Lattimore, Jeffery, other Gamecocks call for renaming Strom Thurmond Center
Some of South Carolina’s former football players are making their voices heard about a on-campus building with a controversial name: the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center.
Former Gamecocks stars such as Marcus Lattimore, Alshon Jeffery and Mike Davis tweeted out the same message Wednesday, calling for the 17-year-old building to be renamed as to not celebrate a “well known segregationist.”
Their message read: “To celebrate well known segregationist Strom Thurmond’s legacy by keeping his name on our Wellness Center sends a contradicting message to our black students @UofSC. We can no longer be held back by those whose ideals represent division. We must continue the fight for equality.”
Former players posting the message or graphics calling for the change including Lattimore, Jeffery, Davis, A’ja Wilson, Sindarius Thornwell, Nick Jones, Damiere Byrd, Shaq Wilson and Jason Barnes.
Lattimore has often spoken up about issues in the past and in recent weeks has talked often about police brutality and racial issues, especially in light of the protests surrounding the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Lattimore and Jeffery are leading the push the rename the building, The State learned.
Earlier in the week, former Gamecock Tim Frisby had also tweeted a graphic about renaming the on-campus gym.
Other former Gamecock athletes — including Wilson, Thornwell and Alex English — think the building should be renamed after USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley, who turned the program into one of the nation’s best and won 2018 national title. As of Wednesday night, almost 15,000 people have signed the petition.
A statement from school president Robert Caslen earlier this week about changing the names of campus buildings didn’t mention the Strom, but several online petitions were already circulating and a change is being considered.
Thurmond ran for president as a segregationist in 1948, and eventually switched parties because of his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He served as senator from 1954 to 2003 and had also been governor of the state from 1947-1951.
In 1948, Thurmond said, “There’s not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation,” before adding a racial epithet and mentioning pools, churches, homes and theaters as places he did not want integrated.
He also conducted the longest filibuster in this history of the U.S. Senate, attempting to stall the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
This comes less than a week after Clemson changed the name of its honors college, removing Calhoun from the title. Former Tigers Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins both spoke out publicly on that issue, as well as calling for the name of Ben Tillman to be removed from campus buildings. (There are statues of both Thurmond and Tillman on South Carolina’s State House grounds.)
This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 3:36 PM.
