An updated timeline on statue for South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley’s statue could go up in downtown Columbia this year.
It will sit at the corner of Main and Gervais streets across from the S.C. State House. The mold — which depicts Staley holding a net she cut down following a championship win — was first shown Sunday on ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast.
The current plan is to cast the mold this spring and reveal the statue publicly this year, according to the Columbia mayor’s office. The timing of that reveal will depend on the success of the casting process.
“It’s bigger than basketball,” Staley said on “GameDay.” “Obviously, it’s something that the city of Columbia wanted. It wasn’t anything that I politicked for. They wanted to bring it. They wanted to represent.
“... Not very many women, let alone Black women, get bestowed this honor. Now we have two places in which you can come to the city of Columbia and see two. All through playing basketball.
“... My mom would be proud. As a South Carolinian, she would be super proud.”
The project was first announced in February 2023. It’s projected cost is $140,000, funded by Statues for Equality (which aims to “balance gender and racial representation in public statues” around the world) and local business people. The city was approached by Statues for Equality, mayor Daniel Rickenmann told The State last year, and put in a bid for funding a statue of Staley.
“What the (USC women’s basketball) team has done is not only show excellent grace, at the same time, they’ve stood up for trying to level the playing field in sports,” Rickenmann said. “I’m excited that we have a coach who has really embraced our community and at the same time has really empowered her athletes to stand up tall every day.”
This year marks Staley’s 16th season as head coach of South Carolina women’s basketball. Her squad is the only remaining undefeated team in college hoops. In 15 years with the Gamecocks, Staley’s teams have won two national championships (2017, 2022), seven SEC regular-season and seven SEC Tournament titles. USC has reached five NCAA Final Fours and earned nine NCAA attendance titles.
Staley’s statue will be the second in Columbia honoring a USC women’s basketball star.
In January 2021, South Carolina unveiled an 11-foot bronze statue of Gamecock great A’ja Wilson, a Columbia native who helped lead the team to its first national championship in 2017. Wilson has since won two WNBA championships, a WNBA Finals MVP award, two league MVP awards and two Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Las Vegas Aces. Her first book “Dear Black Girls” released this month and made the New York Times Best Seller list.
This story was originally published February 20, 2024 at 4:15 PM.
