Nelson Brownlee
Nelson Brownlee enjoyed an unparalleled career as a high school and college coach that spanned 42 years. An Orangeburg native and S.C. State graduate, Brownlee began his coaching career in 1958 at Mt. Vernon High School in Mt. Vernon, Ga. He later coached 14 years at Wilkinson High in Orangeburg and two years at Orangeburg-Wilkinson following the merger.
Brownlee gained national notoriety as head coach at Claflin University in Orangeburg for 27 years (1974-2001). He won more than 600 games and remains one of the winningest coaches in NAIA history. He led Claflin to 12 NAIA national tournaments including a pair of second place finishes. In addition, his Claflin squads captured seven NAIA District 6 championships, 17 EIAC (Eastern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) titles and six SEAC (Southeastern Athletic Conference) championships.
Brownlee earned a number of Coach of the Year accolades and was twice named the Converse National Coach of the Year. He produced several All-Americans including two-time NAIA National Player of the Year honoree Miriam Walker-Samuels. He was inducted into the Claflin Athletic Hall of Fame posthumously in 2011. Brownlee died in 2003
Clint Dempsey
Clint Dempsey ranks as the most recognizable former Furman athlete worldwide and one of the most impactful players in the history of United States Soccer. The Nacogdoches, Texas, native guided the U.S. National Team to three consecutive FIFA World Cups in 2006, 2010, and 2014 while becoming the first American to score in three World Cups. After a three-year career at Furman (2001-03) in which he earned 2002 United Soccer Coaches All-America honors and was twice named all-region.
Dempsey was the eighth overall selection of the New England Revolution in the 2004 Major League Soccer Draft. He claimed MLS Rookie of the Year honors and the first of three consecutive MLS All-Star citations before moving to English Premier League side Fulham FC in 2006. In six years with the London club, Dempsey helped Fulham avoid relegation and reach the Europa League while becoming the most prolific American goal scorer in the league’s history and Fulham’s all-time leading scorer in the Premier League with 50 goals. Following a stint at Tottenham, the midfielder returned to the United States to join the Seattle Sounders and guided the club to the Supporter’s Shield in 2014 and MLS Cup in 2016.
A 2022 inductee into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Dempsey finished his career as a three-time U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year (2007, ’11, ’12) and three-time Honda U.S. Player of the Year (2006, ’11, ’12). His 57 goals in 141 appearances with the U.S. National Team tie him with Landon Donovan as the USA’s all-time leading goal scorer. In his three years as a standout for head coach Doug Allison at Furman, Dempsey tallied 19 goals, was a three-time All-Southern Conference choice, helped the Paladins to a pair of regular season title, and two NCAA Tournament bids. In 2002, the Paladins reached the Sweet Sixteen and garnered a No. 8 national ranking.
He was inducted into Furman's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 and the SoCon Hall of Fame in 2014.
Gary Gilmore
A former Coastal Carolina center fielder, Gary Gilmore began his head coaching career at USC Aiken (1990-95) where his teams went 253-102-2 and appeared in the NCAA DII College World Series in 1993. Gilmore was the American Baseball Coaches Association’s NCAA DII Coach of the Year in 1993.
Gilmore, who was named head coach at Coastal Carolina in 1996, led the Chanticleers to a 1,118-597-3 record over 29 seasons. He led the Chanticleers to the 2016 College World Series title and 19 NCAA Regional appearances overall. Gilmore was inducted in the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2022 and the USC Aiken Hall of Fame in 2014.
Gilmore earned his 1000th career victory in a 4-3 win over Presbyterian on April 17, 2014. He led Coastal to the national championship with a 4–3 victory over Arizona on June 30, 2016. It was Coastal's first trip to the College World Series.
Gilmore, who was a 10-time conference Coach of the Year, retired after the 2024 season and finished with a career record of 1,371-699-5 over 35 seasons.
Susan Hill-Whitson
Susan Hill-Whitson is the only four-time ACC MVP in Clemson’s women’s sport in history and one of just two in school history. Hill-Whitson, who participated in the women’s pro tennis tour from 1977-81, remains the only four-time ACC MVP in conference women’s tennis history. She is one of just two tennis players to win No. 1 singles league title four years in a row and was named to ACC’s 50-year Anniversary team in 2002.
She was named one of Clemson’s top 20 student-athletes of the 20th Century by The State newspaper and was the first female athlete to be inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame (1986). Inducted into the state of Tennessee Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009, she was a three-time All-American (1978, 1979 and 1981) and was the 1980 ACC Tournament MVP. The ACC’s top doubles champion with her sister Carolyn, in 1979, Hill was Clemson’s team MVP four straight years.
Hill posted a four–year singles record of 126-20 (.863 winning percentage), still the best in Clemson history. She also won 82 percent of her sets (261-57), also the best winning percentage for sets in Clemson history. Dropping just one match against an ACC opponent in her career, Hill recorded a 33-5 record as a freshman, 23-3 as a sophomore, 40-3 as a junior and 30-9 as a senior.
Shannon Johnson
Guard Shannon Johnson concluded her stellar USC career by finishing second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 2,230 points. She remains the lone Gamecock to average 20-plus points per game over three consecutive seasons, including a school-record 24.7 ppg in 1995-96.
Johnson, who earned All-America honors as a senior, was a three-time first-team all-SEC member (1994-96) and a finalist for the Wade and Naismith awards. Johnson helped the 2004 USA Olympic team to a gold medal in Athens, Greece.
Johnson was a five-time WNBA All-Star (1999, 2000, 2002-04) playing for the Orlando Miracle (1999-02), Connecticut Sun (2003), San Antonio Stars (2004-06), Detroit Shock (2007), Houston Comets (2008) and Seattle Storm (2009).
Johnson scored 30-plus points in 17 career games and 20-plus points in 57 games. She holds several school records, including nine 3-pointers made in a game against Arizona State in 1995.
Johnson was coached at South Carolina by SCAHOF member Nancy Wilson. She served as head basketball coach at Coker College from 2015-20.
Ralph Lundy
Former College of Charleston and Erskine College men’s soccer coach Ralph Lundy retired in 2019 after 44 seasons and ranks in the top-25 in all-time wins amongst Division I coaches after posting a career coaching mark of 453-350-66, including a 323-279-53 record at CofC.
The Sparta, NC native was first a three-sport athlete at Allegheny High (football, wrestling and baseball) and then again at Western Carolina (soccer, wrestling and baseball). He helped the Catamounts soccer team to an 8-2 soccer record in 1970 and a trip to the NAIA District V playoffs. He served as co-captain of the team in ‘71 and led the Catamounts to a 7-2-2 record. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1972.
After a two-year stint with the U.S. Marine Corps, Lundy returned to Western as a graduate assistant and earned his master's degree in physical education. Prior to attending Western Carolina, Lundy spent two seasons at Brevard College where he played baseball and soccer. In 2006, he was enshrined in both the Brevard College and Western Carolina Halls of Fame.
Lundy began his coaching career at Erskine College in 1976. Over 11 years he compiled a 131-71-13 with 10 winning seasons. He led the Flying Fleet to seven district titles and three NAIA National Tournaments. Lundy was inducted into the Erskine Athletics Hall of Fame and an annual soccer award is given in his honor.
He led the College of Charleston to a 323-279-53 record during his 33 years as head coach from 1987-2019. His Cougar teams enjoyed 19 winning seasons, five conference championships and five appearances in the NCAA Tournament including an Elite Eight appearance in 1994. Lundy’s win total includes victories over five national champions, as well as, Notre Dame, Stanford, Ohio State, Wake Forest, North Carolina, N.C. State, Duke and South Carolina. Lundy is a member of the College of Charleston Athletic Hall of Fame.
He has dedicated his life to the game of soccer for the state of South Carolina as he works with state and local officials to help build soccer facilities. He also worked as state director for the S.C. Youth Soccer Association for 10 years, served as director of the Mount Pleasant Youth Soccer Club and was co-director of the McDonald’s All-American High School boys and girls soccer games played in Charleston.
The soccer fields at Erskine and College of Charleston are both named in his honor.
Harold Olson
During the 1950s, Clemson was beginning to establish its dominance inside the newly-formed Atlantic Coast Conference. One of the keys to the Tigers’ success in their consecutive championship runs was offensive tackle Harold Olson. Olson was a three-time letterman and two-year starter for the Tigers between 1957-59, playing for legendary coach Frank Howard. Olson helped lead the 1958 and 1959 Tigers to back-to-back ACC championships and was a first-team All-ACC selection at the conclusion of the 1959 season. He earned Associated Press honorable mention All-America honors in 1959 and was also named to the Clemson Centennial team for one-platoon players in 1996.
Olson was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and was a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills (AFL). He was the 13th overall pick in the 1960 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals in 1960, which was the 10th-highest draft selection in Clemson history (he did not receive the notoriety then that he would today for being the #13 selection of the draft; in those days, there were only 12 teams in the NFL, so he was officially a second-round pick). He is the highest drafted offensive lineman in state of South Carolina history.
Olson played for the Buffalo Bills (1960-62) and the Denver Broncos (1963-64), making the AFL Pro Bowl team in 1961 and was named first-team All-Pro in 1962. He played 70 games during his professional career. Olson remains a key piece of Tiger football history. Clemson had the 15th -highest winning percentage in college football during the 1950s. The 1959 team recorded a still-school and ACC-record four consecutive shutouts in victories over N.C. State, South Carolina, Rice and Duke.
Landon Powell
Catcher Landon Powell was a standout performer for the University of South Carolina from 2001-04. He earned All-America honors in 2004 and was twice voted to the All-SEC team. For his Gamecock career, the switch-hitter belted 44 home runs, 61 doubles, and drove in 193 runs. He collected 265 career hits and scored 176 runs.
Defensively, he held the school single-game, season and career record for putouts. He and also logged a record 65 assists in 2004 and recorded 190 in his career (2001-04).
In 2002, Powell hit .292 with 12 homers and helped USC to a second-place finish at the College World Series. Powell hit .339 in 2003 and posted a .330 batting average in 2004. In 2010, Powell was named to the College World Series Legends Team. In 2004, he was selected 24th overall in the first round by the Oakland Athletics. For his career with Oakland (2009-11), Powell batted .207 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI.
Powell is currently the head baseball coach at North Greenville University where his team captured the 2022 NCAA DII national championship. He enters the 2025 campaign with a 389-130-1 record over 10 seasons at NGU. He’s also led the Trailblazers to six NCAA postseason appearances, five Conference Carolinas tournament titles and four league regular season championships.
Richard Seymour
Lower Richland High School standout Richard Seymour was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2022. Seymour was the sixth overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots after lettering for four seasons at Georgia (1997-00). He played 12 seasons (2001-12) in the NFL with New England and the Oakland Raiders.
Seymour spent the first eight seasons of his NFL career with the Patriots and played an important role in delivering six division titles, four conference crowns and three Super Bowl championships to New England. He was named to five straight Pro Bowls with the Patriots (2002-06) and earned three straight first-team All-Pro honors (2003-05). He was also named to the AFC Pro Bowl team in 2010 and 2011 as a member of the Raiders.
His five Pro Bowl berths are the most by any Patriots defensive lineman since the 1970 NFL merger. He was also a four-time team co-captain. In 2009, he was voted to the Patriots 50th Anniversary Team and the 2000s All-Decade Team.
Seymour was a first-team All-SEC selection for Georgia in 1999 and 2000. He also earned first-team All-American honors by American Football Coaches and Walter Camp Foundation in 2002.
Don Whitehead
Whitehead was four-year letter winner for Erskine (1963-67) earning All-NAIA District 6 honors after his junior and senior seasons. Whitehead scored 1,359 points during his 87-game Flying Fleet career. He was inducted into the Erskine Hall of Fame in 1986.
He averaged 19.3 points per game as a junior while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 83.1 percent from the foul line. He also pulled down a career-best 9.7 rebounds per game. He averaged 22.3 points per game as a senior knocking down 48.7 percent of his field goals and 88.1 percent of his free throws.
During the 1965 season Whitehead scored 36 of Erskine’s 57 points in a 59-57 overtime loss to South Carolina. Following the contest USC Hall of Fame coach Frank McGuire said someone should draft him.
Whitehead was drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 1967 and later traded to the Houston Rockets. He also played professionally for three teams (Asbury Park, Trenton, Springfield) in the Eastern Basketball League from 1967-69. Whitehead enjoyed a stellar high school career at Brookland-Cayce High School.