Scott Davis: Readers Respond - The "Lost Classics" Chronicles

There is a question rising within the chests of every South Carolina Gamecock fan today, a question of powerful and sweeping importance, of the utmost urgency.

And that question is: Can we ban midweek baseball games from the schedule, forevermore? (South Carolina baseball drops final home game of 2022)

Wait, no. No. That was not the question. In fact, let us speak of the 2022 college baseball season no further. The real question, the question that has been bubbling upon our lips for a week now, is this: Which memorable games from more than 100 years of Gamecock athletic lore will be etched onto our Mount Rushmore of Lost Classics?

Drumroll, please.

The answer is…well, it’s a work in progress.

You may recall that I proposed the creation of a Lost Classics Rushmore in last week’s newsletter, humbly offering such candidates as the 2001 last-second football win over Georgia in Athens, and the 23-point comeback, buzzer-beating basketball win over Cincinnati in 1998 as possible members of a Final Four.

What is a Lost Classic? It’s a game that had no bearing whatsoever on any significant accomplishments for the Gamecock program in question – it didn’t clinch an SEC championship, wasn’t a bowl victory and didn’t thrust South Carolina into postseason play. In fact, it might have occurred during an otherwise dreadful season filled with losses or took place during an unmemorable stretch of mediocrity.

It was a game that we remember not for its historical impact but simply because it was singularly unforgettable. It was a game that fastened itself to our hearts and wouldn’t let go, perhaps because it was a tense, back-and-forth affair, or because it was won in heart-stopping fashion, or because it took the fans to a higher place.

That’s a Lost Classic.

And readers far and wide responded with their own candidates for a Mount Rushmore to honor such games. Without further ado, let’s hand it over to you fine people (please note that my responses are in italics).

Christening the House that Frank Built

A reader named John writes, “Opening day at the Carolina Coliseum – totally packed with excitement of the Fab Sophs from the Underground Railroad from NYC – Roche, Owens and gang joining Cremins for that first game against Auburn – it’s near the end and we have all enjoyed Roche driving the baseline and Owens’ rebounds and layups, then 49-49 (I think) when at the buzzer, John Roche goes up for a 20-footer – swish. Gamecocks win 51-49 and the McGuire legend is off and running for many years to come. A great moment and memory indeed!”

That’s a picture-perfect Lost Classic, John. Those McGuire basketball teams were arguably the most popular and most reverently remembered South Carolina sports teams of all time, and yet I suspect that the majority of fans a generation or so younger than I am just aren’t familiar with their accomplishments. As such, games like this from 1968 – discussed and celebrated and held sacred through the decades – are in danger of being forgotten, which is precisely what the Lost Classics Rushmore is designed to prevent. I’ve searched far and wide for a video clip of this particular game, to no avail (what’s up, YouTube?) This game didn’t clinch anything other than a place in the hearts and minds of everyone who was there to see it.

Kentucky in the Rain

A reader named Will passed along four Lost Classics candidates, including the 2019 football win over Georgia in Athens, the men’s basketball victory against Virginia in ’19, a 2014 baseball double-header against Tennessee in which both games ended with walk-off homers for the Gamecocks, and the 2007 football game at Williams-Brice Stadium on a Thursday night against a Kentucky game that entered the contest ranked No. 8 in America (!!!!) – which I very much agree qualifies as a Lost Classic (2007 USC-UK Norwood’s 2nd TD). Multiple readers mentioned that Kentucky game, with reader Brandon recalling “We were soaked and super rowdy for a Top 10 win!”

I was fortunate enough to be in the stands for that pounding of Kentucky and erstwhile Heisman Trophy candidate Andre Woodson (whose Heisman chances died on Palmetto State soil that night), and I’d forgotten how electric it was inside Williams-Brice under the lights. That’s exactly the type of game I was hoping to be reminded of. Thursday night games during the Spurrier Era were particularly wild, rollicking affairs – if you weren’t there, it’s hard to describe just how much of a spring break party vibe those games had. Speaking of Thursday night games…

How Lost Was the Birth of Sandstorm?

In the previous week’s newsletter, I floated the 2009 home football game against Ole Miss (widely remembered as the Birth of Sandstorm) as being Rushmore-worthy, but reader Brandon makes a good point when he asks, “Can we really call the ’09 Ole Miss game lost, when it was immortalized on the TV show ’Brooklyn Nine-Nine’”?

It’s possible that the ’09 Ole Miss game never needed to be found, so permanent a fixture has it become in our hearts. The student section – where I was sitting that evening despite having not been a student for over a decade at that point – was as ferocious as I’d ever experienced it. Something delightfully wicked was in the air. It’s worth noting, too, that at that moment there was genuine doubt amongst the Gamecock faithful about whether the Spurrier Era would ever truly reach the heights we’d expected it to back in 2005. This game didn’t inaugurate 11-win seasons, but it did seem like the beginning of something. Speaking of Lost Classics that were never really lost…

Wait, I Could’ve Sworn…

A reader named Tom asks, “How about the Brandon Bennett UGA last play win?”

Tom is referring to the 1993 football game against Georgia in Athens, a game that I agree is a classic of the first order. Indeed, I agree so much that…it was the very first game I mentioned in the column about creating a Lost Classics Rushmore. So good news: We’re on the same page, Tom! My concern (similar to what Brandon mentions above about the ’09 Ole Miss game) was whether the game was just too popular to qualify as a Lost Classic. Still, it definitely didn’t usher in a new age or clinch anything important – South Carolina went 4-7 that year and coach Sparky Woods was fired. Its only claim to fame is that we can’t forget about it. In that regard, it may very well be the quintessential Lost Classic despite having never been lost. We just won’t stop talking about it or stop playing this clip in the week before every Georgia football game (1993 South Carolina vs Georgia Larry Munson Call). This might be the George Washington of the Lost Classics Rushmore.

Tide Rolled

A reader named Bob wrote in to ask why the 2010 win against Alabama (widely regarded as the most significant regular-season South Carolina football game of all time) didn’t make my cut.

I didn’t include that one because, oddly enough, it just had too much meaning to qualify as a Lost Classic. This set the Spurrier Era as we remember it in motion. It set the tone for a season in which South Carolina would win the SEC East. It was arguably the most important win of the most important period of Gamecock football, unlike that unimaginable 1993 Georgia game, which literally happened in a vacuum. If we’re putting this one in, we might as well open up the floodgates to include the College World Series clinchers, Dawn’s national title wins, the Duke game in the 2017 men’s basketball NCAA Tournament and other Never Lost Classics.

Bye, Quincy!

A reader named Henry wrote in with a whole host of Lost Classic candidates, including the immortal 2000 home football win against Georgia inside a frenzied Williams-Brice.

Yes, yes, yes – that is a Lost Classic indeed! This is why we let the readers speak, because I’d completely forgotten about this game even though I attended it. Let’s set the stage: The Gamecocks were coming off an 0-11 season in 1999. After getting back in the win column against New Mexico State to open the 2000 season, they entered their next game against No. 10 Georgia as heavy underdogs. Once again, our opponents brought a Heisman candidate with them – this time, Georgia QB Quincy Carter. Instead of folding, the Gamecocks picked off Carter an astounding FIVE times (just one less interception than he had the entire previous season), foreclosing on his Heisman hopes before the season had barely gotten underway. Fans rushed the field following the win, ripping down the goal posts and tearing up the hedges. As I wandered through the Fairgrounds in a postgame daze, I encountered two middle-aged women dancing atop a truck to the strains of “Who Let the Dogs Out.” What a day. Now, THAT’s a Lost Classic.

Come to think of it, we may need a couple of Rushmores to get all these classics in. Let’s keep the memories flowing.

Tell me more of your candidates for our Lost Classics Rushmore by writing me at [email protected].

DON’T MISS! Discussion about Lost Gamecock Classics