Remembering the Days: A USC Podcast

Decades ago, an illustrator named Robert L. Ripley presented tales of the strange, the bizarre and the unexpected — and challenged the public to 'believe it or not!' In that spirit, here are three such tales from the University of South Carolina's past.

USC desegregated 60 years ago, admitting three Black students whose enrollment made headlines. But what about the students who would follow immediately in their footsteps, continuing the university's desegregation? Two men who were part of the small, second wave of Black students in 1964 recall their experiences. 

Ever made a meal out of a few appetizers? In today's episode, we’re serving up three bite-sized stories from the centuries-old history of the University of South Carolina. 

In the past 100 years, USC has been a member of four athletics conferences. Here's a quick primer on the whens and whys of each affiliation and a look back at the university's 21-year stretch as a football independent. 

The state of South Carolina has a surprisingly rich history of Jewish presence dating back more than three centuries. It's not surprising, then, that the University of South Carolina would have its own history of Jewish life on campus. 

USC students in 1977 buried an eclectic assortment of items in a time capsule that was unearthed in 2001 for the university's bicentennial celebration. That same year, another more elaborate time capsule was buried on the Horseshoe with a scheduled opening of 2051. Here's a sneak preview of what's inside. 

USC alumni and students have been singing the university alma mater for more than 110 years. But what, exactly, is an alma mater and how did USC end up with one?

For two centuries, social dances have been knitted into the fabric of the campus social scene at Carolina. Waltzes, the One-step, shag and hip-hop—the style of dance changes but the beat goes on. 

When The Gamecock student newspaper began publishing in 1908, there were only 300 students on campus to read it. Since then, the award-winning paper has published myriad stories about campus life and helped launch the careers of innumerable writers and journalists.

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engaged in an infamous duel in 1804, and a number of South Carolina College students nearly got tangled up in duels in the years before the Civil War. History records only one duel  involving South Carolina College students that ended in fatality — and this is the strange story of that tragedy. 

USC's South Carolina Honors College was born in the 1970s when several other of the nation's first honors colleges came into being. But rather than becoming an also-ran, USC's Honors College emerged as one of the nation's best by offering hundreds of unique honors courses across every academic discipline at the university.

Curtis Frye, head coach of field and track head at USC, knows a thing or two about coming in first place and being the first to do something. He's done all of those in his time at Carolina, including bringing home the university's first-ever national championship trophy. Perhaps most importantly, Coach Frye understands the importance of putting first things first. 

Every year, tens of thousands of prospective students and their families visit the University of South Carolina for a campus tour. Here's the story of how the university's Visitor Center came to be, as well as a peek behind the curtains at some unscripted moments in the lives of campus tour guides. 

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world … is a garden.” When Frances Hodgson Burnett penned those words more than a century ago in her classic children’s book The Secret Garden, there probably were very few, perhaps not any flower gardens on the University of South Carolina campus. But we’ve made up for it in the past 50 years or so. On this short tour, you'll learn the histor...

What building on the University of South Carolina campus was named for a Confederate navy commodore and commemorated on a picture postcard? It's a trick question! A high-rise residence hall was featured on a postcard in the late 1960s, and the caption on the postcard said the building was named in honor of alumnus Epaminondas J. Capstone. But how that came about is the real story!

Fifty years ago, it wasn't uncommon to hear professors give the 'look to your left, look to your right — one of you will have failed by the end of the semester' speech. But exactly 50 years ago, Carolina tried something different: a course designed to help freshmen feel like they belonged along with the academic tools they needed to succeed. It was called University 101, and it became model for hu...

Women's college sports were in their infancy in the 1970s, but Title IX changed everything by leveling the playing field for men's and women's sports at the collegiate level. Meet two of the first 18 women to receive athletics scholarships at the University of South Carolina.

Scores of University of South Carolina graduates have died in military service since the Spanish-American War at the close of the 19th century. In observance of Memorial Day, we remember three, who died serving their country in World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War.

Pranks and pratfalls are part of life in any college residence hall, but one dormitory complex at the University of South Carolina seemed to have more than its fair share. Stories about life in the Towers, also known as the Honeycombs and the Veilblocks, are now almost the stuff of legend. Here are a few anecdotes from yesteryear about the now-demolished dorms. 

Sarge Frye knew how to make grass grow, and for five decades he made sure the University of South Carolina's athletic fields were green and trimmed. But much more than that, Sarge had a heart for people and connected with everyone he met. It's why his name continues to be synonymous with Gamecock sports. 

The third-longest serving president in the history of the university, Tom Jones led Carolina during a period of unprecedented growth, both in student enrollment and campus expansion. And he did it during a tumultuous era of Vietnam War protests and a rapidly changing society. 

Nearly 60 years ago, a Hungarian-born choral conductor named Arpad Darazs launched the University of South Carolina's  Concert Choir, which quickly earned a reputation for its musical prowess. Darazs is long gone but the Concert Choir remains the university's premier choral group, and Darazs' former students remain stalwart fans.

No one writes letters much anymore, but back in the day, University of South Carolina students wrote letters to home as frequently as today's students send texts on their phones. Technology changes, but one thing remains constant: college students always need more money.

Built in 1840 as the nation's first freestanding collegiate library, the South Caroliniana Library is now the repository for a vast collection of materials that capture the culture and history of the Palmetto State. Massive renovations at the library promise to return the venerable building to its early glory and make it a more comfortable place for patrons to visit and use. 

When Jotaka Eaddy arrived at the university from her rural dirt-road home in the Pee Dee, she quickly joined several organizations, including Student Government. By her junior year, the small-town girl was making a big splash — and making history.