurmond due to his being a donor to USC and his dedication to fitness.

“Civil rights was not his entire Senate career, but it was without question the one he was most well known for,” Meyer said.

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C olumn:

Campus traditions bring USC together Mia Amato

T

raditions are needed at USC because they bring our school community together with all past and present Gamecocks.

One of the great perks of being a student at USC is that we are in the SEC. There is nothing quite like a Saturday in Columbia. Nearly every student shows off their school pride, proudly wearing garnet and black and ready to cheer on our team.

We all know that game day isn’t game day without Sandstorm. The tradition was founded in 2009 when the Gamecocks were on the verge of upsetting No. 4 Ole Miss. Ever since then Sandstorm has become a staple at each home game.

As the anthem of our team blares out in Williams-Brice Stadium, the energy from each and every Gamecock fan is enthusiastic and electric. Being in that stadium and cheering together is the glue that binds all Gamecock fans together.

Even our own head football coach Shane Beamer can feel the energy of all of the fans when Sandstorm is played.

“I’m pretty locked in on the game,” Beamer told ESPN. “But I certainly remember thinking that was different,

and was obviously blown away by the intensity of it.”

Game days are one of our key traditions, but there are so many other special opportunities on campus that give all USC students a shared experience they can reflect and remember forever.

Tiger Burn, the annual pep rally, is held every year to symbolize the burning rivalry us Gamecocks have with the Clemson Tigers. The tiger is designed and built by USC’s American Society of Mechanical Engineers student chapter.

Participating in events such as game days and Tiger Burn keeps the spirit of our university alive. Through these experiences, the whole campus can join and share in something as simple as our never-ending rivalry with Clemson.

Even faculty members are bound together by the tradition that floods our campus. Each person that is a part of the Carolina community knows how these traditions are able to bring together our school community as a whole and have experienced them first-hand.

“I truly believe we are a product of

Sully Hutto dances in line with other Coquettes on the Horseshoe during First Night Carolina.

22

our experiences, whether good, bad or indifferent,” Susan Bernath, the residence life coordinator at Capstone House, said.

Bernath said traditions on campus are special because you might not remember other things, such as assignments, but you will always remember how you feel during your first football game or at First Night Carolina.

Even places on campus are a tradition within themselves. For example, the Horseshoe is a place where all students can gather and be together. So many great events take place on the Horseshoe; people get married there to celebrate the place that sparked the love between them.

Our campus is there to bring all members of the Carolina community together and to be a common space to spend time with other students.

All of the traditions we have on campus are not just to celebrate the history of our great university, but to make this big place feel like home. Our traditions unite all Gamecocks through the experiences we share during our time at Carolina.

DJ iAM gets the crowd full of Gamecock spirit on Greene Street during First Night Carolina.

Photos: Joey Anderson

Cockaboose is game day tradition unlike any other A

Nathan Baakko

nyone who spends time in Columbia quickly learns the annoyance of trains, but there is one train Gamecock fans, in particular, don’t mind.

The line of 22 converted railroad cars, known as the Cockaboose, is an active tailgate site that sits on an inactive piece of railroad beside Williams-Brice Stadium. Every car is painted garnet and looks nearly identical from the outside, but the interiors are subject to the taste of each individual owner. Most have wood floors and come complete with all sorts of appliances.

“Everybody finished them out in different ways; most of them were decorated quite nice,” former owner Susie Carlson said. “They had the big screen

TVs, and we had a big long bar in ours, and they have nice little kitchens, and they have a bathroom and nice areas to sit. And it was fun to go in all the different ones to see how everybody had individualized their particular unit.”

Columbia businessmen Ed Robinson and Carl Howard are credited with the idea of converting and selling abandoned Illinois Central Railroad cars. The railroad cars were first collected and sold in 1990.

Each railroad car sold out in a mere two days for $45,000 each and had undergone no renovations since their original use. Just a short distance away from the original 22 lay a few larger railcars that were

fashioned for the same tailgating purpose in 2005.

Each Cockaboose can still be bought or sold, typically for more than the price of an actual home.

The most recent sale was in April 2021, when a duo with a shared deck sold for around $379,000, but the asking price for single units can range from around $200,000 to around $400,000.

There are many things that owners love about the Cockabooses as a tailgate spot, including the location and the comradery between owners and visiting fans.

“The beauty of it, which I thought was pretty cool, was you’d always have these people from visiting teams, fans, and they would always want to come in and check it out, and they’d leave and go, 'Wow, this is cool,'” former owner Stan Harpe said.

“The location is probably the key issue there, that it is just right there beside the stadium ... You’re right there, you lock the door, and you walk 50 yards and you’re inside the football stadium.”

Often times, owners will also visit other cars.

“The fun thing was that you could go from one Cockaboose

to the next and visit friends. The people in the next Cockaboose were good friends of ours, so we would go back and forth,” Carlson said.

Being an actual train, the Cockaboose sets itself aside from other tailgate traditions.

“You hear about it all the time, is the novelty. It’s unlike any other tailgate experience in the country, and I think that in that uniqueness of the Cockaboose is what separates it from many others aspects,” railcar owner Jeff Easterling said. “A lot of universities, especially in the SEC, have that (novelty). What I’d say is no one that we’ve found has any experience similar to the Cockaboose.”

Many people who have had the luxury of tailgating at a Cockaboose describe it as unbelievable.

“My wife jokes that she never wants to go back to a regular outdoor tailgate because we’ve been, quite frankly, spoiled by the ability to have access to a railcar or Cockaboose,” Easterling said. "Certainly, the Cockaboose is something that's recognized across the country as something that is unique to South Carolina.”

The Cockaboose railroad has 22 cars and can be found behind Williams-Brice Stadium. Fans gather here to tailgate before home football games.

Photo: Jatin Patel 23

The tradition of inscribed bricks on the Horseshoe is unique to USC alumni

HANNA SCHATTEMAN

E

very student at the University of South Carolina walks through the Horseshoe at some point. Whether they’re studying or using the trees’ shade to take a break from the Columbia heat on the way to class, they’ve likely seen the brick-paved paths bearing the names of faculty and alumni.

Though students might pass over them without much thought, these bricks have a rich history at USC. USC’s Horseshoe has grown famous for its tradition of alumni bricks, which were first constructed in 1931. English professor Havilah Babcock first struck up the effort to pave the Horseshoe with bricks in 1931.

At the time, the university had asked the state legislature to fund the project, but in the midst of the Great Depression, the legislature declined, making the project a student effort.

With the incentive to be excused from class, students gathered on the Horseshoe under the direction of local brick masons and laid the foundational “U” shape of the Horseshoe in just a few months. “(It was) pretty remarkable,” Chris Horn, director of editorial projects at USC, said.

In an effort not only to recognize their work but also to honor the leaders of the project, the students laid white bricks of their initials to mark the work they had done. The Greek letters in white brick across the outer ‘U’ of the Horseshoe represent the student organizations that offered their service in the project.

Also around the outer rim of the Horseshoe are the initials “HB,” for the notable

24

English professor that initiated the project. The second set of initials, found in red brick, “MEE,” mark the students’ admiration for their Black brick mason, who taught them how to lay the brick in a still-segregated South Carolina.

“We didn’t know why they were different, and then, many years ago, we ran an article on the brick sidewalk project for 1931 and one of the alumni who participated in it wrote us a letter and talked about working on that,” university archivist Elizabeth West said. “He and his group were working up in that area and they liked their brick mason so much that they snuck his initials into the sidewalk. His name was Marion E. Evans.”

Since that initial brick pathway was laid, there have been multiple changes and additions to the Horseshoe. However, the names that can be seen on many of the pathways across the Horseshoe were not added until the university’s bicentennial project in 1995.

“In terms of being able to have an opportunity for alumni to have a permanent place on the university campus, I think (that) was really what started it,” Elizabeth Muth, chief operating officer at the USC Alumni Association, said. “From there, the idea of the Horseshoe brick tradition, kind of, really took off.”

Muth said she believes the historic tradition of having students lay the bricks on the Horseshoe and listing their organizations in the brick might have started the idea for alumni to have a permanent spot with their name on the campus.

The Alumni Association’s brick installations in the winter and summer adds around 100 new

alumni bricks each to the thousands already layering the Horseshoe with the help of other university facilities, according to Muth.

While most of the bricks contain some messages from alumni, there are multiple bricks on the Horseshoe that are dedicated to students, faculty and staff that passed away during the previous year. There are bricks honoring University 101 instructors. There is even a marriage proposal inscribed on a brick on the Horseshoe.

The brick most famous to U101 students is the Hootie and the Blowfish brick. Other notable bricks are centered around the Maxcy Monument. This includes bricks dedicated to each university president that has served and those who have served in university leadership.

There are also three bricks near the Maxcy Monument dedicated to each of the three students who desegregated the school in 1963, which were unveiled with a ceremony in 2015.

Muth said she believes each of these bricks — comprised of three lines, with 14 characters per line — has a story connected to a person who has memories at this university. She said she sees this as a special way for alumni to reflect on their time here.

“The uniqueness of the opportunity to have a permanent place on the university campus — that doesn’t happen at every university,” Muth said. “Being able to purchase a piece of that history and being a part of that tradition is something really special and unique for our alumni.”

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Students should embrace USC’s tradition of protest Carly McPherson

I

n a world consumed with social injustices, humanitarian crises, climate change and global pandemics, we cannot afford the privilege of remaining silent. USC students should embrace and continue the tradition of protesting for their beliefs and follow in the footsteps of former students.

Some of us were taught to be timid and diffident, and others to be outspoken and assertive. Ignoring what’s comfortable, we should strive to use our voices during these turbulent times.

“The university has a long history of supporting free speech and the right of groups and individuals to peacefully protest, even in cases where we may disagree with the ideas being shared,” former university President Bob Caslen said in an email in January 2021.

Our university officials have not always been supportive throughout history. The Great Biscuit Rebellion of 1852 is a prime example of this. According to reporting done by The Atlantic, the dining facility on campus often served “wormy biscuits and rancid meat,” on top of being compulsory for students. In the Great Biscuit Rebellion, 109 out of the 199 students enrolled signed an agreement that stated if the compulsory system was not abolished, they would disenroll from the college.

The university officials of that era were

against losing a large population of their students, but were more resistant to giving in.

According to The Atlantic, in “A History of the University of South Carolina,” Edwin Luther Green wrote that although then-President James H. Thornwell acknowledged the poor quality of the food, he thought that “to grant the request was to yield to the spirit of rebellion.”

What is now known as the Months of May is another example of the university’s resistance to student protests and freedom of speech. During this month in 1970, students were protesting the Vietnam War, the Kent State shootings and, in turn, the infringement of their First Amendment rights by university officials on campus.

“Students were very concerned about how the university administration and local officials were responding to freedom of speech; faculty were also concerned about protecting freedom of speech,” said university archivist Elizabeth West on “Remembering The Days Podcast — Episode 8.” “The students felt that the police were being heavy-handed in the way they arrested students. Plain clothes police had been placed in Russell House to try to keep certain anti-establishment activists out of there, and they were checking student IDs and there were a lot of clashes and harassment.”

For many of us, attending a university is not only an opportunity to further our education,

but to strengthen our spirit of rebellion. At USC, tens of thousands of students come from all around the country and the world. With those students comes diverse ideas, beliefs and opinions ready to embraced and fostered.

Regardless of these ideals, beliefs and opinions, universities should create an atmosphere or environment that can tolerate differences. Thus, we have clubs ranging from neuroscience to improv comedy, ballroom dance to boxing, political alignment and more.

Not only does USC provide a safe environment, but we as a student body are encouraged to speak up and use our First Amendment rights.

The USC chapter of Turning Point USA protested in August this year against the mask mandate set by the university.

“USC was very welcoming to the idea,” event coordinator Madison Owens, secondyear criminal justice student, said. “They were very respectful, and they set up a stage for us to speak with a microphone on Greene Street after we protested on the Horseshoe. So, it was very, very helpful, the way they set things up.

They were making sure that things stayed, like, peaceful and civil.”

The protest upset many students and was even met by the Carolina Socialists, who protested against Turning Point USA. With the support USC currently offers, we should be able to confidently vocalize our beliefs, regardless of their popularity or lack thereof.

We should also expect to be countered by those who oppose us.

The Gamecocks are a community, and as long as we’re not inciting violence, spewing hate or forcing our beliefs on others, we should be able to maintain a respectful atmosphere.

Let us continue the tradition of protest at USC with open minds and passion.

The USC Turning Point USA chapter and the Carolina Socialists protest on the Horseshoe over the mask mandate. The mask mandate was put in place by interim university President Harris Pastides on Aug. 18, 2021.

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Photo: Jerry Bowen

THE BUILDING, BLAZING OF TIGER BURN

Michael Wood

I

n 1902, a hard-fought football game between Clemson and South Carolina ended 12-6, with the Gamecocks taking the victory. The game was an upset, and both fanbases were fired up.

As if the loss itself wasn’t bad enough for Clemson fans, a drawing was made that depicted a Gamecock standing proudly over a beaten tiger. This image sent a mob of Clemson cadets after the fans who bore the symbol, leading to a standoff that almost broke out into a barrage of bullets.

To stop the mob from further damage, an agreement was made: To set the image on fire. As it burned, Clemson fans cheered for the Gamecocks. Today, we honor this event by burning a tiger every year before we play Clemson in the Palmetto Bowl.

For almost 15 years, the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has been building the tiger used at the modern Tiger Burn event.

Building this tiger is no easy task. It takes about 30 engineering students to put it together using wood and metal for the skeleton and paper and poultry wire for the decoration.

Ross McDaniel is a fourth-year mechanical engineering student and president of ASME. He said in past years, organizing the engineers was the hardest part of building the tiger, but this year, it seems the design itself is the most intricate part.

Instead of an actual Tiger Burn last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a design competition for the Tiger Burn in 2020 to design the tiger for this year. The design for the tiger this year uses more complex shapes than normal, McDaniel said.

“In years past, you would see a very boxy design, so it's basically just a bunch of cubes stacked on top of each other. There's a lot more angles that go into this one,” McDaniel said.

The engineers are set to put the tiger together through Nov. 22, the day of the burn. On the final day, the tiger is transported in pieces to the pep rally, where thousands of students await the cremation of the Clemson tiger.

At the event, USC students gather around the three-story-tall tiger to watch it burn and crumble. As the tiger is lit, a raucous crowd of Gamecocks praises the destruction of the hated Clemson tiger. The band begins to blast the fight song while the smell of burning wood is filling the air. As the tiger becomes a raging fire, "Sandstorm" is played.

McDaniel said the inperson energy is exciting.

"I don’t know how it could not be exciting,” he said.

McDaniel said anticipation for the event is building as some Gamecock fans believe South Carolina could beat Clemson in the football rivalry this year.

Clemson has won the last six Palmetto Bowls; one short of its longest win streak against South Carolina. The burn ends with the South Carolina alma mater as the tiger smolders and dies out.

Taylor Harris is another engineer for the Tiger Burn and a fourth-year mechanical engineering student. "(The tigers) get better and better every year and just be a part of that starting spot where people

can just — future engineers can improve on where we were," Harris said. "I'm just pushing my legacy onto future engineers with this Tiger Burn.”

Courtney Buzan, the assistant director for campus programs, said the building and burning of the tiger is about the “fueling of an awesome student ingenuity and creativity on this campus."

"At the core of what this event is, it is promoting the exploration and research and creativity of the student population,” Buzan said.

Illustration: Sydnie Tramontina 27

Palmetto Bowl rivalry crosses sports to pit Gamecocks against Tigers Lawson Murrell

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he University of South Carolina and its instate neighbor, Clemson University, are the co-authors of the most storied collegiate rivalry in the Palmetto State.

Athletic teams and fans of the Gamecocks and the Tigers regularly make the 129mile journey between the respective campuses with great anticipation for contests that always deliver excitement.

Williams-Brice Stadium is the biannual host of one of the highest profile football games in the country each year. The game was first played in 1896 and was played consecutively from

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1909 to 2019, until the COVID-19 pandemic ended the streak.

According to the Palmetto Bowl’s website, the 111game streak “was the longest continuous non-conference rivalry in the nation, the second longest continuous rivalry in Division I college football, and the longest uninterrupted rivalry series in the south.”

Along with football, nearly every South Carolina Division I and club sports team has a rivalry match, meet or game against the Tigers. In February 2021, amid concern surrounding the pandemic, South Carolina baseball was able to fit a series against Clemson into its schedule for the 122nd and 123rd editions of the rivalry.

“Great environment.

It didn’t feel like there was a pandemic — that was as loud a crowd as I’ve heard in a long time. It was just great to be out there. Two good teams getting after it, competing,” Gamecock baseball head coach Mark Kingston said at a press conference after the second game of the series.

This school year, the rivalry has already played out on the soccer pitch, with men’s and women’s soccer each traveling to Clemson in early September. New men’s soccer head coach Tony Annan admired the intensity of the rivalry after his team saw two players sent off with red cards en-route to a loss.

“It’s pretty impossible to outmatch such a great team like

Clemson at their home stadium, which was fantastic tonight, the fanbase and Clemson are a very, very, very good team,” Annan said postgame.

After a 2018 victory over the Tigers from a late goal, women’s soccer head coach Shelley Smith commented on the importance of the win in front of a record-breaking crowd.

“Against our rival, you know, obviously we want to get the win and we want to keep progressing as a team,” Smith said at a postgame press conference. “I think tonight we did that, and to do that against a strong team like Clemson, and when the emotions are high, and to be able to play through it and get the job done, I’m very proud of these girls.”

Dawn Staley, another coaching legend at South Carolina, outlined the weight of playing against Clemson before her women’s basketball team faced it in November 2019.

“No matter what the record is, no matter what sport it is, it’s a rivalry and we need to do our part in winning a point for the Palmetto Series,” Staley told The State.

Gamecock women’s basketball went on to earn its 10th straight win against Clemson the following week.

With both soccer teams already having faced Clemson and the basketball seasons only just tipping off, Gamecock club hockey continues to give Gamecock students a team to support. On

Oct. 1, the team earned a win in its first of three games against the Tigers, two of which will be at home, with the winner of the best of three earning the Palmetto Cup victory.

“That game, every year, is pretty — seems to be the most anticipated for attendance, and we always seem to have a great showing from our fans on those games,” said Cameron Mecca, senior sports and entertainment management student and club hockey team captain. “Every time we play Clemson at home, it’s always the most packed of the year.”

Illustration: Michelle Ballman

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PHOTO: JATIN PATEL

The south Carolina State fair T

The mother-son juggling duo called Duo Petrov Juggling juggle pins back and forth during the Circus at The State Fair.

he South Carolina State Fair is a widely anticipated event and attending has become a tradition for many. It is the biggest fair in the state, and the colorful attractions, charismatic performers and fun atmosphere draw thousands of people from across the country. This year, the 152nd annual fair was held from Oct. 13, 2021 to Oct. 24, 2021. Through those 12 days and nights, fair-goers enjoyed games, rides, food and fun. The fair serves as a reminder traditions do not have to be ceremonious or formal in order to be significant — the festive, informal and playful State Fair is a part of our shared experience here and keeps people returning for years to come.

People attending the fair line up at a food stand that serves root beer floats and ice cream.

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PHOTO: JOEY ANDERSON

PHOTO: JOEY ANDERSON

A cook frying funnel cakes, a popular confection at the State Fair.

PHOTO: LIZ INTEMANN

PHOTO: LIZ INTEMANN

A man works in a State Fair food stand that sells caramel apples. The food is a big reason many people attend the fair.

The ferris wheel at the South Carolina State Fair Photo: Liz Intemann sits prominently among the rest of the rides.

Photo: Liz Intemann

Photo: Zack Kelly

Empty stools await players at a squirt gun game booth at the Photo: joey anderson State Fair.

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‘Everything has come full circle’: Upperclassmen students get class rings as part of tradition Cora Stone

T

he University of South Carolina Alumni Association presented 550 students with their class rings at the 2021 Fall Ring Ceremony on the Horseshoe on Oct. 17.

Until two decades ago, there was no such ceremony at the University of South Carolina. In 1999, six students began the tradition in Rutledge College, and the event has grown every year since.

“My dad went here, too, so it’s really cool to be here with him today. I just feel really accomplished,” Tanner Behling, a fourth-year marketing student, said.

Jimmy Behling, Tanner’s father, wore his own class ring at the event.

“I still wear my ring every day, although we did not have any event like this while I was a student here,” Jimmy Behling said.

Jimmy Behling’s other two children also attended USC, so this day meant a lot to him, he said.

“We took Tanner to tour other schools and didn’t push her to come here, but she chose to come here. She did all of this on her own and excelled in everything that she did,” Jimmy Behling said.

The event began by recognizing all alumni in the crowd and congratulating the third- and fourthyear students who were receiving their rings.

Interim university President Harris Pastides explained the history of the Horseshoe and the ring ceremony and the significance of the emblem on the rings. The seal quotes the Latin poet Ovid, reading “Emollit Mores Nec Sinit Esse Feros,” which translates to, “learning humanizes character and does not permit it to be cruel.”

Pictured on the face of the rings are the goddess of virtue and the goddess of wisdom, which Pastides said symbolized, “when wisdom and virtue come together, peace will reign.”

The students then received their rings, one by one.

This year marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the university’s alumni association.

Maggie McPherson, a higher education master’s student and graduate assistant for the alumni association, spent months working with Garnet Circle to prepare for the event.

“Coming into this role was a really great experience, especially at this time. I did not attend South Carolina for undergrad, so I really enjoyed being a part of this historic tradition,” McPherson said.

This was also the first ceremony held on the Horseshoe since fall 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chris and Melanie Kennedy, parents of fourthyear global studies student Haley Kennedy, came from Charlottesville, Virginia, for the weekend to watch their daughter receive her ring. They said they were excited to attend a gathering to celebrate her accomplishments.

“There were so many traditions lost in the last year. We are happy to be here to support Haley and attend an event other than a football game,” Chris Kennedy said.

Fourth-year students are the only class still at the university who started their first year with Pastides as president. This made the ring ceremony even more special to some in attendance.

“When I shook his hand, I just kept saying, ‘Thank you,’” Kailey Houck, a fourth-year philosophy student, said.

At the end of the ceremony, the crowd sang the alma mater together. Houck said this made her reminisce about her four years at USC. “I started to get emotional during the ceremony.

I was sitting there thinking, ‘Wow, everything has come full circle,’” Houck said.

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Staff at the frat lot, a popular tailgate event for USC students, unload alcoholic drinks from a truck, which were sold to attending patrons with drink tickets.

From dirt lot T to party spot:

Fraternity Lot continues to be tailgating staple AMELIA FARRELL

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he Fraternity Lot, an organized and iconic tailgating event at USC, is a popular, essential part of many students’ game day plans.

Every home football game, 14 fraternities gather to set up stages, tents and large speakers on Shop Road in a fenced-in dirt lot near the football stadium, where hours of booming music and a celebratory atmosphere hype up partygoers ahead of the game.

In the years since the start of the frat lot, the event has grown rapidly, securing itself as a pillar of student tailgating life. Currently, the event brings out thousands of South Carolina students, including anyone with a ticket. To get in, attendees must be 18 or older and have

ALL PHOTOS: AMELIA FARRELL

a wristband; men must be given a wristband through a frat connection, and women can purchase wristbands online.

“Kids come to this school for the Fraternity Lot,” Alex Waelde, head administrator of the Fraternity Lot, said.

Waelde, a USC alumnus, originally organized multiple fraternities to tailgate on a single lot in 2016.

USC fraternities held these largescale tailgate-type events in the past, with no previous ticketing systems or infrastructure. But Waelde said with the official Fraternity Lot event, formerly separate Interfraternity Council members have been brought together.

“I was able to unify the majority of Greek life together, put them on one lot,” Waelde said. “It’s helped the community health, as well, because now there’s a lot of people that actually do stuff together because of the Fraternity Lot.” Anderson Reese, a junior political science student and Phi Gamma Delta social chair, said the frat lot provides a consistent opportunity for people to come together and show support for the school, regardless of what might be going on during game day.

The event has even continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. After a cease in operations in fall 2020, the frat lot started back up in spring 2021 and currently has no vaccination requirements for its attendees.

Fourth-year chemical engineering student Brianna Defrank has been going to the frat lot since her freshman year. She said she enjoys the social aspect of the tailgate.

“It’s an opportunity for everyone to get together, all my friends; it’s the one time we all have to see each other. And it’s a nice

way, after finishing classes for the week, to let all that stress go and enjoy the time here,” Defrank said.

Pi Kappa Phi social chair and fourthyear marketing and event management student Michael Eulner said the frat lot is the fundamental social event of USC, while Reese says the event contributes to the hype around school spirit.

“Pretty much everyone’s week, socially, revolves around the frat lot, which is a big indicator that it’s probably one of the highlights of most people’s college experience here,” Eulner said about his fraternity community.

Despite the established popularity, the event does not have an perfect reputation.

The prevalence of underage drinking has often led to increased police activity and even hospitalizations of attendees from dehydration or alcohol poisoning, according to Waelde.

Changes have been put in place to address these safety concerns, with pushback from attendees. Outside alcoholic drinks are not allowed in, and hard liquor is

USC students gather under a fraternity tent at the frat lot: a popular tailgate event held before every home game.

banned from the property.

Waelde, having witnessed other tailgates shut down over the years, said he felt the tradeoff for an event without increased safety restrictions would be no tailgate tradition at all.

“It wasn’t a popular decision, but by doing it, again, it preserved the operation of the lot. You know what I always say is like, ‘Would you rather have a tailgate lot with no liquor, or nothing?” Waelde said.

The lot has brought in a third-party vendor to serve drinks at a central bar after checking IDs using forensic scanners.

With some increased safety measures in place, the frat lot has maintained its role as a tailgating staple, and it remains a popular student event for the 2021 football season. Waelde said he expects the cultural influence of the tailgate event to carry forward, hopefully, for years to come.

“We are always trying our best to balance fun, safety and compromise when it comes to tailgate, so, you know, we want the frat lot to be open for 10 more years, not 10 more months,” Waelde said.

Frat members and attendees of the frat lot dance to music and party under a tent, courtesy of a fraternity.

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USC theater traditions create sense of belonging among students Zane Heinlein

T

he size of the University of South Carolina’s student body might make it daunting to meet new people and find a niche. Within the USC Department of Theatre and Dance, traditions such as Circle Night and shared superstitions allow students to create a community where they belong.

Circle Night occurs before the opening night of a performance, with theater majors and minors, donors to the program and professors being invited to the last dress rehearsal of the process.

It is a time of unity for the department, where everyone can gather and watch a USC show, sometimes for the first time. Following Circle Night, there is typically a student-only party, according to Cameron Giordano, a fourth-year theater student.

Jesse Breazeale, a fourth-year visual communications student with a theater minor who has attended the parties since their freshman year, said it’s a way to celebrate the difficult work the students contributed to in the past month. At this gathering, Breazeale said students, both in and out of the show, can socialize with one another, discuss the performance and feel more connected to the theater community.

Giordano said because of these traditions, those attending bond over the show.

“I am at a Circle Night party, and I’m with another person that I did not even know 20 minutes ago, but I know, we’re both a part of this community. We both are part of the Circle Night. So, obviously, we both matter in the context of the bigger community,” Breazeale said.

The OverReactors Improv, the studentled improv theater troupe at USC, also employs traditions that help students get to know one another.

Breazeale, who served as the troupe’s president last year, said one of the club’s main traditions is that at the end of each open rehearsal, everyone forms a circle and acquaints themselves with the person on their right and says “got your back” to them. The significance of this tradition is

that it assures students there is someone on doesn’t matter if you are tall, short, if you campus they can turn to. are skinny, if you are not skinny, what skin “When we’re in a scene, even outside of color you have, what sexual orientation scenes, even just outside of improv, we have you are, what religion you may or may each other’s backs and we’re supporting each not follow – the theater has always been other at all points,” Breazeale said. incredibly accepting.”

Alongside traditions, superstitions within These traditions and superstitions act as the department are shared collectively a building block, which the students and among students and faculty. faculty utilize to cultivate a family out of Superstitions, such as not whistling in the mere strangers. In a campus of more than wings or backstage and refraining from saying 34,000 students, the theater and improv “Macbeth” while in rehearsal for a show organizations at USC prove there is a (referred to instead as “the Scottish play”), community here that has “got your back.” are widely acknowledged by many, including Lisa Gavaletz, an instructor and production stage manager for the university.

The superstition of whistling backstage originated in the 17th century with sailors, who worked as stagehands. They provided cues by whistling, and a misinterpreted whistle could lead to dangers onstage.

The fear of uttering “Macbeth” in the theater dates back to when it was first performed in 1606, and its productions were afflicted by numerous accidents, with cast members constantly getting sick.

Gavaletz said through these long-lasting superstitions, there is a common ground established between actors and technicians. As a result, a universal experience is shared and expressed throughout the department. Believing in these superstitions reinforces that students are a part of a community even larger than the university itself.

“The theater community Members of the OverReactors Improv troupe Photos: Zane Heinlein often looks at itself as a form a hand stack in a circle as they smile at the camera. family,” Gavaletz said. “It 37

Gamecock Walk allows fans to meet, cheer on football team JOE MACHECA

T

he long-standing tradition of the Gamecock Walk is something fans do not want to miss on a Saturday game day in South Carolina. This tradition was meant to give fans an opportunity to cheer on the players and coaches up close and personal before they enter the stadium for battle.

The tradition took a hiatus during the 2020 COVID-19 restricted season but is back to full capacity for the 2021 season.

The Gamecock Walk takes place when the team arrives at the Long Family Football Operations Center via bus and walks to WilliamsBrice Stadium. The walk totals 704 yards, or just shy of half a mile, through Gamecock Park as fans surround the team with support.

Fans can be seen three or four rows deep at times, so the best bet is to get there early.

The first Gamecock Walk of the Shane Beamer era in Columbia drew a massive crowd, one of the largest in recent history.

“It’s no surprise, but that Gamecock Walk was unbelievable. I’ve been a part of a lot of walks where there’s a lot of people there, but I don’t think I’ve ever been around one that was as loud as that,” Beamer said of the walk at a press conference after the week one win versus Eastern Illinois.

Gamecock football head coach Shane Beamer is first down the aisle made PHOTO:JERRY BOWEN

by Gamecock football during Gamecock Walk.

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The Daily Gamecock interviewed several fans prior to the Vanderbilt game on Oct. 16.

“I’ve been coming ever since I was little,” Rusty, from Aiken, South Carolina, said.

Rusty said his favorite memory from Gamecock Walk was when Steve Spurrier was still head coach.

“When Spurrier was here, too, with Clowney and all that being here — it was a great experience.”

Rusty said. “I liked how he was getting everybody hype, interacting with the people, high-fiving them and everything.”

Wyatt, a friend of Rusty’s also from Aiken, said he’s been coming to the Gamecock Walk for about 15 years. Wyatt said he couldn’t choose his favorite memory from the Gamecock Walk.

“There’s been so many,” Wyatt said. “It seems like it just gets better and better every time they come down.”

Ben from Rock Hill was experiencing his first Gamecock Walk to support his former students.

“I’m really looking forward to it; I’ve got a couple of former students playing in the Carolina Band, so I came down to support them and support the team.” Ben said. “Looking forward to seeing what Beamer’s got this year.”

Emma from Charleston was also a first-timer; she said she was looking forward to seeing the players and having the experience.

The Daily Gamecock also ran into some seasoned veterans at Gamecock Walk.

Sandra from Atlanta was one of them. She said she’s been coming to Gamecock walk for about 40 years. She was with her grandson and keeping the tradition alive.

Sandra was excited for the Shane Beamer era of Gamecock football, saying, “I think we have the right coach — he wants to be here, he’s full of enthusiasm, and he’s a wonderful man.”

Tim Davis from Rock Hill, South Carolina, was at the Gamecock Walk to give his 14-year-old son the experience for the first time.

Edward Allison from Sumter, South Carolina, said he looks forward to “everything.”

Gamecock Walk brings the energy fans need to make Williams-Brice Stadium an electric atmosphere time and time again.

Gamecock football players interact with fans down Gamecock Walk.

Gamecock fans stop traffic on Bluff Road between Williams-Brice Stadium and Gamecock Park for Gamecock Walk.

Sir Big Spur IV perched on his robotic tank built by College of Engineering PHOTOS:JERRY BOWEN and Computing students and funded by College of Nursing students.

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FOREVER TO THEE: USC alumni reminisce on university experience Isabella Paras

A

t the beginning of one's college journey, it is often said the next four years will be extremely memorable and will remain significant for the rest of your life.

At the University of South Carolina, this has remained true for many alumni.

Notable figures from all over the country feel a strong influence from their time at USC has had a great impact on their life choices and, especially, their values, making their experiences forever valuable.

Scott Eisberg, a sports news anchor for ABC News 4 in Charleston, said his experiences at USC helped him discover his passions and led to the cultivation of his career. Eisberg graduated from USC in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in business.

“When it came to journalism stuff, I really put my time and effort into it," Eisberg said. "(The School of Journalism and Mass Communications) gave me hands-on training … We had everything that you would have in a regular TV station.”

When asked about his biggest career boost attained from attending the university, Eisberg said his experience at USC helped him obtain internships.

“Internships are tremendous; I mean, those skills, you’ve got to put the work in,” Eisberg said. “(Having) a resume tape that was filled with anchoring and stories that I had done at South Carolina, that was the biggest thing — that I had that real-life experience.”

Kent Babb, a sports features writer for the Washington Post who graduated from USC in 2004 with a bachelor of arts in journalism, said

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his time at the University of South Carolina helped him shape his career into something he never anticipated.

Babb said he wanted to go to law school originally, but his professors helped him realize journalism was for him more than law school. Babb said his biggest takeaway from USC was his career-trajectory change.

“I wanted to go to law school. I did not want to have a career in journalism because lawyers make money and journalists, traditionally, don't. I never really loved the idea of being an attorney," Babb said.

“Something you think you should do is never a good enough reason.”

Bakari Sellers, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and political analyst, graduated

from USC’s School of Law with a Juris Doctor in Law in 2008. He also said his experience at the university helped him form his career and shaped his values as a person.

Sellers said he had difficulties in school, including missing class and taking a summer semester due to being in the Statehouse.

Additionally, his college experience was made harder by his political presence and activism, but his connections at USC helped him become the person he is today, alongside helping facilitate the drive to succeed, he said.

“Being in law school at the University of South Carolina helped mold who I was," Sellers said. "What the environment and community taught me was the value of relationships and perseverance."

Furthermore, specific figures at USC have helped Sellers maintain his tenacity for becoming who he is, he said.

Sellers said he would not have had this success story without people he respected and held to be personally important.

During his time, he always had individuals who ensured he walked with his head up and had the courage to continue.

It was this USC community that Sellers attributes to his successes.

"The number one currency that you have is relationships," Sellers said. "Make sure to value relationships as much as you can."

Alumni who come out of the University of South Carolina all have a narrative specific to their path, but the one common denominator is their college experience.

Illustration: Sabrina Hampton

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Student body president position grows alongside university HALEY KATHRYN CAPPS

T

he evolution of cultural climates and students’ needs required the adaptation of the student body president’s responsibilities and role as a student leader.

According to Anna Edwards, associate vice president for the Department of Student Life, the student body president is meant to be the “voice of students” and to advocate for changes that enhance the student experience at the USC Columbia campus.

The student body president also upholds constitutional codes and bylaws, appears before the student senate and presides over the entire organization of Student Government.

“The student body president, and the goals and execution of their role, really models that, of what happens around us,” Edwards said.

However, the goals of past student body presidents have changed in order to adapt to new circumstances and the changing needs of USC students.

Edwards said when students get into the role of president, it oftentimes becomes apparent that some of the goals they want to achieve are more difficult than they originally thought, due to there being “a couple fundamental things that have to happen before we get to that particular need or desire.”

Issy Rushton’s term as student body president saw shifts in society and public safety that required her office to pivot its focus to more pressing issues at hand.

“She was very quickly forced into leading during a pandemic and leading during social unrest and injustices with the death — or, the 42

A framed photo of the 2021-2022 student body government PHOTO: LIZ INTEMANN leaders hanging in the Leadership and Service Center.

murder of — George Floyd, and so that required her and her team to navigate and reshift where their priorities were going to be,” Edwards said.

From gaining a seat on the board of trustees to leading amidst protests of the Vietnam War on campus, the student body president has grown with the university. Harry Walker, USC’s first Black student body president, made advancements for women’s rights on campus and gained national attention as the first Black student body president of a major university in the United States.

Elected in 1971, Walker’s administration established hotlines for women to receive counseling in case of pregnancy and created a cabinet position for co-ed affairs. Although the executive cabinet no longer has a position for co-ed affairs, USC currently offers pregnancy counseling for its students through Student Health Services.

According to Victoria Eslinger, the secretary of co-ed affairs under Walker’s administration, Walker’s campaign for student body president was groundbreaking in his outreach to the student population.

“He’d done things that other candidates before had not done. He went, he talked to the foreign students. He talked to the women.

He talked to people whose needs were not being met by the university, and he was very much embraced,” Eslinger said. “In fact, there was no runoff.”

Luther Battiste, Walker’s campaign manager, said Walker represented a change at USC both through who he was and through his

goals for the campus.

“In the past, you had a typical type of person that was student body president. Usually somebody who was in a sorority or fraternity, somebody came from an old, well-connected political family. You know, Harry was none of that. You know, by his ethnicity, his background, hair. It was different,” Battiste said.

Walker also attributed his electoral success to the diversity of students he gained support from.

“We decided to make a run not as an African-American students organization, but as a student who was supported by a diversity of students, because our campaign council was made up of students of all races. We had students who were not only male and female, but both Black and white. We had some of the foreign students who were involved in our campaign, so we started off as a much more diverse operation than the university had ever seen,” Walker said.

According to Edwards, every student body president is different, but one thing that remains the same is the support they receive from the teams of other students assisting them. Student Government staff members, advisers, executive cabinet members and student advisers all help make up the support system that assists in executing the responsibilities of the student body president.

“There are teams that help that person navigate these waters, and to adjust priorities, and to develop strategic plans, and then help execute those plans because it can’t be a oneperson show,” Edwards said.

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The Graveyard Shift is South Carolina women’s soccer team’s secret weapon Griffin Goodwyn

A

ttending a women's soccer game at Stone Stadium brings with it a unique combination of sights and sounds — the thud of the ball launching off a player’s foot, Cocky meandering through the stands to interact with fans and the familiar playing of Sandstorm after every goal.

The most distinct game day noise comes from the opposite end of the stadium, which the drum-playing supporters’ group, Graveyard Shift, calls home.

Inspired by supporters’ groups of professional soccer clubs across the country, Alex Dingman, a Columbia native

and passionate soccer fan, said he wanted to bring a similar organization to the University of South Carolina. A landmark NCAA rule change in 2016, lifting a ban on noisemakers in college stadiums, provided him with that opportunity.

“We had that idea, then the rules got changed,” Dingman said.

“So, we were like, 'Okay, we can actually — we can do this now.'”

The group’s name was inspired by the graveyard a short distance away from the stadium, but the moniker Graveyard Shift was not the original idea Dingman had in mind, he said.

The Graveyard Shift band plays at home soccer games across the field.

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Photo: Joey Anderson

“Originally, our name was the Grave Diggers, and that was shot down by the university really quickly,” Dingman said.

“The backup name was like, Graveyard Shift. We said that, and they were like, ‘Oh, we love Graveyard Shift.’”

Justin Lewis, another Graveyard Shift member and lifelong Gamecock fan, said Graveyard Shift prides itself on its ability to provide the South Carolina women’s soccer team with a distinct home-field advantage against its opponents.

“We want to create an atmosphere where, when people come to play, it’s like, ‘Ugh, crap, we’ve got to go to South Carolina this week. It’s going to be loud.

I don’t want to deal with this,'” Lewis said.

Dingman further specified these efforts to “play with the game.” He said the intensity of the group's drumming depends on in-game situations.

“When we’re attacking or when we're pressing hard, we try to play faster,” Dingman said.

“If we’re on defense, we try to get slower, but still loud.”

All Graveyard Shift members can agree, though, that the most important part of what they do is forming a strong bond with players, the university itself and the local community.

Additionally, they support the growth of women’s sports, opening up more opportunities that had not existed previously.

“With some sports, like baseball, you have minor leagues, and college baseball is still present,” Graveyard Shift drummer Stephen Summerlin said. “But there's a few sports where, to get to the national

level, and the international level — there are not a lot of stepping-stones for women’s athletics, in general.”

Dingman said pursuing this vision has been a personally fulfilling journey, especially in regard to the relationships he has created with players on the team.

“It means the world to me,” Dingman said. “When we started this, we didn’t expect to really have true support from the team the way that we do.”

While promoting these core values, Graveyard Shift has celebrated all of the South Carolina women’s soccer team’s recent successes, including an important piece of hardware it earned after the 2019 season.

“Seeing the girls actually just get that (SEC) Championship, and just the way they've played even deep into the NCAA Tournament, it's been a joy,” Summerlin said.

Overall, Graveyard Shift sees a level of excitement that comes with every game and supporting one of the best-run women’s soccer programs in the country.

“The team itself is just, they're exciting to watch. They’re always high energy, the games are always really well done," Summerlin said. “Coach Shelley (Smith), she's just done such a great job here; she really has.”

Regardless of the result of each match, Graveyard Shift will continue attending South Carolina's home games and will support the women’s soccer team in any way it can. In the process, it will provide students and families with a match day experience unlike any other.

C olumn:

Carolina versus Clemson rivalry builds, gives back to community Julia Goulet

T

he USC and Clemson rivalry, which spans over a century, is a healthy competition that bolsters students’ school spirit.

The infamous rivalry between the two most prominent universities in South Carolina has most residents answering the question: Clemson or Carolina? Both students and alumni from each school do whatever they can to prove their school is better.

Many people think this rivalry started because of football, but it’s much more than that, according to Andy Doyle, Winthrop’s associate professor of history. Doyle studies Southern history with a focus on sports history, including an article on Southern football.

“The history of the rivalry is rooted in class distinction in the state of South Carolina,” Doyle said.

USC was a college for the elite, while Clemson, known as an excellent agriculture school, was a trade school where kids could go to learn blue-collar work and “did not cater to the elite,” according to Doyle. When football came to the South from the North after the Civil War, universities Southern elites, such as Carolina, w e r e opposed to the idea of football. So while schools such as Clemson that embraced football were getting better, Carolina was not on the same

level.

Doyle said this is because Clemson was a university that embodied the “New South ideology,” while Carolina was much more traditionalist during the time football was being introduced to the South.

After years of playing and Clemson dominating the football scene, in 1902 Clemson came to South Carolina for the annual game. The Carolina team had a banner with Cocky perched on top of a dead tiger’s head. This, of course, didn’t go over well with the Clemson players, because it violated an ethos of honor throughout the South.

“A man’s honor is his most prized possession, and you cannot let another man insult you, humiliate you, call you a liar, call you a thief, get in your face and publicly challenge your honor,” Doyle said.

There, the rivalry was born. The tiger burn, where engineering students present the gigantic tiger they’ve been working on for the entire semester for students to burn, is a perfect example of the animosity between the two schools.

According to Doyle, USC won that game in 1902, and there was a big parade to celebrate. Clemson was a military school for decades, so students brought swords to defend its honor, where they were met with knives and guns on the Carolina side.

This led to a riot, and the annual game was canceled until 1909.

Almost every year since 1896, USC and Clemson have played each other in the Palmetto Bowl. The Palmetto bowl was the longest continuous non-conference rivalry and went uninterrupted from 1908 until 2020, when it was not held due to COVID-19. Currently, the score stands at Clemson with 70 wins, Carolina with 43 and four ties.

While this rivalry has mostly been about football, it has sparked both schools to

participate in school spirit and help their community. Most years, a week before the big game between South Carolina and Clemson, the schools have a competitive blood drive. Students, faculty, staff and anyone else in the community are encouraged to bleed garnet or orange for their team.

Over the past three decades, the universities have collected over 100,000 pints of blood for people in need right before the holiday season. This blood drive allows healthy competition between the two schools and gives back to the community.

Another competition the two universities have throughout the year concerns flu shots — students who get their flu shot self-report it to a survey to see which campus gets the most.

Although it might be rooted in bad blood, this rivalry is now something that South Carolinians can take pride in and use to give back to their community. This football game every year is a way to bring everyone together to cheer on their team, and while, unfortunately, Carolina loses most of the time, it’s still a fun thing to look forward to and participate in with other students.

Illustration: Kaitlyn Gough 45

USC Horseshoe continues to create peaceful area for all

Ashley Schatzle

T

ripping on the Horseshoe bricks is inescapable and embarrassing, and being told that it’s bound to happen doesn’t make it feel any better. Despite this, the long-standing history and traditions — such as tripping — from the Horseshoe have helped to make the student experience for many years.

There are many reasons for students to be attracted to the Horseshoe’s atmosphere.

It is a central focus for the university and a never-ending feature of campus tours and photography. Its scenic views are an important part of the university.

The park-like area creates a safe place for students, which can make it easier to relax, according to Hannah Glassie, a fourth-year public health student.

Students find peace at the Horseshoe because it’s calming, but also because it reminds students of where they come from.

“I came to USC because it was a big school, but it seems small because of the campus, and I think a big part of that is the Horseshoe; (it) makes it feel like it’s one, like, united space,” Sophie Grimsley, a fourthyear environmental science student, said.

According to Anna Grace Maher, a firstyear pre-business student, her favorite part of the Horseshoe is the feeling it gives her.

For her, being between the trees, the sun and the ambiance of the area remind her of home.

Other than the atmosphere of the Horseshoe, the history remains a central part of the university. The historical buildings create the shape of the Horseshoe. The brick pathways students walk on were once dirt, and the brick walls, which act as one of the entrances to the Horseshoe, were originally there to keep students in at night. Later, they became the protector of the Horseshoe, preventing fire from spreading to campus during the Civil War. “While you’re sitting there, you know, there were students at one time looking at this same tree in 1920,” Chris Horn, director of editorial projects on campus, said.

Generations go by, and yet, students tend to stay almost the same. The Horseshoe remains an area where students can focus on work or indulge in hobbies and passions outside of schoolwork. Not as much separates students as they might think; nothing beats how almost every student has tripped over the bricks. It’s a rite of passage heightened by the shoes students tend to wear.

“I have one pair of shoes that had, like, all the tread worn off, and whenever it was

raining I’d slip on all the bricks while I was walking to class,” Grimsley said.

Being uneven enough to trip over isn’t all the bricks are known for. A big tradition for the Horseshoe is for graduates to purchase a brick engraved with their name, and anything else they wish to include on it, when they graduate as a way to forever include the students that walked these pathways.

“It’s something I’m going to remember about the Horseshoe after I graduate and when I move somewhere else,” Glassie said.

With these bricks, the school tells a story and allows students to leave their mark.

There are generations of students who still have a place at USC due to these bricks; they’re a way to not be forgotten. One of the best parts of this tradition is the length in which it lasts.

“I guess you could carve your initials into a tree, but that wouldn’t be very nice, and after a while, they would fade away; so, presumably, the bricks will be out there for a long time,” Horn said.

These bricks are living history; a tradition that keeps students’ presence alive well after they’ve left the university. Almost everyone takes a tumble, but the Horseshoe is still a place where students can find peace and home throughout the day.

Illustration: Sydney Lako

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VIBE CHECK:

your monthly horoscope Jennifer Shepherd

Home recharges you this year. Keep improving your nest for family comfort. Shifting tides rock you and your partner this autumn, before winter profits rain down. Passion flowers anew this spring, motivating you to grow in new summer directions. Family harmony radiates from the heart.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Household matters take priority. Contribute to a family cause. Make domestic renovations and repairs.

Clarify misunderstandings. Don’t push someone who’s stuck. Provide patient support.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) Take charge for the professional results you want.

Consider consequences before committing time or money. Complete a tricky project to begin something more fun.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Discipline is required to make your deadlines. Stay in communication around a barrier. Creativity could seem distant or blocked. Edit and refine carefully.

Gemini (May 21-June 20) Investigate and explore. Avoid risk or expense and stick to reliable solutions. Don’t rely on an unstable source. Verify facts before releasing public statements.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Gather ingredients for a profitable day, and patiently let things stew. Postpone expensive purchases until funds are together. Avoid financial discussions.

Prepare for later.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) Focus on practical financial management. Do what you said you would. Avoid arguments or fuss.

Patiently prepare your contribution. Collaborate for shared gain.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Prepare to launch a personal project. Wait for better conditions while you plan and prepare. Values could get tested. Stay true to yourself.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) Extra patience with your partner pays off. Avoid provocation, irritation or sensitivities. Don’t get pushy.

Share your view. Listen carefully to all considerations to advance.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) Private activities can soothe sensitive nerves.

Avoid controversy or upset. Take it easy and postpone unnecessary tasks. Wash stress away with hot water and relaxation.

Aries (March 21-April 19) Disciplined teamwork gets satisfying results.

Coordinate before pushing. Wait until everyone is ready. Think quickly but move slowly. Put the pieces in place first.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Disciplined efforts get satisfying results. Don’t push into a brick wall, though. Patiently look for a practical workaround. Practice to build health and energy.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Relax and focus on fun creative projects. Expect delays, errors or misunderstandings. Allow extra time to develop desired results. Practice patience and persistence.

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Crossword

By Jennifer Lee and Victor Galson Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis ACROSS 1 Nike competitor 6 “Don’t mind __” 11 Popcorn buy 14 Shroud 15 Schlepped 16 Toon storekeeper who was once in a barbershop quartet 17 Call of the wild?

19 Kennel club category 20 Postings at ORD 21 Some are considered essential 22 Pair to wear 24 Wielder of the hammer Mjölnir 26 Sourdough unit 27 Call of the wild?

32 Popular chip 34 Arrests 35 Density symbol, in physics 36 “Superman” surname 37 Vacancy sign 39 Uppity sort 40 Person who’s usually good?

41 Informal title used seven times in “Bohemian Rhapsody” 42 Chap 43 Call of the wild?

47 Zippo part 48 Barack’s 2012 opponent 49 Influencer’s concern 51 New Orleans’ __ Du Monde 53 Try to get the attention of 48

57 Chow down 58 Call of the wild?

61 Story __ 62 Heart, for one 63 What captions can capture 64 “I’ve seen better” 65 “Get Out” Oscar winner Jordan

66 Endow, as with talent DOWN 1 Want a lot, with “for” 2 Schedule space 3 __ caucuses 4 Sch. with 23 campuses 5 What powderhounds do

6 Celeb of the moment 7 Turkey, e.g.

8 Medical suffix 9 Super Bowl party site 10 Big part of the gig economy 11 Casual parting 12 In the know about

13 Bargains 18 Gamer more likely to get pwned 23 Inner __ 25 “Last Week Tonight” airer 26 Pride letters 27 Catch up on, in a way 28 Relative challenge for some 29 Half a 2010s dance craze 30 “Yeah, sure” 31 Asian beef city 32 Passed (by) fast 33 Latest thing 37 Drop precipitously 38 Texter’s “Wow!” 39 Lazy

41 [I’m out] 42 Classic sandwich, for short 44 One standing in an alley 45 “Really, no damage” 46 Property claim 49 Gymnastics event 50 Like a double rainbow 51 Guinea pig’s pad 52 Disappearing Asian sea 54 Staffer 55 Van Gogh subject 56 Some summer newcomers 59 Resource in the board game Catan 60 Dubious “gift”

PUZZLE SOLUTION 49

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