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Morris: Sparkling jewel is a tribute to past legends
Posted on 02.22.09
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PHOTOS: Opening Day for Carolina Stadium
Let history record that at 2:03 p.m. on Saturday, Sam Dyson threw the first pitch in South Carolina’s beautiful new baseball stadium. Parker Bangs delivered the first run, Whit Merrifield scored it and DeAngelo Mack belted the first home run in USC’s victory against Duquesne.
With due respect to Saturday’s stars, and their place in the record books, the opening of USC’s new stadium is more about a salute to the program’s history. None of this would have been possible without a program that has sustained a high level of success over four decades.
Saturday’s stadium opener was a tribute to Joe Kurchrski and David Marchbanks, Earl Bass and Steve Pearce, Paul Hollins and Yaron Peters, Ryan Bordenick and Landon Powell, Mike Cook and Blake Taylor.
The list of USC standouts who played a part in USC’s success goes on and on. Even the role players along the way contributed to building USC’s program to the point where winning became a habit and fans began attending games in record numbers.
Before you knew it, a stadium once deemed by New York Mets pitcher Tom Seaver as equal to the best in the country was no longer useful. Sarge Frye Field could not longer serve fans adequately, and the 8,200-seat beauty off Blossom Street became a reality.
So, it was only fitting on Saturday that Bobby Richardson and June Raines threw out the ceremonial first pitches, that Ray Tanner was in the USC dugout and Kip Bouknight watched from the stands.
Neither of the former coaches, nor the star pitcher, ever imagined during their USC days that college baseball would come to this: Just over 8,000 fans in a stadium every bit the equal of the best minor-league parks in the country.
Richardson, who came to USC in 1970 as the Gamecocks’ first full-time baseball coach, says the program’s budget was so little his first ‘home’ games as manager were actually played at Fort Jackson.
“We couldn’t pay for motel rooms and things like that,” Richardson said. Massachusetts, Yale, Princeton, Duke and Toledo played in that tournament and all were housed in Fort Jackson barracks.
Richardson did not complain, though. His hiring was the first real commitment USC made to baseball. The initial offer of an $8,000 salary was not enough to pry the former New York Yankees second baseman away from his job at Liberty Life Insurance in Sumter, so USC upped the ante to $15,000.
Forty years later, Tanner earns close to $500,000 and the cost of the center field batters’ eye at the new stadium — $85,000 — far exceeds Richardson’s annual salary. Still, Richardson took USC to the 1975 College World Series.
Earlier that season, Richardson says fans began supporting the program. The turning point, he says, was an exhibition game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees at Sarge Frye Field. USC could not afford transportation for the teams from the airport to the stadium, so Richardson arranged for the use of area school buses. Richardson was among the drivers who picked up his former teammates at the airport.
Following the game, Seaver said USC’s facilities were the equal of Southern California, where he pitched before heading to professional baseball. Under Richardson’s watch, lights were added to Sarge Frye Field along with permanent seating.
Raines recalled when he arrived at USC as a graduate assistant coach in 1968, only a couple of bleachers held the sparse crowds. He also remembers that Paul Dietzel’s football team used the outfield for spring practices. A wooden outfield storm fence was removed daily for football practice.
Raines eventually took four teams to the College World Series from 1977-85, and crowds at Sarge Frye Field swelled mostly for key games against rival Clemson.
“I never dreamed this in my wildest imagination,” Raines said of the new stadium. “I wouldn’t dream this, not for college baseball. It’s just amazing. I credit coach Tanner with that. He had a dream and he got it built.”
Tanner arrived in 1997. Bouknight recalls it was the 2000 season when fans really began to fill Sarge Frye Field for weekend games. The 2000 team reached the NCAA Super Regionals, as did the 2001 Gamecocks in Bouknight’s senior season. Then Tanner guided USC to three consecutive College World Series and it became most apparent a new stadium was needed.
“I’m just fortunate and honored that I happened to be coach at the time,” Tanner says. “This is about the history of the program. This isn’t just baseball here. This is Earl Bass. This is Kip Bouknight. This is what South Carolina baseball is all about.
“It’s not about me. It’s not about the current team. This is a culmination of tradition. This is a culmination of history of the program and the people who built the foundation.”
The opening of the new stadium is about Hank Small and Brian Buscher, and Mac White and Drew Meyer, and Mookie Wilson and Lee Gronkiewicz, Mike Curry and Justin Smoak, Randy Martz and Peter Bauer, and ...
Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM
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