This USC alum surprised her 85-year-old grandfather with his first Gamecocks game
Almost everyone in Brianne Hart’s family attended Georgia Southern University — until she broke the trend.
Hart’s family is from Savannah, Georgia and passionately cheers for the Eagles. They even have rooms in their homes dedicated to Georgia Southern’s teams, Hart said.
But she decided to go to the University of South Carolina. And because of that, her 85-year-old grandfather, Jimmie, shifted his fandom to the Gamecocks.
Hart’s grandfather specifically developed a big love for the USC women’s basketball team once his granddaughter got to campus. The two constantly text each other during games to keep up with stats and how the team is playing. His favorite player is Aliyah Boston — who he sometimes mistakenly calls “Aliyah Bolton” in the family group chat.
“I’m always hollering, ‘Put her under the basket!’ ” Jimmie Hart said. “Real great athlete, and I understand she’s a great person, too.”
He’d been to Colonial Life Arena once — to see his granddaughter graduate from USC in 2019. On Sunday, though, Jimmie Hart, who goes by “Pop,” got to watch the Gamecocks live and in person for the first time in USC’s 81-50 win against Missouri.
The Hart family plays “Secret Santa” every year on Christmas Eve in Savannah. Brianne Hart rigged the most recent game, bestowing a pair of tickets to her Pop for South Carolina’s Jan. 15 game against the Tigers.
“I didn’t put my Pop’s name in the jar and I immediately gave it to me,” she said.
She posted a video to Twitter that showed Pop opening a box and reading a letter that confirmed his trip to the Palmetto State.
“You can’t go,” he told his wife as he read the note.
Pop and Brianne made the trip up from Savannah, with Brianne’s mother and his daughter-in-law, Sandra, driving them to Columbia. Pop Hart had the chance to experience the game from Section 118, Row 23 while donning a white shirt with the words “2022 National Champions” surrounding the USC logo.
All of the “FAMs” in the building cheered alongside him.
Pop and Brianne didn’t get to meet any of the Gamecocks, but they did get messages on social media from Boston and Dawn Staley.
Boston responded to Hart’s original video, and Staley replied to a picture they posted to Twitter after the game.
“Everybody was nice,” he said. “It’s a really exciting time. First time I’ve been to a big game like that. It’s a beautiful facility there, too.”
Pop Hart has always been a basketball fan, and mostly everyone in his family keeps up with athletics as a whole. They cheer for NFL players like Jerick McKinnon and Tyler Bass, who both attended Georgia Southern.
Now as a South Carolina fan, women’s basketball has become a sport of interest for him.
This started with Brianne — who her Pop calls “Breezy” — and her fandom as a student. Brianne Hart attended numerous games when she went to school in Columbia and returned for more after she graduated. She was on campus last year when ESPN’s “College GameDay” show made its visit to Colonial Life Arena as the women’s basketball team faced Tennessee.
Though South Carolina is a big school, Brianne Hart said the culture of the fan base made the setting feel more close-knit.
“You feel like you all know each other because it’s just one big, happy environment,” she said.
Pop Hart’s enjoyment of sports goes beyond the viewing experience of basketball and roves into the playing world of bowling.
“I think I got about a 130 average,” Hart said. “That’s pretty good for an 85-year-old man.”
He picked up bowling before he turned 40, stopped for a while, and picked it back up five years ago. His church has a few teams that play, and he likes to play with his son, Jeff.
“Just going and getting to bowl with him means a lot — like it is with Breezy, being with her,” Pop Hart said.
It meant a lot for him to spend Christmas Eve with his family, Pop said, as was spending Sunday’s game with his granddaughter and daughter-in-law.
He’ll continue to support the Gamecocks like he has in recent years. He sees the women’s basketball team as a “fine-tuned machine” with great coaching.
Pop Hart will keep texting his granddaughter with updates during the game, including how well “Aliyah Bolton” is performing.
But for one afternoon, he got a chance to see the reigning champions up close.
“For her to think about that was really great, and the game was super,” he said.
