South Carolina Celebrates 50th Anniversary of 1969 ACC Championship
The champions are back!
Tommy Suggs
South Carolina is honoring the 50th anniversary of its 1969 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Championship this weekend as members of that historic team will be back in town for a series of celebrations, including a reception Friday night and in-game recognition at halftime on Saturday when the Gamecocks host Florida at Williams-Brice Stadium.
The 1969 Gamecocks went undefeated in the ACC that year and the members of that team look forward to catching up.
“It’s great remembering the friendships and listening to all the exaggerated stories of how everybody played so well,” quipped Tommy Suggs, who was the quarterback of the ’69 team and is in his 47th year as the color analyst on South Carolina’s radio broadcasts. “My stats don’t get better because they’re printed, unfortunately. Really, the best part of these reunions is just getting to see the guys and their spouses. It’s a lot of fun.”
“It’s the camaraderie,” said former defensive end Jimmy Pope, who worked in education for more than 30 years, and still remains close to the program as part of the sideline chain gang for South Carolina home games. “We stay in touch with each other. I was on the second team, and I thought we had the most unbelievable camaraderie. We were really loose. We knew we were going to play, whether it was on special teams or whatever. I just can’t wait to see everybody.”
“It’s the relationships that you formed when you were 18 or 19 years old, and they’re still strong today,” said former lineman Ken Wheat, who is now president and owner of Boyd Management. “You look back and you realize you’ve done something that nobody had ever done at the University of South Carolina. It’s a big deal to us.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing the guys,” said former safety Tyler Hellams, who broke his leg in the first game of the season and later went on to a career in banking and real estate. “It’s a good chance to get together and catch up on old times. We did a lot of things together. We all lived in the same dorm. We ate together. It was just like a family. It was a neat time. We were all pretty close, and we’re still pretty close.”
“It was a joy to go to practice. It’s what football was supposed to be.”
– Tommy Suggs
A half century after claiming the title, the former players still have clear memories of big moments and what made that team successful.
Ken Wheat
“I knew we had something good going about midway through the season,” Pope said. “We were playing close games and winning them. We went undefeated in the ACC. The group I came in with didn’t lose to Clemson. You couldn’t play (varsity) as a freshman.”
“We all came together,” Suggs said. “We won games we were supposed to win. We got better as the season wore on. It was really fun. It was a joy to go to practice. It’s what football was supposed to be.”
“Going undefeated in the ACC is what really sticks out to me,” Wheat said. “That same year, our men’s basketball team went undefeated in the ACC regular season. I think that’s the only time in the history of the ACC that the football team and basketball team went undefeated in conference play.
“I always remember the game where we sewed it up, which was against Wake Forest. Then the next week we played Clemson in Columbia and put the finishing touches on it by beating them. Of course, you remember the celebration in the locker after the game when we had won the championship. It was a pretty special moment.”
The team is being honored at a reception inside the Jerri and Steve Spurrier Indoor Practice Facility, for which the field is named for Wheat and the 1969 ACC Championship team.
“When they came to me about donating money to build that indoor field, I said I’d do it on one condition; if I could have our 50th anniversary party right there on that field,” Wheat said with a laugh.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the guys and making fun of how fat they are or how much gray hair they have,” Hellams added with a chuckle. “We were always joking with each other. It was a good time.”
The ’69 Gamecocks are still big fans of the Garnet and Black, and after seeing South Carolina knock off Georgia in Athens last Saturday, they can’t wait to see what’s next.
“I want to see us win some championships, and I love what (head coach Will) Muschamp is doing,” Wheat said. “He is my man! I’m happy with the direction of the program. I think (Steve) Spurrier did a good job, and then it slipped a little bit, and Muschamp is having to bring it back. I’ve been around some of the players and the coaches, and I’m pretty happy with the direction it’s going.”
“Luckily, I’m on the Carolina sideline with the chain gang,” Pope said. “I like being in the middle of it. I’ve been run over a few times. My second year doing it, I took four stitches in the forehead in the Tennessee game. But with our team, you can see it – the players and the coaches are working their rear ends off! They really are. I’m with them.”
