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The storm had almost cleared. The bad news riding the tail of USC athletics had almost lost its grip. It was all too good to be true.
USC received its punishment from the NCAA for violations of policy, and to the delight of fans, a postseason game is still a possibility this fall. No players have been arrested, suspended or court-martialed in the last month. It was almost a scandalous day.
That was until the most stable figure in USC sports history found himself on the receiving end of an unexpected dismissal from the athletics department staff.
If you've been a Gamecock fan for a long time, the name Bob Fulton should mean something to you. If not, let me introduce you.
Fulton was the play-by-play commentator for USC football, basketball and some baseball games for 43 years. He was renowned as one of the premiere commentators in college sports history and a figure that shined like a beacon to fans everywhere.
The eight-time South Carolina Broadcaster of the Year outlasted nine football coaches, 13 basketball coaches and 11 athletics directors during his tenure at USC. When he called his final season in 1995, the Gamecock basketball team honored Fulton by retiring a jersey that read "Fulton - The Voice of the Gamecocks."
When he finally came out from behind the microphone, Fulton became a consultant to the athletics department, and was a tutor to USC's current play-by-play announcers Todd Ellis, Mike Morgan and Casey Manning.
Despite all that Fulton had done for Carolina sports, it wasn't enough to save him from being released by the new athletics administration earlier in the week.
Fulton was told by an athletics department assistant over the phone and in a letter that his services would no longer be needed. The department said they couldn't "budget" anything for him, and they were having to "cut expenses."
This was said to a man whose highest grossing year finished at $29,000, while other commentators around the South were earning upwards of $100,000.
What makes the whole story so depressing is that Fulton never even got to speak to new Athletics Director Eric Hyman, the man who put the actions into motion.
Repeated calls to the athletics department office turned up nothing but a dead end. No one wanted to take responsibilities for this senseless act and could offer no justification for it. Every time someone picked up the phone, I was transferred to another office or department and received less answers than before.
The no-response factor speaks for itself. No one seemed to man up and take responsibility for their actions, leaving fans guessing what the thought process behind the drastic steps taken was.
While I talked with Fulton, he never said a cross word about the incident. The harshest tone he took during our conversation was that he was called by someone he didn't even know and told the news.
This man knew legendary basketball coach Frank McGuire better than anyone in the state of South Carolina. At 85, Fulton is still traveling the state to banquets and dinners promoting the school he holds dearest. He even introduces his longtime friend and Heisman winning running back George Rogers at gatherings, doing such as recently as Saturday.
When Fulton wrote his autobiography "Hello Everybody! This is Bob Fulton," many thought some of the actions behind closed doors would come out into the open. Instead, Fulton shared his stories and remembrances of seasons and people he'd met from a positive perspective, all while keeping some of the stuff he'd probably seen away from the public.
And this is how you repay him?
Bob Fulton is the definition of a great sports journalist. His character and work ethic have set him apart from others since he stepped behind a microphone. He lived out every sporting professional's dream, staying in a community that loved and embraced him for years and going out as a winner (his final football game was Carolina's CarQuest Bowl victory against West Virginia in 1995). Fulton has more integrity in his thumb than many involved in sports today have in their entire being. To throw him aside like this should mortify fans of the garnet and black beyond anything that has come out of USC camp since last November.
When it was all said and done, Fulton provided me with a hint of hope, saying that Hyman requested to have lunch with him before the season opener against UCF. His hopes were that Hyman would see what an asset he would be to the program and that he might be able to resume his duties with the department.
Coming from a friend of Fulton, the man who is the definition of the ultimate gentleman and sportsman, this is my advice to Hyman: Don't cut your ties with USC's shining representation of integrity, something this university needs now more than ever.
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