You Decide: Best SC Athlete of All-Time?
Help Patch determine the Palmetto State's best all-time athlete from these 32 choices over the next five days.
Kevin Garnet, Ray Allen and Jermaine O'Neal are hoping to lead the Boston Celtics to the top of the NBA once again, despite their aging legs and moves.
But will Garnett (a Mauldin native), Allen (a Sumter native) and O'Neal (Columbia) be able to hold off Alex English, Art Shell, Bobby Richardson and Joe Frazier to top the list of South Carolina's all-time best athletes.
You'll be the one to decide.
With Memorial Day weekend, a time when many radio stations run "all-time" lists to fill air time, upon us, we thought we'd do the same for Palmetto State athletes.
Beginning today, we'll use those familiar brackets to let you pick the best SC athlete of all-time.
Each day, among those who submit their email address to sign up for one of our newsletters, we'll pick a lucky reader to give a $25 gift card too.
So vote for a good cause, sign up for a good daily newsletter and possibly win a good prize.
Maybe you'll see some names you don't recognize, and you'll look them up.
Here are some helpful links:
Lee Harper
1:03 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
You guys are missing two of the greatest.......Stanley Morgan from Easley who is a hall of fame wide receiver from Easley and Also Jimmy Orr from Seneca who won a world championship with the Baltimore Colts
Carolyn Farr Smith
1:53 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Thanks, Lee for the information. Someone also tweeted me about former 49'er and Sumter native Freddie Solomon.
Travis
6:49 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
if shoeless joe doesn't win, something's wrong. nobody else from sc has been as dominating in his sport.
Hal Millard
11:42 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Travis, normally I'd be inclined to support you, if not for the fact that Shoeless Joe never had to face black ballplayers. It's the same reason I also scoff at people who consider Babe Ruth the best ever -- first they never saw him play, and the Babe never faced off against any team/pitcher from the Negro League. My vote would have to be for Joe Frazier -- I mean, he beat "The Greatest" Muhammad Ali. And, yes, some folks who should probably be on this list were left off. Why Steve Fuller made this list is unfathomable to me. He's not even from SC.
Chris Mann
4:47 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2012
Hal, Steve Fuller is from Spartanburg. He was an All-American QB at Spartanburg High School and finished 6th in the Heisman voting while at Clemson.
Carolyn Farr Smith
5:20 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2012
Hal, Chris Mann is correct. Steve Fuller led Spartanburg High School to two region titles in 1973 and 1974. He also played baseball, basketball and ran track at the school. I looked him up a week or so ago when Coach Carr, former Spartanburg and Easley football coach, died. I hadn't realized he was from Spartanburg until I saw him quoted in a story.
Hal Millard
11:53 pm on Friday, May 25, 2012
Oh... and speaking of egregious omissions, what about cornerback Donnie Shell (Whitmire, SC) and tight end Bennie Cunningham (Laurens, SC)? Both multiple Super Bowl winners, and both members of the Steelers' All-Time team?
Chris Winston
3:09 am on Saturday, May 26, 2012
I agree completely that Donnie Shell and Stanley Morgan could have easily made the football bracket on this list. Great suggestions, readers. This is why I love discussing lists like this.
Hal Millard
7:20 pm on Saturday, May 26, 2012
Then why does Steve Fuller's bio say he was born in Enid, Okla.? I know he played at Spartan High. I'm from Spartanburg. My other point was, I don't believe he belongs in such lofty company. Just one person's opinion.
Carolyn Farr Smith
7:03 am on Sunday, May 27, 2012
Good question, Hal. I don't know how long he lived in Spartanburg or in Enid. I guess Greenville could lay claim to him as well, as he started playing football there in fourth or fifth grade, according to an article I was just reading about him. As for his playing abilities, I really have no opinion. I do remember he had a part in the "Super Bowl Shuffle" video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glC9tlxilfc
Steve Jones
9:10 pm on Monday, May 28, 2012
Did any of your basketball players set as many records as Frank Selvy. Of course he was not born here.
Jonathan redmond
3:45 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Bennie Cunningham from Seneca sc, what about Willie Mays Aken, number 2 pick in baseball draft, 2 homeruns in 2 different world series games
Shawn Drury
4:23 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Jonathan...Bennie Cunningham had a nice pro career and you have a good argument on that one. As far as WMA...his drug problems (I think he was suspended for a year), cut short what could have been a productive career.
Chris Winston
4:45 pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Selvy is definitely one of the best college athletes of all-time in SC college history. I focused this list on folks who grew up or spent significant time in their youth in SC...
Great suggestions...