A sea of garnet and black packed the Statehouse grounds and the sidewalks of Main Street Sunday afternoon to commemorate USC's first national championship in the sport of women's basketball.
Thousands were in attendance for the parade down Main Street. The speeches made from the Statehouse steps mixed with the scores of USC students who turned up at the Statehouse for the ceremony. A sizable number of alumni came to celebrate as well.
Though more than half a decade separated from his days as USC student, John Gibbs arrived well before the parade began to fly a pair of garnet-and-black block C flags at the corner of Gervais and Main streets.
“I’m the biggest Gamecock fan there is,” Gibbs said. “I think [the championship] means the world because even though we don’t have a whole lot of them, every time we get one it shows who we really are.”
Gibbs, now a resident of Greer, South Carolina, majored in history during his time at USC and graduated in 2011. And he doesn't believe Sunday will be the last time he flies the garnet and black on Gervais Street.
“You’ll see us here again,” Gibbs said.
A 1974 graduate of USC, William Weeks of Bamberg, South Carolina was even more frank when asked his reason for making the 60-mile trip to Columbia.
"National championship, baby, it don't happen every day," Weeks said. "In the moment, they're in the national spotlight."
A float with a keystone-shaped throne carrying members of the Columbia City Council was the first to make its way down Main Street, followed by South Carolina Girl Scouts, Alcorn Middle School cheerleaders and USC Student Government members. University President Harris Pastides and his wife piled out of an antique convertible, immediately followed by Sir Big Spur. USC cheerleaders arrived on multiple floats, one red and white with wicker furniture and another topped with tall, black-and-gold columns.
Another pair of floats carried USC former student athletes to the Statehouse. Among them was Sheila Foster, a center-forward for the Gamecocks from 1978 to 1982 and the program's all-time leading scorer.
Just after 3:45 p.m., the USC women's basketball team arrived on Gervais Street to Darude's "Sandstorm". Head coach Dawn Staley brought up the rear, still wearing around her neck the net she cut down in Dallas a week ago after the Gamecocks clinched their first national championship.
In a speech from the steps of the Statehouse, USC alumnus and current Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin decreed that the portion of Lincoln Street between Pendleton and Assembly streets will be immediately renamed Dawn Staley Way in honor of the nine-year head coach of the USC women's basketball team.
"These are champions," Benjamin said. "But we are so proud of them as student athletes, as incredible community servants. Some of them will go on to play pro basketball, some will be doctors, lawyers, mayors, congresspeople, governors ... they're gonna do great things, and we are celebrating achievement by these young women today."
Colonial Life Arena, home of Gamecock basketball since 2002, resides on Lincoln between Greene Street and the western end of College Street.
Following speeches from Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), USC President Harris Pastides and Gamecock forward A'ja Wilson, Staley stepped to the podium to cheers from the crowd.
"God is all things," she began.
In a seven-minute speech, Staley took time to thank a number of people involved in the Gamecocks' championship run, including her players, Pastides, Ray Tanner and the women's basketball coaching staff and administrators. Of her former players at both USC and Temple University, where she coached from 2000 to 2008, Staley said she hoped they would be able to share in her moment as a national champion.
"They're the ones that believed in this well before we even had a legitimate shot at winning a national championship," Staley said. "I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart."
Staley also thanked former Gov. Nikki Haley for the 2015 removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, after which the NCAA rescinded its ban on holding basketball tournament games in South Carolina. The Gamecocks played and won their first two games of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Colonial Life Arena.
Addressing her "net-lace," Staley said she "figuratively" wanted to give the people of South Carolina a piece of her net, stressing the word "figuratively."
"If you have any kind of belief, any kind of work ethic, any kind of hope, it represents that," Staley said. "Whatever it is that your hearts desire, take a piece of our net and reflect on what we were able to accomplish, because nobody besides the people that are right here in the state of South Carolina and the city of Columbia believe that we could be standing here right now."