South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame inducts eight member class

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - The South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame added eight members Monday night.

The 2023 class featured NBA and NFL players, an olympian, and championship coaches.

The night began at the Columbia Metropolitan Center with the Walk of Legends where members of the Hall of Fame made a grand entrance.

Then, the inductees took the stage.

Mark Berson retired in 2020 as the winningest active soccer coach in the country with 511 wins for the Gamecocks.

Robert Brooks is a former wide receiver for the Gamecocks and Green Bay Packers. Brooks ranks as USC’s seventh all-time leading receiver with over two thousand 200 yards.

Orangeburg native Woody Dantzler played quarterback at Clemson. He was the first QB in NCAA history to throw for over two thousand yards and rush for over one thousand in the same season.

Dawn Ellerbee was a track and field star for the Gamecocks. Ellerbee was a four-time NCAA champion in the hammer throw and competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Joe Hamilton was a quarterback at Georgia Tech where he set the ACC total offense record with ten thousand 640 yards.

The class also includes former Eau Claire and NBA basketball star Jermaine O’Neal.

O’Neal was a first-round draft pick at the age of 17 in 1996. He played 18 seasons and was a six-time NBA all-star.

Larry Penley was Clemson’s men’s golf head coach for 38 years. He won ten ACC championships and the 2003 national championship.

Also enshrined, was the late Charles “Chino” Smith, a baseball star in the negro leagues.

Notice a spelling or grammar error in this article? Click or tap here to report it. Please include the article's headline.

Stay up to date with WIS News 10. Get the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and Stream us on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire, or Apple TV.

Copyright 2023 WIS. All rights reserved.