What coach Dawn Staley means to South Carolina Black fans

Lo Dreher felt chills as she stopped to soak up the scene of the bustling crowd.

Dreher, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, sitting within the Halle Georges Carpentier Arena in Paris in the course of the historic contest between Notre Dame and South Carolina in November 2023, was a part of the contingent of Gamecocks fans who traveled to the City of Lights to attend the sport.

What moved Dreher was the makeup of the South Carolina delegation. Many within the audience were black. She saw familiar faces: one in all her mother’s best friends, a lady Dreher’s daughter had played with in highschool, and each were ready to cheer on their Gamecocks, led by coach Dawn Staley.

“In Paris,” Dreher emphasized.

“It’s not only Gamecock fans, it is also Black individuals who got here to Paris for a basketball game – all due to Dawn Staley. Crazy.”

South Carolina’s season opener in Paris was only one example that showed each the dimensions of the Black fanbase supporting Staley and the Gamecocks and the depth of their program fandom. Given the dimensions of the fan base in South Carolina, that is arguably the most important Black fandom in women’s college basketball.

“We’re very proud,” said former state Rep. Bakari Sellers, a longtime Gamecocks fan. “Let’s get to work. We plan our schedule around Dawn Staley and her girls. These are by no means exclusively black (fans), but black people have great affection for these girls and we’re very protective of them – even Chloe (Kitts).

For many Black fans, it is a level of support that goes beyond basketball. Staley continues to tread a path that has never been traveled by any Black coach in the game, and behind her is the Black community in Columbia that helps keep her and her undefeated Gamecocks team moving forward.

“We love them like our own,” Sellers said.

Attending a South Carolina home game means meeting Black fans of all ages and backgrounds. Dreher talked concerning the fans who may be found walking across the Colonial Life Arena:

• There are “young girls”. “Bad with done hair and done nails.”
• “Older, close-knit women from the sorority.”
• Older men “who think they know everything about basketball, with their arms crossed on their chests.”
• Older women “who are just fanatics and love women’s basketball.”
• Black Students – “They are good at booty surfing.”
• And young graduates like Dreher.

Thanks to Staley and South Carolina’s continued success over time, Gamecocks home games have turn into a gathering place for the Black community in Columbia – a city that’s 40% Black according to the 2022 U.S. Census – and the remainder of the state.

“It’s like a family reunion. This is crazy. It’s special to have a spot to gather and have a typical ground that everyone seems to be rooting for. Win, lose or draw – it doesn’t matter. We are riding.

Since 2019, the Gamecocks have lost just once at home – to NC State in December 2020. South Carolina’s home record over the past five seasons: 76-1.

Columbia’s packed houses and constant fan base are especially noteworthy considering the state of the team when Staley became coach in 2008.

Dreher, who has been going to Gamecocks basketball games since she was a baby, remembers Staley’s early days trying to rebuild a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in five years. The yr before Staley arrived, South Carolina averaged 1,800 fans.

“For the first few years, I could go to the gym, maybe during a break, and sit down,” Dreher said. “I could scream and be on the jumbotron. I could scream and everybody within the gym could hear me.

Staley was 24-33 in her first two seasons. Former defender Markeshia Grant, who played under Staley for 2 seasons from 2010 to 2012, recalled Staley specializing in getting the town involved.

“We didn’t have a lot of fans,” Grant said. “That was her major point. First now we have to grow the fan base, now we have to grow the community, after which all of the championships will come.

Staley made sure high-level talent never left the state. It began with Goose Creek’s Aleighsa Welch, who was a top-100 recruit within the 2011 class. In 2012, Staley signed two top-100 recruits, Columbia native Asia Dozier and Myrtle Beach native Khadijah Sessions, now an assistant at program. In 2013, she signed Irmo’s Alaina Coates, who was ranked twenty eighth in her class. In 2014, she signed No. 1 recruit A’ja Wilson from Hopkins.

Before Wilson arrived, Staley led this system to three straight NCAA tournaments and two Sweet 16 appearances.

“When A’ja got involved, it was like a springboard,” Dreher said. “Now you have additional support from the people of Colombia.”

This season, South Carolina’s team includes two players from Columbia: freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley and sophomore Ashlyn Watkins.

“You recruit hometown kids and get them to stay, so now you’re building a fan base,” Grant said.

As the show continued to improve, so did its base, growing exponentially until it became the most important fan base within the country. According to the NCAA, South Carolina has led Division I in home game attendance yearly since 2015, when it averaged 12,293 fans. For the 2023–2024 season, South Carolina’s average home game attendance was 16,488, which ranks second all-time (Tennessee, 1999) in a single season.

“Now, if you’re going to a game, you better get there an hour or two hours early,” Dreher said. “It has changed so much.”

Black Gamecocks fans have a good time the on-court success South Carolina has had over time, but their support goes beyond AP No. 1 rankings, wins and trophies.

“It goes way beyond basketball,” Sellers said. His father, Cleveland, taught on the university for 20 years. “It’s more than just basketball here in Colombia.”

It starts with the community’s ability to consistently root for and support a team with a Black female head coach and predominantly Black female players who proceed to be at the highest of the game yr after yr. Historically, women’s college basketball has only seen this occur once with C. Vivian Stringer.

“Growing up, I saw (South Carolina) girls playing, but they weren’t led by a black woman. This shows well that I cannot only play, but in addition train. I can do it too. I do know if I used to be younger and saw a lady like Dawn, I could work just a little harder, if I wanted to play for Dawn,” Dreher said. “I feel it’s immeasurable. Little girls playing basketball immediately know nothing apart from South Carolina and Dawn Staley.

“She’s one of us,” Sellers said of Staley. “She is family. She feels like she’s part of our whole family. She won. It’s easy to love.”

There is deep respect for the Hall of Fame head coach and the way she handles business at South Carolina, each on and off the court. From the standards he holds in his program to the way in which he trains and leads his players. She has been praised for her authenticity and approachability, in addition to her real desire to connect with the Columbia community – whether it’s shaking hands after every home game or the annual breakfast Staley hosts for several hundred local Columbia grandparents each November.

“People will go through a wall for her, even if they don’t play for her,” Grant said. “She’s very personable. You are easy to talk to, easy to establish contacts with. He will stop, sign autographs, take photos. Nothing is too big for her.”

Staley then consistently advocates for her players, unafraid to use her platform to criticize those she feels have done her team a disservice.

“Being a Black community in the South is something that resonates with all of us because all of us, growing up in South Carolina, were in a situation where you had to let someone know where they mixed you up at the top,” Dreher said. “Seeing it on a bigger scale and not letting anyone push you around, not letting anyone put you in a box, just letting it go and not saying anything, I think that’s why people ride for her.”

In Staley, every season and each game, Black Gamecocks fans see a Black woman fighting for respect and acceptance in an area where high-level performance alone wasn’t all the time enough to earn it. An identical struggle is echoing in Black communities far beyond South Carolina.

In some ways, when Staley wins, the Black fans who support her win, too.

“I think (Black fans) see her as the person they can be,” Grant said. “A lot of young girls are just excited to meet her because – how many black coaches have done the same thing she did? I think that’s something to be proud of and something we want to emulate in the Black community.”

The Gamecocks will play their final game of the season in Columbia on Sunday. South Carolina will proceed their efforts to finish the season because the tenth undefeated team in NCAA history, and it would be thanks to the Black Gamecocks fan community who can be strongly behind them and cheering on victories that stretch far beyond the 30-yard court on which they gather. Arena of colonial life.

“Every young lady from the University of South Carolina and the Dawn Staley basketball team who walks through these doors receives the love, admiration and protection of the entire community,” Sellers said.

“Every single one of them.”