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Dawn Staley addresses significance of her bronze statue in downtown Columbia: 'My mom would be proud'

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison02/18/24dan_morrison96
Dawn Staley
© Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

Dawn Staley, as the leader of the South Carolina women’s basketball program, has changed the culture of the sport at the school and in the city of Columbia. As such, it was recently announced that a statue of her will be placed in downtown Columbia, across from the State House where a Confederate flag once stood.

While making an appearance on College GameDay before South Carolina’s game against Georgia, Staley shared what having that statue put up means to her.

“It takes me back,” Dawn Staley said. “I wanted A’ja Wilson to be the only USC athlete to be bestowed that honor. It’s bigger than basketball, obviously. It’s something the city of Columbia wanted. It wasn’t anything that I politicked for.”

News of the statue came out in early February of 2023 and it was being worked on by the city of Columbia and Statues for Equality, a group that works to promote and increase the number of women receiving honors for their contributions to society.

Funding for the statue came from local businesses, while Statues for Equality provided 50/50 matching funds for it. No money from taxpayers or the University of South Carolina is being used.

Initially, it was reported that Dawn Staley would have final approval of the design for the statue and that it would take between 10 and 12 months to cast in bronze. On ESPN’s segment where Staley was being asked about it, images of the statue were shown, depicting her cutting down the nets for a championship.

“They wanted to bring it. They wanted to represent our city’s diversity, our state’s diverse, and it’s awesome because not very many women, let alone black women get bestowed this honor and we’ve got two places in which you can come to the city of Columbia, and see two, and all through playing basketball. All through the round ball of playing basketball,” Staley said.

“So, I think it’s an incredible honor that I probably don’t know the significance [of] as we sit here today, but my mom would be proud. As a South Carolinian, she would be proud.”

As Dawn Staley noted, her parents are from South Carolina originally but moved to Philadelphia where she was raised. Now, it’s hard to question her impact on and off the court in South Carolina.

After becoming South Carolina’s head coach in 2008, Staley began to turn the program into a power. That includes two national championships and a career record of 426-106 at South Carolina. This season, the Gamecocks are once again the favorites to win it all.