For the past 15 years, Darude’s “Sandstorm” has been a staple of the game day environment across Gamecock Athletics' home sporting events. But the song and its accompanying rally towels weren’t always a tradition at Williams-Brice Stadium.
Other traditions such as the football team's introduction to 2001 and the band's pre-game marching routine were already long standing at the time of the song's arrival, but there was no song that blared over the speaker system at Williams-Brice as the Gamecocks kicked off every home game that the Gamecocks could call its own.
"Sandstorm" was added to the list of songs played on game days shortly in 2008. But it wasn’t until a Thursday night in September of 2009 that the tune would stay in the minds of Gamecock fans and students even 15 years later.
The night of the first storm
On Sept. 24, 2009, the South Carolina football team kicked off its first SEC home game of the season against the then-No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels.
Matthew Calder, who worked at USC in technological services at the time, remembers initially giving away his ticket to the game. He had not expected the Gamecocks to win the game, and the timing of it lined up with his ex-wife’s birthday.
When a friend offered him a ticket, he initially declined until his then-wife said he needed to go to the game.
“I actually denied her, and was like ... 'This is a trap. I'm not doing this,'” Calder said. “So, then she told me, pretty much, ‘If you don’t go to the game, I'm taking the tickets, you're gonna stay at home.’ So I said, ‘Fine, I'll take the tickets.’”
Calder said he's been to a lot of big moments in the Gamecocks history, but he has never been part an environment as electric as that night.
“I was at the New Mexico State game when we tore down the goal post. I was at Georgia the next week after that,” Calder said. “I've been in all those games, but I've never seen an atmosphere that was like that that night.”
Then-first-year student Clayton Mackenzie sat three sections over from Calder during the game. Clayton was a member of the Carolina Band and was participating in his first ever march with the Mighty Sound of the Southeast.
Mackenzie, a lifelong Gamecock fan, didn’t have high expectations for the football game. But the potential to take down a top-five team had him screaming at the top of his lungs the entire game, Mackenzie said.
The game started like any other for South Carolina. It wasn't until midway through the third quarter that the fans in the stadium started to get a real feeling they they could win it, Calder said.
"Things were starting to build, and when they went from the third quarter to the fourth quarter around then ... you can already see, I mean, the student section was all there and everything," Calder said. "It was just crazy. And, like, even then you could tell that there was just beginning to be electricity in there."
South Carolina held a 16-10 lead over the No. 4 Rebels with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Gamecocks' defense faced an opportunity on a third-and-12 situation to stop the Rebels' offense and close out the upset win.
Ole Miss called a timeout, and the opening notes of Sandstorm started to come across the stadium speakers.
"They played it, and it just was absurd” Calder said. "… I mean, it was absurd. I've never seen, I've never seen anything like it, especially on a Thursday night.”
Mackenzie said he didn't know what he was hearing.
"I'm just like, ‘Wait, what's this?’” Mackenzie said. “It was the first time they played 'Sandstorm,' and suddenly we're all jumping and we're just, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, USC, USC.’"
The song faded as Ole Miss lined up to snap the ball on third down. The Gamecocks would get the stop, and as the Rebels lined up to go for it on fourth down, the song started back up again.
“And that's when you always hear about, ‘They come to Columbia and a rave broke out,’" Calder said. "And then that next play was when they stopped them.”
The song playing a second time in a row coincided with the Carolina Band director queuing up the band’s “Gridiron Fanfare.” But the the band's music isn't what fans heard that night, Mackenzie said.
“It doesn't occur to me that nobody hears us because they played 'Sandstorm' again,” Mackenzie said. “And now everybody's gotten even louder waiting for this final stop.”
Sandstorm’s lasting impact
It wasn’t long after that moment that Sandstorm became a staple song in the Gamecock community.
When South Carolina upset No. 1 Kentucky in basketball in January 2010, the song played throughout the game and when USC students stormed the court.
Eric Nichols, the former deputy athletics director and director of external communications for South Carolina, said he had no idea at the time the song would take on a life of its own and become part of the Gamecocks identity.
“It is a song that as soon as the first note is played, no matter where you are, whether you're a Carolina fan or not, even non-Carolina fans now associate that with South Carolina sporting events," Nichols said. "And that just goes to say that it has a relationship with our brand, and it's made an impact for generations now."
The white rally towels that have come synonymous with the Gamecock tradition didn’t come until the 2010 season.
Nichols said he knew Gamecock Athletics needed something that fans could participate in. USC wanted to do something different than shakers or pom-poms, and when a sponsor came to them with the original white towels, the university embraced it.
The first game South Carolina handed out the towels was early the following football season, Mackenzie said.
"They handed out the towels and also sweat bands to all the fans that had the words ‘Famously Hot and Cocky' on there, because that was the year the City of Columbia first rolled out the 'Famously Hot' marketing slogans," Mackenzie said. "Sweatbands didn't stick around but, I mean, the towels have been here for 14 years now, so I guess something came good out of that.”
The song became so quickly associated to the university's athletics teams that it was already being played during the Gamecocks bowl games with the Gamecocks rooster crow in 2012.
"The Capital One Bowl in 2012, the end of the 2011 season. Apparently, the Nebraska fans weren't aware that 'Sandstorm' was our thing," Mackenzie said. "So, when they started playing 'Sandstorm,' all of them started jumping and screaming, until the music broke and you heard the rooster crow."
Calder said he and his friend built such a strong attachment to that moment that when Darude, the musical artist who originated 'Sandstorm,' visited Williams-Brice Stadium during the 2023 season, they had to be there.
“The Kentucky game last year, for me, meant a lot,” Calder said. “Because this was the guy that kind of created the storm so to speak.”
Mackenzie said that 'Sandstorm' becoming so ingrained in South Carolina's culture is a testament to how that night was a turning point for everything for the Gamecocks.
“Anywhere I go, if there are Gamecocks around, and I hear just the first note of 'Sandstorm,' everybody just stops, looks around the room trying to find a towel, napkin, something," Mackenzie said. "Because it's rally time."