City sponsors procession down Main Street, rally at Statehouse
A parted sea of garnet and black lined the sides of Main Street Friday afternoon as a parade honoring USC’s baseball team marched south toward the Statehouse grounds.
Gamecock fans of all ages united in the scorching July heat of downtown Columbia to celebrate the back-to-back National Champions’ victory at the College World Series in Omaha last month.
The parade, which was organized by the City of Columbia under the leadership of Mayor Steve Benjamin and ended with a rally at the Statehouse, consisted of 47 entries, including vehicles, floats and groups on foot, according to Ray Borders Gray, senior public information specialist with Columbia’s Parks and Recreation Department.
“It was just a really fun event,” Gray said. “We were glad to show our support for the city.”
Despite temperatures that hit the mid-90s, sounds of cheers and claps perpetually filled the air during the parade, and united sighs of relief could be heard during a generous breeze or when clouds passed over the sun. Floats full of Miss South Carolina contestants led the crowd in chants of “Let’s go, Gamecocks,” while the Columbia Fire Department trucks made their sirens heard and firefighters initiated chants of “Game” followed by the crowd’s response of “Cocks.”
Members of USC’s marching band, The Mighty Sound of the Southeast, played their instruments from the steps of the Statehouse, on top of which the university’s flag flew alongside the American and state flags for the second year in a row.
Several local-area Little League baseball and softball teams donned their uniforms and rode on their own floats. Even USC’s board of trustees members were represented on their very own garnet-colored float that played Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” and encouraged fans to “celebrate good times.”
Several attendees held up clever signs and posters praising the Gamecocks, including Tiffany Robison, a fourth-year sports and entertainment management student, whose sign read “Ray-peat.”
“My favorite part so far would have to be the cops on the Segways,” Robison said. “They were doing doughnuts. It was pretty funny.”
Robison and fellow fourth-year sports and entertainment management student Sarah Kennedy, whose sign read “Victor-Ray,” had been standing in front of the Statehouse grounds more than an hour before the parade started at noon on Laurel Avenue. According to fans around them, the girls had been rallying everyone and getting them excited for the event.
“My favorite signs were a little boy’s that says, ‘Way to battle, go Cocks,’ and another little girl’s says, ‘Superman wears Wingo underwear,’” Kennedy said.
A crowd favorite was a boat decorated as a Gamecock with a large head on the bow and a tail on the stern, and a stuffed alligator and a tiger were dragged along the road behind it.
Fans collectively rushed forward as Cocky made an appearance in a red Volkswagen Beetle, followed by a garnet Corvette full of Gamecock cheerleaders.
The loudest cheers were saved for the end of the parade, when USC coach Ray Tanner made his way through atop a Gamecocks RV. He was then followed by the baseball team on a float while “2001: A Space Odyssey” played from the Statehouse grounds. As soon as the parade ended, the crowd rushed to fill the area of the Statehouse grounds for a rally and celebration with several prominent speakers.
Fans fell silent for the first time since the event began as Miss South 2007 Carolina Crystal Garrett sang the national anthem.
The first speaker, introduced as “Mayor of Championship City,” was Steve Benjamin, who led the crowd in a call-and-response chant of “Game” and “Cocks.”
USC President Harris Pastides then spoke, reaffirming Gov. Nikki Haley’s declaration that July 1 is now “Gamecock Baseball Back-to-Back National Championship Day.”
After Athletics Director Eric Hyman spoke, Tanner addressed the crowd and the unity of the fans in Columbia.
“This must be heaven. You guys are the greatest,” Tanner said. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
He then introduced players Brady Thomas, Adrian Morales, Scott Wingo — reminding everyone that “you can’t spell Wingo without ‘w-i-n’” — and Christian Walker, who all spoke about the historic event for Gamecock Nation.
Benjamin concluded the celebration with hopes of seeing everyone at the same time, at the same place next year, as he led the crowd with a chant of “Three-peat!”