The
University Of South Carolina 's 19 varsity sports teams are known as the . While the men have traditionally been the '''Fighting Gamecocks''' and the women were previously the '''Lady Gamecocks''', this distinction was discontinued.
All of the University's varsity teams compete at the because the SEC does not sponsor men's soccer.
The official school colors are garnet and black. However, some officially licensed merchandise also contain gold, which represents the spurs historically worn by
Gamecocks in
Cockfights . The colors of garnet and black were chosen by the family of Dr. J. William Flinn when they presented a banner composed of those colors to the football team in November of 1895. There was no definite act of adoption of the colors, but an unsuccessful attempt was made shortly after 1900 to change the colors.
1
The athletics department is supported with private money from the Gamecock Club. It was originally formed as the B.A.M. ("Buck-A-Month") Club in 1939 and 1940 to benefit the athletics programs from privately raised funds.
2 According to a publication by the Gamecock Club, USC ranks #8 (out of 12) in the SEC in raising funds for the athletics department.http://www.cstv.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/scar/genrel/auto_pdf/gamecock-club-magazine-0207
Cocky is the official mascot of the University of South Carolina. He was voted the
Capital One Bowl Mascot of the year in 2003 and has been nominated a total of four times in its six year history.
Although the University's varsity teams have won only a few national titles, many league championships and tournament titles have been won over the years, giving fans a taste of success that keeps them clamoring for more. Tim Brando of CBS Sports has said, "You won't find any more loyal fans in the country than those who follow the South Carolina Gamecocks." http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/scar/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/05mg1-recruiting1.pdf, p. 17
The University of South Carolina was a member of the
Southern Conference for men's basketball and football from 1922 until it became a founding member of the
Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953. The Gamecocks, however, left the ACC in 1971 after many disputes over the ACC's recruiting regulations and the political dominance of the conference's four
North Carolina schools. USC then competed as an independent until 1983 when it joined the
Metro Conference for all sports except football and men's soccer. In 1991, the Gamecocks joined the
Southeastern Conference when it increased its membership to 12 schools and split into two divisions, adding the
University Of Arkansas to its Western Division and the University of South Carolina to its Eastern Division. Men's soccer continued to compete as an independent since the SEC does not sponsor men's soccer, but joined the
Metro Conference for the 1993 and 1994 seasons and has competed in
Conference USA since 2005. http://uscsports.cstv.com/trads/scar-history.html
See Also: Carolina-Clemson Rivalry
Carolina's main rival in the
SEC is the
University Of Georgia due to its proximity and the many years of competing against each other before the Gamecocks joined the SEC in 1991. Subsequently, USC has developed rivalries with the other members of the Eastern Division, which many experts regard as the most competitive division in all of college sports. However, the
University Of Florida has the potential to become the biggest rival of them all. First, Carolina hired former Gator football coach,
Steve Spurrier , and then beat the Gators 30-22 in their first meeting with Spurrier at the helm, which knocked the Gators out of contention for the SEC East title. Shortly thereafter, the Gamecocks swept the eventual national champion Gators during the regular season of men's basketball. In 2006 the football squad lost by one point to the Gators in
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium .
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