Rogers permanently stands above rest at South Carolina
South Carolina Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers can usually be found outside of Williams-Brice Stadium on game days. Moving forward a statue commemorating his time as a Gamecock will be outside of the stadium permanently.
USC held a ceremony to unveil a statue of Rogers on the northwest corner of Springs-Brooks Plaza Saturday afternoon before the Gamecocks faced Kentucky. Several hundred South Carolina fans were on hand to hear athletic director Ray Tanner, university president Harris Pastides, Rogers and others speak before getting a glimpse of the statue.
USC’s all-time leading rusher said he’s honored to be recognized by USC in such a special way.
“This university looks after their people. Pastides, Ray Tanner, they’re great guys,” Rogers said. “The university took care of me from Day 1, and now I’m back at the university. I work at the university. They’ve always had my back, through the good times and the bad times, they always stood behind me.”
Several members of Rogers’ family were on hand to witness him being honored. The former No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft is excited to visit the special creation for years to come.
“My family, me, we can always come out here and we can see it,” he said. “Even when I’m gone, I’m going to still be looking at it.”
Tanner said building the statue was a process that took about three years. Patti Shelley, a former cheerleader at USC, provided the money to make the statue possible. Sandy Proctor, who constructed a statue of Steve Spurrier at Florida, was tasked with making the vision a reality.
“It’s only fitting now that when you come along George Rogers Boulevard, George is watching over all of us,” Tanner said. “He’s been so wonderful as an ambassador for our university. He was a great football player as we all know, but he’s a great person and he’s been an ambassador, so this is a wonderful day for all of Gamecock country.”
Several of Rogers’ former teammates were on hand for the presentation, including former Gamecock linebacker J.D. Fuller. South Carolina’s all-time leading tackler said the honor for Rogers is much-deserved.
“I played against Herschel Walker and some of the other guys. People ask me all the time ‘Who was the toughest back you played against?’ I tell them ‘That’s really easy. I played against him in practice. His name is George Rogers,’” Fuller said.
Rogers rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the final 22 games of his college career. He was the NFL Rookie of the Year in 1981 and went on to win a Super Bowl in 1988 with the Washington Redskins.
South Carolina’s game plan with Rogers was simple but effective. He led the Gamecocks to bowl games in 1979 and 1980, rushing for 1,681 yards as a junior and 1,894 as a senior. His 5,204 career yards are 2,149 more than Brandon Bennett, who’s second all time.
“It’s an unbelievable accomplishment what George has accomplished in terms of the records and winning a Heisman Trophy for a team that really didn’t have a strong tradition before then,” Fuller said. “Winning eight ball games two years in a row, that kind of set the standard. Spurrier’s come along and set a new standard, but for years that was the standard we all went by.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Rogers permanently stands above rest at South Carolina."