June Raines
Raines coached USC baseball from 1977-96, replacing Bobby Richardson, and finished his tenure as the program’s all-time winningest coach at the time with a 763-380-2 record in 20 years. He took the Gamecocks to four College World Series (1977, 1981, 1982 & 1985), and finished as runner-up in 1977. Overall, he led Carolina to 11 NCAA tournaments and won four Regionals. He also had nine 40-win seasons and during the 1980s witnessed the program’s most successful run during his tenure as the Gamecocks made eight NCAA Tournaments, including seven consecutive from 1980-86.
Betsy Rawls
The Spartanburg native won 55 LPGA tournaments, including eight majors and four Women’s National Opens from 1961-75. She is one of the LPGA’s founders, its first president (1961-67), and a charter inductee in the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame in 1967. She was the second female inductee of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, following Lucille Godbold in 1961.
Clifford Ray
Clifford Ray of Union, S.C. and Sims high school played 10 seasons in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls (1971-74) and the Golden State Warriors (1974-81). He played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
Selected in the third round of the 1971 NBA draft by the Bulls, Ray was a very effective defender and rebounder. He was named to the 1972 NBA All-Rookie team, and led the NBA in rebounds per minute played in each of his first two seasons. His best season with the Bulls came during the 1973–74 campaign when he averaged 9.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per game while helping the Bulls reach the NBA Western Conference Finals for the first time.
In 1975 he helped the Golden State Warriors to the NBA championship. Ray led the team in rebounding and finished second in minutes played per game. For his career he averaged 7.4 points (5,821 total), 8.9 rebounds (6,953 total) and 2.2 assists per game (1,728 games).
Ray worked as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks (1987-93). He then coached in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), where he landed his first head coaching job with the Fort Wayne Fury (1993-94). Ray returned to the NBA and worked as an assistant coach with New Jersey (1995-96), Golden State (2000-02), Cleveland (2002-03), Orlando (2004-05) and the Boston Celtics (2006-10). Ray, who helped the Celtics win the 2008 NBA championship, finished his career with the Sacramento Kings (2012-13).
Grady Ray
As a baseball and football standout at Newberry College (1952-56), Ray led the Indians in rushing and receiving, and made the All-Little Four first team. He led the state of South Carolina in rushing in 1953. As a second baseman, he paced Newberry in stolen bases twice. The Camden native became a college football referee for 31 years, calling several major bowls.
Dan Reeves
The former USC quarterback (1962-64) from Americus, Ga., helped the Dallas Cowboys win the 1971 Super Bowl as a running back and then became an outstanding NFL head coach with a 201-174-2 record, ranking eighth among all-time NFL coaching wins.
At USC, he played like a coach on the field and at Dallas, he served as a player-coach during the final three seasons of his eight-year Cowboys career. He took the Denver Broncos to the AFC title and the Super Bowl three times (1986, 1987, 1989) and Atlanta Falcons once (1998).
One of only nine NFL head coaches to win 200 career games, Reeves has the most playoff wins (eleven, tied with Marv Levy) and Super Bowl appearances (four, tied with Levy and Bud Grant) among NFL head coaches to not win a championship.
Reeves died at his home in Atlanta on the morning of January 1, 2022, at age 77.
H.B. "Bee" Rhame
The early 1920s USC baseball and football standout became a premier football, baseball and track coach at Columbia High. Over 23 years of coaching football, his teams compiled a 191-34-13 record. The Holly Hill native coached teams to eight state titles in basketball, three in baseball and five in track before retiring in 1950.
James "Lee" Rhame
Furman University halfback from 1917-21, Rhame led the 1920 team that outscored foes 286-16 and compiled a 9-1 record. The Holly Hill native played every minute of every game at Furman and earned All-State recognition three times.
He starred in college and semi-professional baseball before becoming Florence High’s coach, where his basketball and baseball teams won state titles, and he coached the South Carolina team to a Shrine Bowl victory in football.
Flint Rhem
Rhem starred in baseball for Clemson in 1922 and 1923, and left college after his junior year to sign with the St. Louis Cardinals. He had an impressive junior season that caught the eye of scout Branch Rickey. In 1923, Rhem had a 7-2-1 record and completed nine games. He had a total of 136 strikeouts for a 15.1 per game average, and also had a pair of one-hit games that season and gave up only 40 hits all year, or 4.4 hits per game. In a contest against Furman on April 30, 1923, Rhem had 21 strikeouts and gave up only five hits in 13 innings with the game ending in a 3-3 tie. He gave up only six runs the entire year and had a 0.57 ERA with four shutouts. Rhem played for St. Louis from 1924-28, then again from 1930-32 and in 1934 and 1936. He also played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1932-33, and the Boston Braves from 1934-35. He helped the Cardinals win the 1926, 1931, and 1934 World Series and the 1928 and 1930 National League pennants. In 1926, Rhem had a 20-7 record for the Cardinals. In 12 seasons in the big leagues, he had a 105–97 record with a 4.20 ERA and more than 1,500 strikeouts. He was 20-7 with a 3.21 ERA with the Cardinals in 1926, his best season. He struck out 16 batters in the game and made it in Ripley’s Believe It or Not by not allowing a ball to be hit out of the infield.
Jim Rice
The Anderson product became an All-Star with the Boston Red Sox (1974-89), winning the American League MVP Award in 1978. He batted .298 for his career, hit 382 home runs and led the AL in homers three times. Rice was an eight-time All-Star, twice captured the Silver Slugger Award and twice led the league in RBI. He earned induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Sidney Rice
Sidney Rice, a Gaffney native, was a first-team All-SEC wide receiver at the University of South Carolina (2005-06). Rice, who earned freshman All-America honors, caught 142 passes and hauled in 23 touchdown passes for his career, which includes a school-record five touchdowns against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 23, 2006. He totaled 2,233 career receiving yards, an average of 15.7 yards per reception.
Rice was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2nd round (44th overall pick) in the 2007 NFL draft. He spent his pro career with the Minnesota Vikings (2007-10) and the Seattle Seahawks (2011-13) and was a member of the Seahawks’ Super Bowl XLVIII championship team. Rice earned Pro Bowl honors in 2009. Against the Dallas Cowboys in January of 2020, he tied the record for most touchdown receptions (3) in a playoff game. For his NFL career, he caught 243 passes for 3,592 yards and 30 touchdowns.
A 2004 graduate of Gaffney High, he earned All-State honors in both football and basketball. He helped lead the Indians to back-to-back state championships on the hardwood and added another state title on the gridiron. He ended his prep football career with 167 receptions for 3,044 yards and 31 touchdowns. He earned the 2002-2003 Class 4A Basketball Player of the Year Award after guiding Gaffney to the state championship. That season, he averaged 18 points and seven rebounds per game, as the Indians finished with an undefeated 28-0 record.
Bobby Richardson
The Sumter-born, slick-fielding second baseman for the New York Yankees during the Mantle and Maris era, Richardson played in seven World Series and seven All-Star Games from 1955-66, batting for a career .266 average. In 1960, he was the World Series MVP (from the non-winning team) and set the series record with 12 runs batted in. In his seven World Series with the Yankees, Richardson hit for a .305 average. Richardson coached USC (1970-76) to a 220-91-2 record, took the Gamecocks to three NCAA playoffs, and finished second in the nation in 1975 with a 51-6-1 mark. He later coached at Coastal Carolina College and Liberty University.
Jerry Richardson
A two-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Little All-American at Wofford College, Richardson led all South Carolina colleges in scoring three times, averaging 19 yards per catch.
Though only a 13th-round pick by the Baltimore Colts in 1958, he finished third in the NFL balloting for rookie of the year. In his second season, the Spring Hope, N.C., native caught eight passes for 90 yards and a touchdown in the NFL Championship Game.
He used the $4,864 in playoff money to buy a hamburger restaurant with former Wofford teammate Charlie Bradshaw, and the two eventually built it into the Hardee’s national franchise. After selling it, Richardson used the money to become the first former NFL player to own an NFL team when the founded the Carolina Panthers in 1993.
Richardson died at home in Charlotte on March 1, 2023, at age 86.
John Roche
Widely considered the greatest basketball player in USC history, Roche averaged 22.5 points and led the team to a 69-16 record from 1969-71, while winning ACC Player of the Year and All-America honors. The New York native later played in the ABA and NBA from 1972-81.
George Rogers
George Rogers finished his record-setting four-year career at the University of South Carolina (1977-80) by winning the 1980 Heisman Trophy. As a senior, he earned consensus All-American honors and was named MVP of the Gator Bowl. He also finished seventh in voting for the Heisman Trophy after rushing for 1,681 yards as a junior. His number 38 was retired by the the University of South Carolina and he has a statute on campus at Williams Brice Stadium.
The New Orleans Saints selected Rogers with the first overall pick of the 1981 NFL Draft. As a rookie, he led the NFL in rushing with 1,674 yards and rushed for more than 1,000 yards in four of his seven seasons playing for the New Orleans Saints and Washington Redskins. He was named the 1981 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Rogers won a Super Bowl XXII (1987 season) ring with the Redskins, was twice named All-Pro and three times played in the Pro Bowl. The Duluth, Ga., native is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, the University of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame and the Georgia Football Hall of Fame.
J. Herbert Rollins
The four-sport star at Lake City High and Presbyterian College collected 16 letters in football, basketball, baseball and track (never losing a broad jump), and compiled a 611-180 multi-sport coaching record at Olanta High, Kingstree High and Lake City High schools.
Wayne "Tree" Rolllins
The three-time all-ACC performer from Cordele, Ga., and 1977 All-American at Clemson (1973-77) became a premier shot-blocking center in 18 years in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic.
Judy Wilkins Rose
Blacksburg native Judy Wilkins Rose played basketball at Winthrop College (now University) before eventually moving into coaching and athletics administration at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (now Charlotte). She helped Winthrop to one AIAW national tournament, three AIAW regional tournament appearance and the South Carolina AIAW championship.
Following college, she entered the coaching profession and served as an assistant at the University of Tennessee while earning her master’s degree. She was named head basketball coach at UNCC in 1975 and led the 49ers to three 20+ wins campaigns over her seven seasons at the helm.
During her tenure with the 49ers, she served as Director of Athletics for 28 years and was a member of the athletics department for a total of 43 years. At the time of her appointment in 1990, she was just the third female
to be put in charge of a Division I program. In 1999-00, she became the first female to serve on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee. She also completed a term as 2003-04 President of the National Association of College Directors of Athletics (NACDA). She was the 2001 recipient of the prestigious James J. Corbett Memorial Award and has been inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame.
Chief among her accomplishments with the university is the systematic growth of the overall program. That growth culminated with the unveiling of the football program in 2013, a start-up program that would play two years as an FCS Independent before moving to the FBS Conference USA in 2015. In 2012, the football fieldhouse was named in her honor.
Al Rosen
The Spartanburg native hit .285 over a long major league career (1947-56), was named an All-Star four times, and won the 1953 American League Most Valuable Player Award when he hit 43 home runs and drove in 145 runs. He was a member of the Cleveland Indians his entire career, and was part of the Indians’ 1948 World Series winning team. Twice the American League’s home run leader and twice the AL RBI leader, he later became a front-office executive with the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and San Francisco Giants.
Brian Ruff
An aptly-named first-team consensus All-American linebacker at The Citadel in 1976 and Southern Conference and South Carolina Player of the Year in 1975 and 1976, Ruff was the first Citadel athlete to have his jersey retired.
He was named first-team Associated Press All-American as a senior, the school’s first to make the first team. After playing in the Hula and Japan bowls, Ruff was drafted in the 11th round by the Baltimore Colts.
Max Runager
The USC punter (1976-79) spent 11 years (1978-89) in the NFL, punting in two Super Bowls, with the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.
Runager, a former Orangeburg star, punted for a 40.2-yard professional average and was named to the Eagles’ All-Decade team of the 1980s. He was also named to USC’s all-time modern-era team.
Runager died in Orangeburg, S.C., on June 30, 2017, at age 61.