The Parade was a huge success according to Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenman with the largest crowds ever seen for any parade he could remember in the city. Estimates placed the number at more than 20,000 people who celebrated from where the Parade began on North Main Street to where it ended on the steps of the Statehouse two hours later.
The following photos were taken by Alex Hicks, Jr. for the Greenville News at the 2024 Gamecock National Championship Parade in Columbia on Sunday, April 14rh. so full credit to him for the images I wish I could have captured.
You Win Some, You Lose None
Gamecock All Tournament Team Guard Raven Johnson greets “fams”
crowds waiting for pep rally at Parade’s end
Coach Staley and her teamsalute throngs of well-wishers
from South Carolina statehouse steps
National Championship MVP Kamilla Cardoso counts to threechampionships
Coach Staley delivers heartfelt thanks,inspirational words
following 38-0 perfect season and NCAA Championship
Finally, if you are an American looking toward the November general elections with fear and trepidation, Alex Hicks, Jr. captured this sign during the parade:
********************
P.S. Our granddaughters were among the 20,000 at the Parade Sunday, and although they had an awesome time, a couple of disappointments couldn’t be erased.
I never saw Cocky at the parade, four-year-old Ella told me
Deputy Coroner Susan Moore-Cooke, huge Gamecock women’s basketball “fam,” seen waving aboard this clever float from the Richland County Coroner’s Office
(each R.I.P. headstone had a score for every post-season game including championship game with Iowa which the Gamecocks won 87-75)
Let’s go, Gamecocks!
hand in hand
we’ll march later for world peace, world hunger, equal justice, democracy —
but today we march for Coach Staleyand her Gamecocks
granddaughters Molly and Ella mesmerized by parade
Nina, ice cream! ICE CREAM!
Spurs Up!
Gamecock Brian and Ella having fun waiting for the next float
Sunday, April 07, 2024 – write it down in the women’s basketball history books as the undefeated University of South Carolina Gamecock women defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes with a final score of 87-75 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Gamecock team finished the season with a perfect 38-0 record and will bring team as well as individual player trophies home to Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, when they arrive today.
(Kirby Lee, USA Today Sports)
Coach Dawn Staley lifts the trophy for her third championship team…
(Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports)
…and cuts the net in basketball championship tradition
*******************
Magical, monumental, memory making – all words I could use to describe the 2023-24 South Carolina women’s basketball winning season. I have held my breath and refused to write about our team until we reached the post season and finished what Raven Johnson called her Revenge Tour because of the Iowa loss she took personally at the Final Four in 2023, but now she and the rest of her Gamecock Nation can celebrate overcoming all obstacles in their way toward the perfect season this year.
Basketball has been a passion for me since I was six years old when my daddy coached the high school boys and girls teams in Richards, Texas, one of the smallest schools in the state. My grandparents took me to every home game, and my daddy let me ride the old yellow school bus to the “away” games with him and his teams. The one year he created a junior high team, he let me play with them when I was in the fifth grade. I still remember the only game we played against a much larger school that quickly disposed of us 52-19, but I scored 13 of the points which made my father very proud.
We moved to Brazoria, Texas, when I was in the eighth grade where I loved playing for Coach Lloyd Thomas and then adored Coach Lois Knipling in my three years on the varsity team at Columbia High School in West Columbia, Texas. Several teammates from those years remain important friends who share memories we never forget. Basketball has always been in my blood, but I followed teams on TV instead of going to the games until I married a woman whose family, particularly her mother, loved basketball as much as mine did. No family gathering skipped sports conversations, especially basketball.
Coach Dawn Staley came to the University of South Carolina sixteen years ago and generated a fan following long before the successful seasons she’s enjoyed in recent times. She rekindled the dormant interest of the Gamecock Nation, and I want to thank Pretty for making sure we became a part of the action at Colonial Life Arena. She signed us up for the Gamecock Club nine years ago, and we have never looked back.
It takes a village as a famous person once said, and I want to thank my personal “squad” for making sure this old woman who will be 78 in two weeks continues to be able to attend the games, cheer for the home team, and share fun times: Garner, JD, Brian, Joan, Susan, Chris, Pat, Brenda, Tony, Drew, Caroline, Ella, Molly, the women who sit at the end of Row 17 in Section 118 who make sure I don’t walk past my row, and the woman who sits behind me who makes sure I sit in the right seat on my row if Pretty is at concessions before the home games. Special thanks to my Road Warriors Brian, Garner, and Robert who take care of me on the away games when Pretty isn’t able to make the trip.
Out-of-towners who are part of my squad include Jennifer who is our point person for Gamecock basketball insider information, sisters-in-law Darlene and Dawne in the upstate, Texas sister Leora, Texas cousin GP, Seattle cousins Trevor, Morgin, Rory, Quinn, and Vaughn. They may not be present in person, but they love Gamecock women’s basketball. Locals Sheila Go, Meghan and Dick connect with Pretty and me throughout the season, too.
(Thanks to you all for the memories! I’m sure I’ve left someone out, but if it’s you, mea culpa. Remember I am old, as my granddaughter Ella reminds everyone when I falter.)
And of course every squad needs a Captain – my Captain is Pretty who handles all ticket purchases, travel arrangements to all games, and usually makes sure we eat Mexican food afterwards. If victories are super sweet and the Hot Donuts sign is lit bright red at the Krispy Kreme in West Columbia, Pretty drives through for a 3-pack special treat for us.
My life has been, and continues to be, good whether our team brings home trophies or not, but today it’s a Great Day to be a Gamecock.
Onward.
the future is bright with one of my favorite freshies
Our family road trips following the Texas years have been far and few between as my cousin Martin used to say, but March Madness brings the passions that are often an impetus for wild yearnings to be a part of something bigger than our living rooms. Before you could say Go Gamecocks, Carl and I were passengers in our Grannymobile being driven by Pretty to watch our Gamecock women’s basketball team play in the Sweet Sixteen in Albany, New York, a mere 853 miles from our home in West Columbia, South Carolina.
We were welcomed by North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York on our trip – but Virginia’s Blue Star Memorial Highway pet rest area was Carl’s personal favorite. Pretty and I oohed and aahed over the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in Virginia between the Blue Ridge mountains to the east and the Alleghenies to the west while Carl slept in the back seat. He missed breathtaking vistas during that 140-mile portion of the trip but didn’t seem bothered when he woke up in West Virginia.
Gamecock mascot Cocky cheers with fans at team send-off in their Albany hotel on Game Day, Baby!
Associate Head Coach Lisa Boyer and me in hotel lobby
(hm. I possibly had cocktail before this picture was taken)
Head Coach Dawn Staley leads team through hotel lobby to bus
basketball buddy Brian, me and Pretty in MVP Arena on Game Day
basketball buddy Robert with new Gamecock friends we met at game
Brian, Robert, me and Pretty thrilled as Gamecock women wins in Albany send them to 2024 Final Four!
Consider the 2023-24 South Carolina Gamecocks women’s basketball team which at the end of the regular season + the SEC tournament + the first two games of the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball tournament + the Sweet Sixteen + the Elite Eight = the only undefeated team on the road to Cleveland, Ohio, for the Final Four. Go Gamecocks!
****************
We’ll be watching March Madness this weekend at home from our living room – still trying to catch our breaths from road trip – catching up with laundry, too.
(Thanks to Robert, Brian, and Pretty for photos used today.)
Penny is the newest addition to our good friend Susan’s farm in Elgin – Susan loves her Gamecock women’s basketball team almost as much as she loves Penny.
Here’s to new life in the spring, renewed hope in a future that includes another national title for Coach Staley and her Gamecock women in the NCAA tournament starting today in Columbia!
I'll Call It Like I See It 
You must be logged in to post a comment.