Remembering the Days: A UofSC Podcast

Campus ghost stories, USC's first national championship* (yes, there's an asterisk beside it), the Mother Superior of the business school and a look back at USC's first dean of women — that's just some of what's in store for the fall 2026 season of Remembering the Days, which kicks off in late August. 

The start of softball as a USC varsity sport goes back more than 50 years, and it's a rich history — the very first team made it to the College World Series. Since then, USC has had a parade of great coaches and players and an enthusiastic fan base to cheer them on. 

When it was dedicated in 1955, the Russell House University Union building was an instant hit with students — a place to gather, eat and have fun in the middle of campus. Several additions and more than 70 years later, the Russell House is still that place. Remembering the Days co-host Evan Faulkenbury talked with several alumni who share their Russell House memories. 

The presidency of Donald S. Russell at the University of South Carolina was an intersection of the right person at the right time with the right resources. Russell's presidency helped to usher USC into the modern age and set the stage for the university's dynamic growth in the 1960s and beyond. 

Students at Carolina have been taking chemistry since the institution began in the early 19th century. The story of the chemistry and biochemistry department is about science, for sure, but it's mainly about people. 

Nearly 60 years ago, USC and the Greene Street United Methodist Church were caught up in a legal battle over whether the church's building could remain standing in the path of the university's campus expansion. Decades later, both sides agreed to an elegant solution. 

For 40 years Dennis Pruitt served as vice president for student affairs at USC, where he was responsible for nearly every facet of the student experience. In the face of near constant change, Pruitt helped create an ecosystem where successive generations of students could thrive in and out of the classroom. 

Since opening its doors in 1805, Carolina has made foreign language learning an essential part of its curriculum. Classical languages — Latin and Greek — are still taught, but they're now among a much larger group of languages offered, along with many opportunities for students to put their foreign language skills in practice. 

Built before WWII as the newest dorm for men, Preston College experienced a renaissance 30 years ago when it was completely renovated for its transformation into USC's first residential college for men and women. Since then, the centrally located residence hall has become a magnet for students with a bent toward creativity and leadership. 

Join us Tuesday Jan. 27 for another season of Remembering the Days, as we explore the rich and sometimes quirky history of the University of South Carolina. 

Jim Bowers was among the second small cohort of Black students to desegregate the University of South Carolina in the early 1960s, and he would later become the first Black professor in the university's School of Law. More than 50 years later, Bowers has returned to the law school with a substantial gift to improve the institution where he served as a trailblazer. 

Fifty years ago, USC established what would later become known as the Arnold School of Public Health, the state's only accredited public health college. It's mission, then and now, is to improve the health of all South Carolinians and help fill the pipeline of the public health workforce. 

USC has had 30 presidents, thus far, in more than two centuries of serving as the state's flagship university. But along with a solid president, a university needs great professors, department chairs, college deans and provosts. In his 43-year career at Carolina, Jerry Odom served USC with distinction in each of those roles and more. 

In 2021, the University of South Carolina became home to the Anne Frank Center, the only such center in North America and one of only four in the world. Here is the story of how the center came to be at Carolina and the larger story of its message of hope and understanding. 

More than 200 years ago, students at Carolina tried to start a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa — now the nation's most prestigious honor society — but their application was rejected by an Ivy League college. More than a century later, they tried again and succeeded, paving the way for high-achieving students to earn membership in one of academia's most exclusive clubs. 

USC's swimming and diving team jumped into the deep end of competition in 1922, 17 years before the university even had a pool on campus. Over the years, the team has included a number of All Americans and Olympic competitors. 

Built in the 1950s as USC's first fraternity dorms, the McBryde Quad saw its share of keg parties and frat boy shenanigans back in the day. McBryde's reputation for rowdiness eventually gave way to more serious conversations among its residents in later years. Now, as the last of McBryde's buildings are slated for replacement, it's an auspicious time to consider the long arc of McBryde's story.

He was a star quarterback for the Gamecocks more than 50 years ago, and for most of the years since then Tommy Suggs has been the color commentator for radio coverage of USC football games. He recently sat down with Remembering the Days co-hosts Evan Faulkenbury and Chris Horn to look back on his career and look ahead to the fall 2025 football season. 

What do Phi Beta Kappa, the McBryde Quad and the swimming and diving team at USC have in common? They're part of the fall season lineup on Remembering the Days, kicking off Aug. 26. 

As an architectural historian, Lydia Brandt is trained to read the world around her, which at USC means understanding the context of the campus' buildings — why they were built in a certain style, why they were named for particular individuals and how the institution defines its identity through its physical space. Today's conversation with Dr. Brandt touches on those ideas and the university's re...

You can stay up to date on Gamecock sports through multiple news outlets and platforms, but to delve into the history of Gamecock sports, Alan Piercy is your guy. He writes a blog about Gamecock sports history and has written a book on USC sports during the independent era of 1971-91. He's also contemplating another book on the men's basketball program in the early Frank McGuire era and constructi...

The Reconstruction Era after America's Civil War brought about big changes as the former Confederate states were readmitted to the United States. Education professor and director of the Museum of Education Christian Anderson studies the history of higher education and is leading efforts to remember the changes that took place at USC 150 years ago during Reconsruction. 

In the decade after USC desegregated, the small but growing number of Black students wanted to establish a sense of belonging on a big campus that was growing bigger every year. In 1975, they established the Southern Christian Fellowship student group with a gospel choir called A Touch of Faith. 

When USC's historic Horseshoe underwent major renovations in the 1970s, a series of archaeological digs uncovered 19th century water wells and other artifacts from a bygone era. Now Kelly Goldberg, an Honors College instructor of archaeology, is leading a series of excavations with students on the Horseshoe to find more artifacts that help tell the story of USC's past. 

For nearly 40 years, Walter Edgar taught the history of South Carolina as a member of USC's history department faculty and continues to illuminate the history of the Palmetto State on his podcast, Walter Edgar's Journal. In this conversation, he remembers his early days as a graduate student and young faculty member at the university.