Fifty years after the pinnacle moment of their remarkable season, the 1975 South Carolina Gamecocks gathered to remember.
They recalled how returning players from a fractured 1974 squad came together under a new head coach, ultimately producing some of the finest football in program history. They reflected on teammates who went on to earn prestigious awards and even Super Bowl rings. And, of course, no one will ever forget that game — the unforgettable rivalry beatdown that still stands as the most dominant South Carolina performance in the history of the Clemson series.
The legendary matchup — a 56-20 demolition of Clemson on Nov. 22, 1975, in which USC possessed the ball nine times and scored nine touchdowns (one erased by penalty) — has become the signature memory of that season. But those Gamecocks accomplished far more. The 1975 team earned only the third bowl appearance in school history, launched Jim Carlen’s tenure on a powerful note, produced two 1,000-yard rushers in the same backfield, and finished second nationally in total offense — achievements unmatched by any other South Carolina team.
On Nov. 21, between 50 and 60 former players, coaches, managers, and trainers reunited at Seawell’s to celebrate the anniversary. With guests and family members, the gathering reached around 125 people. The widows of Kevin Long and Clarence Williams — the two backs who surpassed 1,000 yards — delivered emotional remarks, and a highlight reel brought the season back to life.
Offensive lineman Jerome Provence summed up the pride shared by all: “When you just look down the superlatives of that particular team, it still astonishes me that we had so many things going for us at that time,” he said. “It’s really gratifying to know I was part of what I consider a stellar group.”
A Program Searching for Direction
The 1974 season had been a disaster. Coach Paul Dietzel, who arrived in 1966 and quickly transformed a 1-9 squad into ACC champions, had been unable to sustain that early success.
Since South Carolina’s move out of the ACC into football independence, the results had been inconsistent. The 1974 team stumbled to a 4-7 finish after an 0-5 start — a stretch during which Dietzel announced he would retire from coaching but remain athletic director.
But instead of staying in that role, Dietzel was reassigned, and USC hired Jim Carlen to take over both head coach and athletic director duties. The Gamecocks were caught in transition, unclear about their future.
Provence remembered the turmoil vividly: “We’d all lived through a terrible season the year before, and we remembered how bad it was. It was just the toughest football season I had ever lived through,” he said. One moment stood out — a crushing 52-14 defeat at Georgia. After returning to the Roost late that night, the coaches told the team to stay on the bus. From their seats, players watched a heated argument among the staff unfold on the sidewalk. Eventually, the coaches returned and instructed them to head to bed and report for practice the next morning. The debate? Whether they should immediately head to Williams-Brice Stadium, turn on the lights, and conduct a two-hour full-contact scrimmage.
While watching bowl games that winter, Provence got a phone call from a friend who told him, “Hey, your new coach is coaching Texas Tech on TV right now.” Carlen’s Texas Tech squad had just finished a 6-6 tie with Vanderbilt in the 1974 Peach Bowl. Not long after, he was in Columbia and out on the recruiting trail.
One of the prospects he targeted was Northwestern High School’s multi-sport star Rick Sanford. Choosing between major football programs and a potential basketball future, Sanford remembered the pitch that changed everything. Carlen told him, “You’re a heck of a basketball player; there’s not a lot of guys that can run like you, that are as big as you or as smart as you that can play football. I’ve had defensive backs that I sent to the NFL, and you would be in that lineage.”
That message resonated — and became a pivotal moment in shaping the Gamecocks’ future.
