Manning, Meyer Selected For South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame

Feb. 19, 2018

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Congratulations are in order for former Gamecock greats, men’s basketball’s Casey Manning (1971-73) and baseball’s Drew Meyer (2000-02), as the duo was selected to the 2018 class of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, the organization announced on Monday.

Other members of the Hall of Fame class include, Ray Allen of Hillcrest High in Dalzell, Clemson wrestler Sammie Henson, SC State athlete Sam Goodwin, UCLA basketball star Kenny Washington of Beaufort and marathon swimmer Kathleen Wilson of Charleston.

Below is a brief capsule on both Carolina inductees. The full group will be honored on May 14 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, and tickets are available by calling the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame at 803-779-0905.

CASEY MANNING
A native of Dillon, Casey Manning graduated from Dillon High, the University of South Carolina in 1973 and earned his law degree from USC in 1977. Coming to USC in 1969 as the first scholarship African-American to play basketball at USC, Manning was the South Carolina High School player of the year in his senior season. He led his Dillon team to the state AAA championship with a victory over Byrnes. Manning played for legendary coach Frank McGuire on three NCAA tournament teams and played alongside of USC legends John Roche and Tom Owens. As a freshman Manning averaged 16.3 ppg and shot 46% from the field. He was a member of the 1971 ACC Tournament championship team and received the Freshman Academic Award and the outstanding senior award. He is a former president of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame and is currently a circuit court judge and a long-time member of the USC Basketball radio broadcast team.

Drew Meyer
A graduate of Charleston’s Bishop England High, Meyer was a 2002 All-American at South Carolina and was the first-round pick in the 2002 Draft by the Texas Rangers. He played three seasons at South Carolina (from 2000-02) before beginning a nine-year career in professional baseball highlighted by a stint in 2006 with the Texas Rangers. The 2000 and 2002 teams at South Carolina that Meyer played on won the SEC Championship with the `02 squad reaching the College World Series and earning national runner-up honors. The shortstop was a 2002 second-team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and Collegiate Baseball as well as third-team All-American by Baseball America. He twice was named All-SEC, including a first-team selection in 2002. Meyer played in 209 games in a three-year career and missed only one game. He holds single-season records at Carolina from 2002 for at bats (334), hits (120) and singles (86) as well as tied for the record in games played (75) with three others from the 2002 squad. He was the first player in Carolina history to start 75 games in a season. In 2013, he was enshrined in the Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame and the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.