SCSU Hall of Fame inductees understand significance of recognition
By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer Sunday, September 07, 20081 comment(s) | Default | Large
Anthony Reed put the honor up there with being a part of a black college national championship team.
For Orangeburg native Sidney Fulton, it ranked at the top of his athletic accomplishments and was truly the highlight of a tough week.
“The event tonight is really going to turn my week around from events earlier in the week,” said Fulton, whose Popeye’s Fried Chicken on Chestnut Street was damaged when a vehicle ran through the building. “The camaraderie with fellow Bulldogs -- there’s not enough words in the English language to describe how this makes you feel and have this fellow camaraderie with my fellow athletes.”
The two former South Carolina State football players were among the 10 newest inductees of the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame. On Friday night, the eight living members of the Class of 2008 were recognized during an induction banquet at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
“That makes me very happy and let’s me know that all that hard work didn’t go in vain,” said Reed, who played running back for the Bulldogs from 1978-82 and was a two-time All-MEAC selection. “That someone else saw something in me to think enough of me to put me in the Hall of Fame at S.C. State.”
This year’s group included a collection of Bulldog greats who excelled in football, baseball and wrestling and former longtime head trainer Jimmie Rogers. Also honored posthumously were two-sport standouts Willie Grate and Samuel Prioleau, who passed away this past February.
Rounding out the newest SCSUHOFers were:
• Quarterback Marvin Marshall
• Nose Tackle Robert Reeves
• Defensive back Barney Bussey
• Wrestler Michael Holmes
• Basketball standout Rodney Mack
Throughout the evening, speaker after speaker praised the contributions to the long legacy of athletic excellence at S.C. State.
“I congratulate each of you on this most prestigious honor,” S.C. State Athletics Director Charlene Johnson said. “Especially for the role you played in developing our athletics program to greater heights.”
While being a major contributor on the 1981 team which won the Black College National Championship and made the school’s first-ever Division I-AA playoff appearance, Reed has even more vivid memories of those long practice days as a freshman.
“First thing that comes to mind is being a freshman and being scared witless about practices because I had never experienced anything like I experienced practicing three times a day,” he said. “Not getting any rest and it paid off in being part of a winning tradition at S.C. State.”
He also remembers a young assistant coach who would eventually become the current head coach at S.C. State -- Oliver “Buddy” Pough.
“I never thought he’d be the head coach here, but I knew he had the potential because he had football all in his blood,” Reed said. “We used to tease him in the meetings because he used to be the offensive line coach and in one film, he could watch all five offensive linemen and what they were doing. We used to tease him how he used to shake his head.”
Former Bulldog All-American Robert Porcher knows all about the winning tradition at S.C. State. A 1998 SCSUHOF inductee and one of five former players whose number (94) is retired by the school, Porcher served as the master of ceremonies on Friday.
“I always enjoy coming back,” Porcher said. “This is home. Everything that is really important to me, began to shape and form itself when I was here. So I’m always going to be indebted to Orangeburg, South Carolina and South Carolina State University.”
Porcher was also lauded for his contributions to the university from setting up an endowment in former head coach Willie Jeffries’ name to providing money to cover four athletic scholarships. As an answer to the “challenge” by S.C. State officials to contribute more financially, the induction class announced plans to donate $3,000 to the school.
“South Carolina State University actually introduced me to a new world as far as business-wise,” Fulton said. “It actually opened a lot of doors to move up business-wise.”
-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.
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fhsmct wrote on Sep 10, 2008 7:03 AM:
I notice that these articles keep listing Jimmie "T" Rogers as a trainer.
If memoery serves me well, in his senior year, in addition to being the team's student trainer, "T" started as a defensive back and kicker for the Bulldog football squad and was a sprinter on the track team . . . "