"The Ray" is a living and breathing monument
devoted to one of the greatest coaches in all of South Carolina's sports
history. It's walls bellow with history
of Sarge Frye, Omaha, beta fish, and "rally caps". It's blood and
heart fills the seats every spring. It's
lungs cheer the team that inspired an entire city, state, parts of the country
and world. Ray Tanner, in every form of the word, is a living and breathing
legend. Upon arrival in 1997, the 3 time
National Coach of The Year led the Gamecocks to a 33-24 record. In 1998, Tanner led them to an NCAA Tourney
birth. The Gamecocks would make the
College World Series in 2002, 2003, and 2004. However, they couldn't reach the
ultimate pinnacle of a National Championship.
They came close in 2002 losing to Texas in the Championship Game (single
game series back then). The Gamecocks
appeared every year in the NCAA Tournament since 2000, embellishing the longest
streak of NCAA tournament appearances of any school in the Southeastern
Conference. Then arose a magical
year...2010. The Gamecocks almost looked
beaten in the series against Oklahoma without some of JBJ and Brady Thomas's
late game heroics. They would then go
on to play their arch nemesis. Almost as
if poetry was being written, the Gamecocks demoralized Clemson to advance to
the Championship series against UCLA.
Michael Roth completely stonewalled Clemson's bats in the first game
with the tigers. The Gamecocks crushed
UCLA in game 1 to take a 1 game lead in the series. Needing only one more win and both teams
knowing this, the 2nd game was very grinding and trying until that one swing
and ding of the bat by Whit Merrifield.
From that moment on, Ray Tanner's legacy and Carolina's history was forever
changed. Ray would take the Gamecocks
back to the College World Series and end in beating the Gators in the
Championship Series to take back to back Championships. Tanner would take the team back for a 3rd
year to face Arizona in which they would ultimately lose. Even with the loss, history had been made,
spirits had been lifted, and most importantly national media minds had been
changed about the athletics at Carolina.
The site inside the Colonial Center when the team came back from Omaha
after the 1st National Championship was so overwhelming, I actually wept. Ray Tanner changed the culture of Gamecock
athletics. Wouldn't you know, with the
baseball team excelling, the women's basketball team began excelling, the
football team began excelling. Not that
Spurrier or Staley ever needed any help, the motivation and ability to compare
and contrast was helpful. As if Ray
hadn't done enough, he was hired as the Athletic Director to imprint his vision
of winning over the entire athletic program.
Don't ever misunderstand me, Steve Spurrier and Dawn Staley are
remarkable Hall of Fame coaches in their own right. We also surely can't forget
about Frank Martin. I believe ultimately Steve Spurrier will lead South
Carolina to that SEC Championship we've so badly been wanting....and maybe
more. I truly can't wait to see Dawn Staley's team improve over the next couple
of years, and I think Frank Martin will end up building a solid and tournament
competing basketball team. However, Ray
Tanner gave Gamecock Nation something it had never tasted but thirsted for
since, well forever...championship"S". If you sit back and look at the landscape of
Carolina Athletics over the past 3 or 4 years, you can't help but think it all
began to change with the "cardiac cocks" and coaching of one
man...Ray.
Robbie McLain