Former Gamecocks star Carey Rich announces he tested positive, recovered from COVID-19
Carey Rich has been a face of basketball in Columbia for decades, from his time as a star at C.A. Johnson High School to playing for the South Carolina men’s basketball team, to working with various basketball-related organizations as an adult.
On Monday, he became another face of the coronavirus pandemic when he did an interview with WACH Fox and announced he had and then beat COVID-19 after a lengthy quarantine.
“It’s been surreal the past three weeks,” Rich said. “When it hits home, it adds that element of realism. For me, not only was is physically overwhelming. It was also mentally overwhelming. As men, as fathers, we’re built to be strong. We’re built to be courageous, built to be protectors. For that brief moment. I could not satisfy any of those things.”
He admitted there were a few points when he worried if he would make it.
Rich is a superintendent for the City of Columbia’s Parks and Rec department, but he also is involved in a range of local basketball events, including the Chick-fil-A Classic, MLK Bash and summertime South Carolina Pro-Am at Heathwood Hall.
He led Johnson to a state title in 1989, went to Western Carolina for one season and then transferred back to play for the Gamecocks. In three seasons, he averaged 9.9 points, 4.3 assists and led the team from the end of the Steve Newton era into the start of Eddie Fogler’s tenure. He was twice a team captain, leading to a moniker that still sticks with him.
Gamecocks coach Frank Martin also tested positive for COVID, but didn’t have any symptoms.
