The Daily Gamecock

"Nothing ever gets in his way": USC fan celebrates 265-game streak

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He had a dream about it.

He was in the middle of the field at Williams-Brice Stadium. He started off the cheer. To his right, fans yelled “game”; to his left, they screamed “cocks.” The stands were packed with garnet, black and passion. Sandstorm played. The team ran out. He gave them a pep talk, telling them if he could get up and get to the game, they could go out there and play it.

And then he woke up.

NO. 1 FAN

Some people call Kirk Hollingsworth USC’s No. 1 fan. After all, he dreams about starting off the Gamecocks cheer and he's been to 265 football games.

That’s not a typo: over the last 32 years, this man has been to 265 football games.

Home or away, rain or shine, Hollingsworth rolls onto a bus on his motorized wheelchair every week and heads to wherever the Gamecocks are playing.

After 265 games and the roller coaster of a season the Gamecocks have had, you’d probably dream of giving them a pep talk, too.

“We haven’t been too hot,” he said. “All good teams take their lumps, and this is the lump year. We’ll get back on track.”

With two hours until the Gamecocks faced South Alabama Saturday, he humbly explained his impressive streak’s beginnings. But the way he tells it, it really isn't that big of a deal.

“There’s more people with bigger records than I’ve got,” he said. “I’m just a Carolina fan, just an average Joe.”

In 1982, he started to go to Gamecock games with his parents. For 10 years, he went to every home game, and as he got older, he followed the team to every match. He wasn't doing it for the streak, though — he was just watching the guys play.

“Well, the numbers kept increasing,” he said, “and hey, I’ve been having fun going.”

Saturday’s match against South Alabama was the big day: the big 2-6-5. Hollingsworth  had told his neighbors about his dream. That’s when Cathy Walker and Sandra Byrd kicked into high gear, making their Gamecock fanatic of a neighbor’s dream come true.

THE DREAM TEAM

When Hollingsworth told her about his dream, Walker went to Byrd. The ladies — both on the shorter side, with dark hair and big voices — threw together a celebration to celebrate Hollingsworth’s milestone. They ordered a cake, got a football signed by Steve Spurrier and hung up banners all over the Stadium Village parking lot.

“Really, the vision started when he had expressed that he had that dream because the Gamecocks were just performing poorly this year and he wanted to give a pep talk,” Byrd said. “I thought, ‘Well, how difficult could that be? Let’s go for it.’”

Byrd is one of many who will tell you Hollingsworth is USC’s No. 1 fan. She’ll tell you to check out his Facebook, where he has albums full of himself with athletes and posts about every sport. Or click over to his Twitter, she'll say, where he has over 3,800 followers. His handle is @theUSC — it doesn’t get much more Gamecock than that.

Byrd and Walker  invited their Stadium Village neighbors to the celebration and readied the festivities. But they wanted to do something more.

“[Hollingsworth] said, ‘You know what I’d really like to do?’” Walker said. “He said ‘I’d really like to talk to the team before they go out. I’d just like them to know that I go and do all this and they can get out there and they can do it.’”

So they got in touch with USC Chaplain Adrian Despres and together, they’re making Hollingsworth’s dream come true. Come January, Hollingsworth will give his pep talk.

But it won’t just be the football team — he’ll pump up every single USC athlete at once as a special guest speaker.

‘NOTHING EVER GETS IN HIS WAY’

It’s been 32 years and Hollingsworth isn’t calling it quits. In fact, he’s charging into the next season full speed ahead. Basketball is starting back up and baseball and softball are mere months away.

He has plenty to keep him busy — plus, he has some time off from those dreaded noon games.

“It’s just too early in the morning for me,” he said Saturday, squinting in the morning sunlight. “I don’t like noon games at all.”

Hollingsworth has missed one game. It was 1992, and his cousin was getting married. Had he made it to that game, everyone is convinced his streak would be much longer.

“But he went to the wedding,” Byrd  said.

“He went to the wedding,” Walker  said, shaking her head.

“We said, ‘Are they still married?’” Byrd  said, widening her eyes. “They better still be married.”

As for his neighbors, they’re looking forward to Hollingsworth's recaps of the games they can’t catch themselves.

“We could go to every football game, but there’s always something that gets in the way,” Walker said. “But nothing ever gets in his way.”


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