Lo Dreher had chills as she stopped to take in the scene of the bustling crowd.
Seated in the Halle Georges Carpentier Arena in Paris for a historic contest between Notre Dame and South Carolina in November 2023, Dreher, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, was a part of a Gamecocks fan contingent that journeyed to the City of Light to attend the game.
What moved Dreher was the makeup of the South Carolina delegation. Many of the spectators in attendance were Black. She saw familiar faces: one of her mom’s best friends, a woman whose daughter Dreher had played against in high school and both were ready to cheer on their Gamecocks, led by coach Dawn Staley.
“In Paris,” Dreher emphasized.
“Not only are these Gamecock fans, these are Black people that are in Paris for a basketball game – all because of Dawn Staley. Crazy.”
South Carolina’s season opener in Paris was just one example that showed both the abundance of Black fans supporting Staley and the Gamecocks, as well as the depth of their program fandom. Given the scale of South Carolina’s home crowds, it’s arguably the largest Black fandom in women’s college basketball.
“We take a lot of pride,” said former state Rep. Bakari Sellers, a longtime Gamecocks fan. “We take off work. We plan our schedules around Dawn Staley and her girls. It’s not all Black [fans] by any stretch, but Black people have a great affinity for these girls and we’re very protective of these girls – even Chloe [Kitts].
For many Black fans, it’s a level of support that goes beyond basketball. As Staley continues to traverse a path that hasn’t been traveled before by a Black coach in the sport, behind her is a Black community in Columbia helping to push her, and her unbeaten Gamecocks team, forward.
“We love them like they’re our own,” Sellers said.
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To attend a South Carolina home game is to see Black fans of all ages and personalities. Dreher gave a breakdown of the fans one might find walking the concourse at Colonial Life Arena:
- There’s the “young girlies.” The “baddies with their hair done, nails done.”
- “Older, put-together sorority women.”
- Older men “who think they know everything about basketball, with their hands crossed across their chest.”
- Older women “who are just fanatics and love women’s basketball.”
- Black students – “They get the swag surf right.”
- And the young alumni, like Dreher.
Through the sustained success that Staley and South Carolina have maintained over the years, Gamecocks home games have become a gathering place for the Black community of Columbia – a city that is 40% Black according to the 2022 U.S. Census – and the rest of the state.
“It’s like a family reunion. It’s crazy. It’s so special to have a place to gather, have a common ground that everyone is rooting for. Win, lose or draw – it don’t matter. We riding.”
Since 2019, the Gamecocks have lost at home just once, to NC State in December 2020. South Carolina’s record at home over the last five seasons: 76-1.
The packed houses and loyal fan base in Columbia are especially notable given the state of the team when Staley became coach in 2008.
Dreher, who has been attending Gamecocks basketball games since she was a kid, recalled Staley’s early years trying to rebuild a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament in five years. The year before Staley’s arrival, South Carolina averaged 1,800 fans.
“First couple years, I could go into the gym, maybe halftime, and get a seat,” Dreher said. “I could yell and be on the jumbotron. I could yell and everyone in the gym could hear me.”
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Staley went 24-33 in her first two seasons. Former guard Markeshia Grant, who played two seasons under Staley from 2010-12, recalled Staley’s focus on engaging the city.
“We didn’t have a lot of fans,” Grant said. “That was her focal point. First we got to grow the fan base, we’ve got to grow the community, then all the championships will come.”
Staley made sure high-level talent never left the state. It began with Aleighsa Welch of Goose Creek, who was a top 100 recruit in the Class of 2011. In 2012, Staley signed two top-100 recruits, Columbia native Asia Dozier and Myrtle Beach native Khadijah Sessions, now an assistant with the program. In 2013, she signed Alaina Coates of Irmo, who ranked No. 28 in her class. And in 2014, she signed No. 1 overall recruit A’ja Wilson, of Hopkins.
By the time Wilson arrived, Staley had led the program to three straight NCAA tournaments and two Sweet 16 appearances.
“When A’ja committed, that was like the springboard,” Dreher said. “Now you’ve got an extra buy-in from the people in Columbia.”
This season’s South Carolina team features two players from Columbia, freshman MiLaysia Fulwiley and sophomore Ashlyn Watkins.
“You recruit the hometown kids and get them to stay so now you’re building a fanbase,” Grant said.
As the program continued to improve, so, too, did its base, which grew exponentially until it became the largest fan base in the country. According to the NCAA, South Carolina has led Division I in home game fan attendance every year since 2015, when it averaged 12,293 fans. In 2023-24, average attendance for South Carolina home games was 16,488, which ranks as second all-time (Tennessee, 1999) for a single season.
“Now if you’re going to a game, you better get there an hour to two hours early,” Dreher said. “It’s changed so much.”
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Black Gamecocks fans have celebrated the on-court success South Carolina has had over the years, but their support runs beyond the AP No. 1 rankings, wins and trophies.
“It’s way beyond basketball,” Sellers said. His father, Cleveland, taught at the university for 20 years. “This is more than basketball here in Columbia.”
It begins with the community’s ability to consistently cheer on and support a team composed of a Black woman head coach and predominantly Black players who are at the top of the sport year after year. It’s something that, historically, women’s college basketball has only seen once before with C. Vivian Stringer.
“Growing up, I saw the [South Carolina] girls playing, but it wasn’t led by a Black woman. It shows that well, not only can I play, I can coach, too. I can do this too. I know if I was younger, if I saw a woman like Dawn, I might’ve worked a little harder, like I want to play for Dawn,” Dreher said. “I think it’s immeasurable. The little girls playing basketball now, they don’t know anything different than South Carolina and Dawn Staley.”
“She’s one of us,” Sellers said of Staley. “She’s family. She feels like she is a part of all of our families. She wins. It’s easy to love.”
There’s a profound respect for the Hall of Fame head coach and how she’s handled business in South Carolina both on and off the court. From the standard she holds for her program to how she coaches and leads her players. She’s lauded for her authenticity and accessibility, and a genuine desire to engage with the Columbia community – whether that’s shaking hands after every home game or an annual breakfast Staley holds for a few hundred local grandparents of Columbia each November..
“People will run through a wall for her even if they don’t play for her,” Grant said. “She’s very personable. Easy to talk to, easy to connect with. She’s going to stop and sign autographs, take pictures. Nothing is too big for her.”
Then there’s how Staley has consistently advocated for her players, unafraid to use her platform to call out those she believes have wronged her team.
“Being a Black community in the South, that’s something that resonates with all of us because we’ve all, growing up in South Carolina, we’ve been in a situation where you have to let someone know where they’ve got you messed up at,” Dreher said. “Seeing that on a larger scale and not letting anybody push you over, not letting anybody put you in a box and just letting it go over and not saying anything, I think that’s why people ride for her.”
In Staley, with each season and each game, Black Gamecocks fans see a Black woman fighting for respect and acceptance in a space where high-level performance alone hasn’t always been enough to garner it. It’s a similar fight that resonates in Black communities far beyond South Carolina.
In more ways than one, when Staley wins, so do the Black fans that support her.
“I think [Black fans] see her as someone that they can be,” Grant said. “A lot of young girls, they’re just so excited to meet her because – how many Black coaches have done what she’s doing? I think it’s something to be proud of and want to emulate within the Black community.”
On Sunday, the Gamecocks will play their final game of the season in Columbia. As South Carolina continues its quest to end the season as the 10th unbeaten team in NCAA history, it will do so with a community of Black Gamecocks fans standing firmly behind them cheering for victories that extend well past the 90-foot court they gather around at Colonial Life Arena.
“Every young lady that passes through those doors at the University of South Carolina and Dawn Staley’s basketball team, they have the love, admiration and protection of an entire community,” Sellers said.
“Every single one of them.”
