Carquest Cup win forever switched Gamecock football – Spurs & Feathers
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It`s cliché, but also true – you never leave behind your very first. South Carolina football is no different.
The Gamecocks are presently in the midst of one of their greatest periods in program history, but until early January of one thousand nine hundred ninety five South Carolina had never won a cup game.
South Carolina`s fortunes in cup games were forever switched on Jan. Two, one thousand nine hundred ninety five when the Gamecocks bested West Virginia, 24-21, in the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.
The Gamecock victory permitted South Carolina to claim its very first cup win in nine attempts. The Gamecocks ended their victory over the Mountaineers with a record of 7-5 in the one thousand nine hundred ninety four season.
Honoring this particular team before South Carolina`s Sept. Twenty seven game at Williams-Brice Stadium with Missouri means a excellent deal to current head football coach Steve Spurrier.
«We`ve gotten an excellent response from that one thousand nine hundred ninety five team,» Spurrier commented. «I think Steve Taneyhill and his teammates are all looking forward to coming back. It`ll be neat to honor the very first cup winner in school history – the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup champions. It`ll be good to see all those guys back here.»
Spurrier knows that honoring the past is the key to the present and future of Gamecock football.
«That`s what successful schools do,» Spurrier said. «If you have tradition, you honor the players that have indeed played well there and accomplished whatever. We don`t have a entire bunch to talk about right now as far as championships. We`ve got the one thousand nine hundred sixty nine ACC champ team with Tommy Suggs and all his teammates and the (SEC) Eastern Division of 2010. We`ve got a bunch of state championships lately, but for big championships, we`re still hunting them, still looking out for them, searching for them. Hopefully it will happen real soon.»
Former South Carolina head football coach Brad Scott finds it hard to believe it has been twenty years since that one thousand nine hundred ninety four team claimed the first-ever cup victory.
«I`m so glad that the University and the athletics department is going to recognize that one thousand nine hundred ninety four squad because those were some good kids,» Scott said. «I was just thinking that it kind of caught me off guard that it has been twenty years since then. That`s super.
«It was a special group and there is no question about that for what they accomplished, which was something that had not been done before. I think back on that and there is just a few times in the sport of football, especially at a major University like USC that you get an chance like that to go into the record books as the very first team to accomplish a major objective like that. That`s something that we talked about a lot during that time. I`m just glad that ‘94 squad took advantage of that chance. They took a lot of pride in it and of course after that win is truly when you realize just how significant that was to those players and indeed to the Gamecock family too. It was indeed special,» Scott expounded.
The Most Valuable Player in the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup, Gamecock quarterback legend Steve Taneyhill twenty years later looks back at that team very pridefully as he and his teammates prepare to be honored.
«I know it was a while ago, but it will be pretty neat because we were the very first team to win a cup game,» the current Union County High School head coach noted. «We`re blessed that the University is bringing us back and doing that for us. I think it will be good to see the guys and it`s been a long time since I`ve seen most of those guys. The few that I do see every now and again through coaching or in the summers or those things are fine. It isn`t the entire group of us; I think they said that there are going to be about seventy guys there. I`m looking forward to eyeing all of those guys.»
Former Gamecock taut end Boomer Foster thinks that win over West Virginia helped pave the way for Gamecock football.
«I don`t think there is indeed any doubt about that,» Foster relayed. «Getting into the SEC for all of us was a transition. My freshman year we were still independent. We played a bunch of truly good teams, but kicking off that SEC schedule in one thousand nine hundred ninety two and truly getting to understand what it took to be competitive in the SEC through depth, speed and talent upgrades. It was indeed special to be a part of it. All of those guys on that team truly busted their fannies and worked truly hard, so we were truly proud of what we were able to do.
«I`ll tell you looking back on it now, people may not look at a cup win in and of itself as a big deal, but to us and I think to the fanbase at that time it was a monstrous thing because we had never actually been successful in the postseason before. It was a big deal to us and I think that we`re all truly honored and excited that the University is going to do something to honor the accomplishments of that team. We`re all excited to see each other again because it has been twenty years since then. We think it`s indeed special that coach (Ray) Tanner and coach (Clyde) Wrenn are going to roll out the crimson carpet for us a little bit. We`re looking forward to getting back to campus,» Foster elaborated.
Taneyhill echoed Foster, noting without the 33-7 regular season-ending win at Clemson it would have not been possible.
«Winning the very first cup game was talked about that entire week of Clemson,» Taneyhill stated. «We had to strike Clemson that year to even get the chance to go to the cup game. Then winning the very first cup game was talked about a lot that week. It was talked about a lot that week where ‘you could be the very first and very first group to win a cup game.` It`s funny how coaches talk and then it actually happens, you know ‘20 years from now they`ll bring you guys back as the very first team to win a cup game.` Now here we are, so it`s good by the University and I think it`s a superb accomplishment by the guys on that team that we`ll always be a part of something, the very first cup win in school history. You would wish that there had been more of those, but there wasn`t and we`re the very first.»
Presently a special assistant to development, Wrenn has been working hard with Foster to get everyone back for this celebration.
«It`s special because the University doesn`t have to recognize us and I think that we get that,» Foster noted. “The fact that we`ve had three-straight 11-win seasons, we`ve got a Hall of Fame coach, we`ve got a bunch of guys on the team that have monstrous talent and the No. One draft pick. For them to be thinking about going back to the early to mid-90s and bringing us back is indeed special to all of us. I think we`re all indeed excited and honored that they thought enough about what we were able to accomplish as a team to bring us back. I`m sure that this is not cheap for the University, so the fact that they`re willing to do that for us, I think everybody just feels taken care of, considered and loved again.»
Taneyhill is utterly appreciative of the way Spurrier, Wrenn and athletics director Ray Tanner are embracing bringing this team back.
«Last year was the very first time that I had been back to a game in a while just because of coaching,» Taneyhill said. «To see the Carolina Walk, what they`ve done in Gamecock Park and how crazy and noisy the student section gets with the white towels flapping makes a unique advantage. It has certainly become a home-field advantage for those guys … like I said, I`ve been around a little bit to see some things where a lot of those guys haven`t had that chance and it`ll be fine for them to see what coach Spurrier and the guys that he`s recruited to make the Gamecocks have such a good place to play.»
Foster is keen to demonstrate the junior generation of Gamecock fans just how fine of job Spurrier has done as well with the very first cup championship team being honored.
«It`s hard for me to believe that the junior generation who are fans now indeed understand what Gamecock football was like when this team came in,» Foster pointed out. «We`ve had some good years obviously in the past before Spurrier got there, but they were fewer and further inbetween. I`ve always said that we`ve got the best fans in the country because they would showcase up even when the teams were not very good. It`s indeed special for all of us and I don`t know that the junior fans indeed understand the perseverance and ups and downs of what it took to be a Gamecock fan. I think going through a lot of that builds a lot of character for our University because it was not as effortless to be a fan for a long time. Now it`s effortless to be a fan and it`s cool to be a fan, but it has not always been that way.»
Things may have switched and the players have obviously aged, but to Foster and Taneyhill the bond inbetween teammates will still be there when they see each other.
The night before the team will have a special dinner at Seawell`s before being a part of numerous gameday activities for the Missouri game.
«You`ve got a lot of guys who are parents now and that will be neat,» Taneyhill said. «Some of the guys said that they were going to bring their kids, so that will be indeed neat to see all those guys. I think when you`ve got one hundred guys on a team, then everyone goes their own way, then twenty years later everybody is kind of set in life, so it will be a good thing to see how everyone is. It`s nice to have that Friday night with the dinner and getting a chance to catch up, then Saturday on the field – it`ll be a joy.»
The unique chance to catch up is not lost on Foster.
«I`ve always said that you make your best friends in situations that are difficult, in situations where you bleed, sweat and work hard,» Foster remarked. «You create a bond with people when you go through something like that. That bond truly can`t be cracked and it`s much more difficult to form indeed lasting relationships and genuine relationships with folks that you don`t go through something like that with. We went through everything from being in spreading lines at quarter ‘til five in the morning for winter workouts to spring practice to working out in the Columbia warmth and humidity to two-a-days – back then they put us through two-a-days for a duo of weeks straight – and then getting to do what we do in front of all the fans. It is titillating to get to see all those guys again.
«It`s indeed kind of been about a month-and-a-half of working on this, but it`s indeed like ‘old-home week.` Getting to talk to some guys and hear from some guys that I haven`t heard from in a while is fine. It`s a shame that we don`t keep in as good of touch as we should, but this is a superb chance the University is providing us to be able to touch base and reconnect,» Foster continued.
Scott will not be able to attend the special event, but he will always recall what that win meant for Gamecock football.
«Coach Wrenn had called me a week ago and I do appreciate coach Ray Tanner for extending me the chance to be able to come back for that,» Scott said. «Of course, with my responsibilities and job I can`t do that, but I just appreciate that recognition for this team because it is significant. South Carolina has gone on to do some fine things since then, but you always have to have that embarking point and get that very first win. That`s very likely what I`ll reminisce.
«You don`t realize – I didn`t as a youthful head coach, very first year as a head coach – just how big and how much it meant to South Carolina and the University until after that was over. I just reminisce a large crowd at the game. There was a hefty crowd at the airport when we got back that next day too. It was unbelievable the number of fans that showcased up. The other thing I distinctly reminisce is witnessing the then-governor Carroll Campbell coming into the locker room after the game and he could hardly contain himself. Just tears of joy, excitement and how proud he was of that team. He spoke to the players and the team and that indeed is a memory that I`ll always have. I realized walking away from that that this indeed meant a lot to our state and to the University at that time. So I`m just truly proud of those youthful guys and I want to let them know that. I`m proud of the University for bringing them back and recognizing them,» Scott closed.
This group may have been the very first, but they are certainly not the last and that is something in which Taneyhill takes a good deal of pride.
«Winning is everything,» Taneyhill concluded. «Anybody can win a bit, but three years in a row to win eleven games is incredible. That`s going to generate a lot of enthusiasm, that`s going to generate a lot of money for the school and you need all those things to build it. I`m glad and I think we all are to see what the Gamecocks have become in football.»
**Story by Brian Mitt/Photo of Taneyhill courtesy of South Carolina Athletics Media Relations**
Carquest Cup win forever switched Gamecock football – Spurs & Feathers
Site Navigation
It`s cliché, but also true – you never leave behind your very first. South Carolina football is no different.
The Gamecocks are presently in the midst of one of their greatest periods in program history, but until early January of one thousand nine hundred ninety five South Carolina had never won a cup game.
South Carolina`s fortunes in cup games were forever switched on Jan. Two, one thousand nine hundred ninety five when the Gamecocks bested West Virginia, 24-21, in the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami.
The Gamecock victory permitted South Carolina to claim its very first cup win in nine attempts. The Gamecocks ended their victory over the Mountaineers with a record of 7-5 in the one thousand nine hundred ninety four season.
Honoring this particular team before South Carolina`s Sept. Twenty seven game at Williams-Brice Stadium with Missouri means a superb deal to current head football coach Steve Spurrier.
«We`ve gotten an excellent response from that one thousand nine hundred ninety five team,» Spurrier commented. «I think Steve Taneyhill and his teammates are all looking forward to coming back. It`ll be neat to honor the very first cup winner in school history – the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup champions. It`ll be good to see all those guys back here.»
Spurrier knows that honoring the past is the key to the present and future of Gamecock football.
«That`s what successful schools do,» Spurrier said. «If you have tradition, you honor the players that have indeed played well there and accomplished whatever. We don`t have a entire bunch to talk about right now as far as championships. We`ve got the one thousand nine hundred sixty nine ACC champ team with Tommy Suggs and all his teammates and the (SEC) Eastern Division of 2010. We`ve got a bunch of state championships lately, but for big championships, we`re still hunting them, still looking out for them, searching for them. Hopefully it will happen real soon.»
Former South Carolina head football coach Brad Scott finds it hard to believe it has been twenty years since that one thousand nine hundred ninety four team claimed the first-ever cup victory.
«I`m so glad that the University and the athletics department is going to recognize that one thousand nine hundred ninety four squad because those were some good kids,» Scott said. «I was just thinking that it kind of caught me off guard that it has been twenty years since then. That`s super.
«It was a special group and there is no question about that for what they accomplished, which was something that had not been done before. I think back on that and there is just a few times in the sport of football, especially at a major University like USC that you get an chance like that to go into the record books as the very first team to accomplish a major objective like that. That`s something that we talked about a lot during that time. I`m just blessed that ‘94 squad took advantage of that chance. They took a lot of pride in it and of course after that win is indeed when you realize just how significant that was to those players and truly to the Gamecock family too. It was indeed special,» Scott expounded.
The Most Valuable Player in the one thousand nine hundred ninety five Carquest Cup, Gamecock quarterback legend Steve Taneyhill twenty years later looks back at that team very pridefully as he and his teammates prepare to be honored.
«I know it was a while ago, but it will be pretty neat because we were the very first team to win a cup game,» the current Union County High School head coach noted. «We`re glad that the University is bringing us back and doing that for us. I think it will be excellent to see the guys and it`s been a long time since I`ve seen most of those guys. The few that I do see every now and again through coaching or in the summers or those things are good. It isn`t the entire group of us; I think they said that there are going to be about seventy guys there. I`m looking forward to observing all of those guys.»
Former Gamecock taut end Boomer Foster thinks that win over West Virginia helped pave the way for Gamecock football.
«I don`t think there is indeed any doubt about that,» Foster relayed. «Getting into the SEC for all of us was a transition. My freshman year we were still independent. We played a bunch of truly good teams, but embarking that SEC schedule in one thousand nine hundred ninety two and truly getting to understand what it took to be competitive in the SEC through depth, speed and talent upgrades. It was indeed special to be a part of it. All of those guys on that team truly busted their fannies and worked indeed hard, so we were truly proud of what we were able to do.
«I`ll tell you looking back on it now, people may not look at a cup win in and of itself as a big deal, but to us and I think to the fanbase at that time it was a monstrous thing because we had never actually been successful in the postseason before. It was a big deal to us and I think that we`re all indeed honored and excited that the University is going to do something to honor the accomplishments of that team. We`re all excited to see each other again because it has been twenty years since then. We think it`s truly special that coach (Ray) Tanner and coach (Clyde) Wrenn are going to roll out the crimson carpet for us a little bit. We`re looking forward to getting back to campus,» Foster elaborated.
Taneyhill echoed Foster, noting without the 33-7 regular season-ending win at Clemson it would have not been possible.
«Winning the very first cup game was talked about that entire week of Clemson,» Taneyhill stated. «We had to strike Clemson that year to even get the chance to go to the cup game. Then winning the very first cup game was talked about a lot that week. It was talked about a lot that week where ‘you could be the very first and very first group to win a cup game.` It`s funny how coaches talk and then it actually happens, you know ‘20 years from now they`ll bring you guys back as the very first team to win a cup game.` Now here we are, so it`s superb by the University and I think it`s a fine accomplishment by the guys on that team that we`ll always be a part of something, the very first cup win in school history. You would wish that there had been more of those, but there wasn`t and we`re the very first.»
Presently a special assistant to development, Wrenn has been working hard with Foster to get everyone back for this celebration.
«It`s special because the University doesn`t have to recognize us and I think that we get that,» Foster noted. “The fact that we`ve had three-straight 11-win seasons, we`ve got a Hall of Fame coach, we`ve got a bunch of guys on the team that have monstrous talent and the No. One draft pick. For them to be thinking about going back to the early to mid-90s and bringing us back is truly special to all of us. I think we`re all indeed excited and honored that they thought enough about what we were able to accomplish as a team to bring us back. I`m sure that this is not cheap for the University, so the fact that they`re willing to do that for us, I think everybody just feels taken care of, considered and loved again.»
Taneyhill is enormously appreciative of the way Spurrier, Wrenn and athletics director Ray Tanner are embracing bringing this team back.
«Last year was the very first time that I had been back to a game in a while just because of coaching,» Taneyhill said. «To see the Carolina Walk, what they`ve done in Gamecock Park and how crazy and noisy the student section gets with the white towels flapping makes a unique advantage. It has certainly become a home-field advantage for those guys … like I said, I`ve been around a little bit to see some things where a lot of those guys haven`t had that chance and it`ll be superb for them to see what coach Spurrier and the guys that he`s recruited to make the Gamecocks have such a fine place to play.»
Foster is keen to demonstrate the junior generation of Gamecock fans just how fine of job Spurrier has done as well with the very first cup championship team being honored.
«It`s hard for me to believe that the junior generation who are fans now indeed understand what Gamecock football was like when this team came in,» Foster pointed out. «We`ve had some good years obviously in the past before Spurrier got there, but they were fewer and further inbetween. I`ve always said that we`ve got the best fans in the country because they would demonstrate up even when the teams were not very good. It`s truly special for all of us and I don`t know that the junior fans indeed understand the perseverance and ups and downs of what it took to be a Gamecock fan. I think going through a lot of that builds a lot of character for our University because it was not as effortless to be a fan for a long time. Now it`s effortless to be a fan and it`s cool to be a fan, but it has not always been that way.»
Things may have switched and the players have obviously aged, but to Foster and Taneyhill the bond inbetween teammates will still be there when they see each other.
The night before the team will have a special dinner at Seawell`s before being a part of numerous gameday activities for the Missouri game.
«You`ve got a lot of guys who are parents now and that will be neat,» Taneyhill said. «Some of the guys said that they were going to bring their kids, so that will be truly neat to see all those guys. I think when you`ve got one hundred guys on a team, then everyone goes their own way, then twenty years later everybody is kind of set in life, so it will be a good thing to see how everyone is. It`s nice to have that Friday night with the dinner and getting a chance to catch up, then Saturday on the field – it`ll be a joy.»
The unique chance to catch up is not lost on Foster.
«I`ve always said that you make your best friends in situations that are difficult, in situations where you bleed, sweat and work hard,» Foster remarked. «You create a bond with people when you go through something like that. That bond indeed can`t be violated and it`s much more difficult to form truly lasting relationships and genuine relationships with folks that you don`t go through something like that with. We went through everything from being in opening up lines at quarter ‘til five in the morning for winter workouts to spring practice to working out in the Columbia warmth and humidity to two-a-days – back then they put us through two-a-days for a duo of weeks straight – and then getting to do what we do in front of all the fans. It is arousing to get to see all those guys again.
«It`s indeed kind of been about a month-and-a-half of working on this, but it`s truly like ‘old-home week.` Getting to talk to some guys and hear from some guys that I haven`t heard from in a while is superb. It`s a shame that we don`t keep in as good of touch as we should, but this is a fine chance the University is providing us to be able to touch base and reconnect,» Foster continued.
Scott will not be able to attend the special event, but he will always recall what that win meant for Gamecock football.
«Coach Wrenn had called me a week ago and I do appreciate coach Ray Tanner for extending me the chance to be able to come back for that,» Scott said. «Of course, with my responsibilities and job I can`t do that, but I just appreciate that recognition for this team because it is significant. South Carolina has gone on to do some good things since then, but you always have to have that commencing point and get that very first win. That`s very likely what I`ll recall.
«You don`t realize – I didn`t as a youthfull head coach, very first year as a head coach – just how big and how much it meant to South Carolina and the University until after that was over. I just recall a hefty crowd at the game. There was a thick crowd at the airport when we got back that next day too. It was unbelievable the number of fans that demonstrated up. The other thing I distinctly reminisce is witnessing the then-governor Carroll Campbell coming into the locker room after the game and he could hardly contain himself. Just tears of joy, excitement and how proud he was of that team. He spoke to the players and the team and that indeed is a memory that I`ll always have. I realized walking away from that that this truly meant a lot to our state and to the University at that time. So I`m just indeed proud of those youthful dudes and I want to let them know that. I`m proud of the University for bringing them back and recognizing them,» Scott closed.
This group may have been the very first, but they are certainly not the last and that is something in which Taneyhill takes a superb deal of pride.
«Winning is everything,» Taneyhill concluded. «Anybody can win a bit, but three years in a row to win eleven games is amazing. That`s going to generate a lot of enthusiasm, that`s going to generate a lot of money for the school and you need all those things to build it. I`m blessed and I think we all are to see what the Gamecocks have become in football.»
**Story by Brian Palm/Photo of Taneyhill courtesy of South Carolina Athletics Media Relations**
