Alan Piercy is the author of A Gamecock Odyssey: University of South Carolina Sports in the Independent Era (1971-1991).
A small column titled “Additional Land to Be Purchased” appeared in the April 24, 1953, edition of The Gamecock, USC’s student newspaper. The column appeared below the fold, lost amid more pressing news and campus briefs. A committee of Columbia civic leaders, the column explained, was to be appointed to advise the administration on the purchase of additional land for athletic fields, enabling the University to repurpose Davis and Melton Fields for building purposes, according to then University President Donald S. Russell.
The General Assembly had recently appropriated $800,000 for the purchase of additional land for the University – property the school sorely needed in the enrollment boom years following World War II. “It is generally understood,” the article concluded, “that the two present athletic fields will be covered by a student union and an auditorium.” …