Remembering the Days: A USC Podcast

Cupid's arrows find their mark in this special Valentine's Day episode about eight couples who fell in love on the University of South Carolina campus. 

Intended as a large lecture hall when it was built in 1855, the building we now know as Longstreet Theater never lived up to its intended purpose. Poor acoustics turned it into an echo chamber that was ill-suited for almost any academic purpose. But an engineering miracle in the 1970s transformed the building into a premier stage for live theater.

For much of the first half of the 19th century, students at South Carolina College were not pleased with the quality of food served on campus. In 1852, the wormy biscuits and rancid meat were too much to stomach, so the students issued an ultimatum — that ultimately gave them a case of indigestion.

JFK once had a bad night's rest in the President's House, and Burt Bacharach tickled the ivories there. Pope John Paul II addressed a crowd of thousands packed onto the Horseshoe. This trip down memory lane has us remembering some of the famous visitors who've come to campus over the years.

For nearly 40 years, Havilah Babcock inspired students in his English classes with his "I want a word" course — and entertained outdoor enthusiasts with his tales of hunting and fishing. Reminders of the beloved professor still linger on the university campus.

Were there always so many squirrels on the Horseshoe? And how else has campus changed in the past 200 years in regards to insects, birds, snakes and such? Take a stroll with naturalist-in-residence Rudy Mancke to learn what's changed and still changing in the natural world of campus. 

Like other universities across the nation, the University of South Carolina needed more land in the 1960s to keep up with skyrocketing student enrollment brought on by the Baby Boom. In a previous episode, we talked about the campus migration that created the east campus in the University Hill neighborhood. This episode explores the underpinnings of the campus expansion into Ward One and Wheeler H...

In the late 19th century, students at South Carolina College who were stalwart members of the institution's two debate societies felt that their esteemed clubs were somehow threatened by the existence of fraternities on campus. So they contrived a way to boot the Greek letter organizations off campus. It was a quirky chapter in the university's history that, ultimately, ended badly for one side. 

They were tiny, blazing hot in the summer and had more than their fair share of bugs, but the long-gone University Terrace Apartments were a first home for many married couples at the University of South Carolina. For Missie and Joe Walker, living at UT was the first rite of passage in their 40-plus years of marriage. 

When students at the University of South Carolina elected a new Student Government president in 1971, the event made national news. That's because, just eight years after the university was desegregated, an African American student won the election, riding a wave of support from white and black students who were tired of the 'establishment' and 'the system.'

When the Gamecocks take to the football field every fall, Williams-Brice Stadium roars with the full-throated spirit of 80,000-plus diehard fans, a battalion of marching band members, cheerleaders, baton twirlers and dancers. It’s a far cry from the first football game played on the University of South Carolina campus in 1898 when a few hundred fans huddled on simple wooden bleachers on a field si...

Since its inception more than 200 years ago, the University of South Carolina has had three different names and several nicknames. But Juliet was right — that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

More than 50 years ago, the University of South Carolina expanded its campus eastward, building an 18-story dormitory/conference center in the middle of the University Hill neighborhood. Residents there protested the project, and students did, as well, in 1972 when a pedestrian bridge was built to link to the new east campus. 

Patricia Moore-Pastides and her husband, Harris Pastides, lived in the President's House from 2008 to 2019 with thousands of university students as their closest neighbors. As you might imagine, there were some interesting moments in those 11 years. 

The current President's House has been home to every university president since 1952. Former university first lady Patricia Moore-Pastides talked to the now-grown children of those former presidents to find out what life was really like in the President's House all those years ago.

In the long history of schoolteachers in South Carolina, Matilda Pinckney's story stands out. Born a slave on the historic Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina, Pinckney was later trained at a Normal School on the university campus and would go on to a 30-plus year career as an educator. 

Since its founding in the early 19th century, the University of South Carolina has been keenly interested in building its library collections. Since then, the library's holdings have grown exponentially and now include rare books and special collections that make it a destination for scholars near and far. You can check out a lot of them from your own couch. 

In 1955, one year after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional, the School of Education dean at the University of South Carolina had the temerity to agree with that position. He paid a heavy price for speaking up.

In the spring semester of 1974, the streaking fad swept college campuses across the country. For about a week, the University of South Carolina laid claim to the largest group of streakers — 508. Now, 47 years later, one of them recalls that warm night in early March when he and the other Gamecock streakers made their historic run. 

From the early 1800s to the 1920s, the University of South Carolina built three observatories for the study of astronomy. The first one is long gone but the third, the Melton Memorial Observatory, remains operational. On clear Monday evenings, the observatory's telescopes offer spectacular views of the night-time sky. 

A statue of Richard T. Greener is on display on the University of South Carolina campus as a tribute to the first Black graduate of Harvard College and the first Black professor at the University of South Carolina. But there was more to Greener's life than merely being a "first."

Ninety years ago, the pathways crisscrossing the Horseshoe were just that — dirt pathways that were dusty in dry weather and muddy when it rained. A young English professor devised a campaign to convert the paths to brick-covered walkways without spending a penny in state funding. 

Dress codes and curfews persisted at the University of South Carolina until well into the 1960s, but were mainly focused on female students. Kit Smith, a 1967 graduate, recalls the dire consequences of returning to campus 15 minutes late. 

The 1961 Carolina-Clemson football game was a close-fought match that ended with a dramatic goal line stand. But the most memorable part of that game began during the pre-game warmups, when things weren't at all what they appeared to be. 

University of South Carolina architect Derek Gruner likes to say that walking across the Carolina campus is like a visual lesson in American architecture from the past two centuries. Join us for a stroll and learn more about some of the university's most iconic buildings.