Columbia mayor logs prediction for next Gamecock to be honored with statue
South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley on April 30 became the third figure from Gamecock sports to be honored with a statue.
Staley joined A’ja Wilson — a Gamecock women’s basketball legend in her own right — as well as former South Carolina football great and Heisman trophy winner George Rogers.
Staley’s statue was erected near the University of South Carolina’s Alumni Center near The Vista and downtown Columbia. Her statue came to be via a partnership with the city of Columbia, Statutes for Equality and local business people.
All three of the statues have been unveiled in the last 10 years. Rogers’ came first in 2015 then Wilson’s in 2021.
Only so many sports figures — let alone people in general — wind up having statue-worthy careers. During a conversation with The State prior to Staley’s statue unveiling, Columbia’s Mayor Daniel Rickenmann predicted that there are two Gamecocks potentially worthy of a statue.
Another women’s basketball great with a statue?
Staley has helped mold several great athletes since taking over the South Carolina women’s basketball program in 2008, so it’s fitting Rickenmann thinks the next statue would come from her crop of players.
“I have a feeling it will probably be another one of our women’s basketball (players) at some point, is my guess,” he said.
The obvious choice? Aliyah Boston.
“When they started the statue with A’ja, I think the next one that was talked about was Aliyah Boston, wanting to do something for her,” Rickenmann said.
Boston needs no introduction to Gamecock fans. She’s the most highly decorated student-athlete in South Carolina athletics history — an honor once held by Wilson — and helped lead South Carolina to three straight Final Fours.
She brought the program’s second national championship back to Columbia in 2022. She was a four-time All-American, four-time All-SEC player, four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, a Wooden Award winner and a Naismith Award winner, among several other awards.
Staley suggested Boston would be the next to have the honor, a prediction made when Wilson’s jersey was retired in February. Former Arkansas women’s basketball coach Mike Neighbors said the same thing back in 2023.
Back in February, Staley joked that they’d have to “play chess with the statues” outside of Colonial Life Arena if they were to add one of Boston.
“I think this has become kind of a passion project. I think the coach really wants these incredible players to be (honored) and it’s really about them versus her,” Rickenmann said.
What about football?
While a former women’s basketball player would be Rickenmann’s first prediction, he also floated a dark horse pick: current Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers.
“I don’t know, LaNorris (Sellers), if he keeps playing like he’s playing and he hangs around, it could be one for him, too,” Rickemann said.
Sellers will be entering his second year as the starter for Shane Beamer and South Carolina. Last year he was an All-SEC Third Team pick after 2,534 yards and 18 touchdowns while adding 674 yards and seven scores on the ground.
Expectations for Sellers are already sky-high entering 2025. The Gamecocks are coming off a 9-4 year — the best of Beamer’s tenure — and some pundits consider Sellers one of the best quarterbacks in college football. Some even consider him a bonafide top-five pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
If the local kid — who is the product of Florence High School — can live up to the ever-growing expectations, then maybe Rickenmann will be right and a statue of Sellers will one day be built by Rogers’ statue outside of Williams-Brice Stadium.
