After offseason of uncertainty, Kirk Hollingsworth ready to continue USC game streak
Kirk Hollingsworth made sure to point out that everything is still up in the air to a degree. This weekend’s game between the South Carolina football team and Tennessee could be undone by the global pandemic, as a smattering of games already have been.
But after an offseason fraught with uncertainty, the Gamecocks superfan’s run of attending hundreds of USC football games should keep rolling on.
“That’s the plan now,” Hollingsworth said. “The away games are kind of up in the air, but I’ve got a plan to go to Florida and I got a plan to go to Vanderbilt now. Nothing concrete after that on the away games.
“It’s pretty cool. I’ve been fortunate throughout the years.”
The streak right now stands at 333 games, stretching back to 1992. Hollingsworth has been a fixture at Gamecocks games across all sports, radio call-in shows and other South Carolina events for years, a joyful presence exuberant about South Carolina sports.
His streak almost ended in 2017, but at the last minute, Gamecocks AD Ray Tanner offered him a spot on a plane when a bus trip fell through.
As of last week, he had still been figuring out some of the aspects of road trips, but getting to Florida means he’ll be in position to continue the streak through at least mid-October before the Gamecocks hit the road for Louisiana.
In Nashville, he won’t actually be able to get into the building for the Vanderbilt game, as the school has set a policy of no fans. But through a connection, he found a hotel next door which has rooms that look down into the stadium.
“I’ve got a friend that travels a lot, and he know the people that have the hotel,” Hollingsworth said. “So he had the room already locked in. That’s how I got involved. He works in Nashville. ... He’s got the inside scoop.
“I’m pretty lucky to know somebody.”
And if the next few days pass without incident or spate of positive COVID-19 tests, he’ll be back around the stadium come Saturday. Hollingsworth plans to get in a little bit of tailgating with is neighbors (he said tailgating has long been a cherished part of his game day experience), and then head on in to his seats in section 902.
He’s seen six head coaches, three 11-win squads and one winless team, and this weekend, through all the tumult of this offseason, he’ll be back in the place he knows so well.
“I guess that’s my second home,” Hollinsworth said. “Williams-Brice Stadium. I’ll be glad to be home again. It seems like a long time coming.”
