A’ja Wilson is just three years into her professional career, but she is already a rarity among former Gamecocks.
South Carolina has produced a lot of professional athletes with a lot of long careers, but there are not a lot of individual awards. Wilson is the first and only former Gamecock to be named league MVP in the big four sports (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball).
Coming close, two former Gamecocks, Dan Reeves and Mike Dunleavy, have won coach of the year awards (twice for Reeves). Stephon Gilmore was a defensive player of the year, the highest recognition for a football player. Alex English is the most decorated basketball player, but his only league award was the citizenship award. And of course Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Steve Pearce were ALCS and World Series MVPs, but those awards were about getting hot for a couple of weeks.
Comparing different sports and different eras is an inexact science. Even comparing the same era can be tricky (Not all Pro Bowl selections are created equal, for example. Some are earned and some are the result of opt-outs). Plus, professional women’s basketball has existed for less than 25 years, so some great players never had a chance to play pro ball. For football I stopped about the time of the AFL-NFL merger. Records before then are notoriously spotty and complicated, plus that is really the birth of modern football. And with apologies to Fritz Von Kolnitz, I didn’t go back very far for baseball.
The list below is probably missing some names, but I think I got almost everyone who received an individual honor as a professional. I only noted the college achievements for George Rogers and A’ja Wilson because they deserved it. I also included Dawn Staley even though she isn't technically a Gamecock athlete because I am always in awe of her accomplishments.
Football:
Dan Reeves - 1993, 1998 NFL Coach of the Year
Stephon Gilmore - 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, 3x Pro Bowl, 2x All-Pro
George Rogers - 1981 AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, NFL Rookie of the Year, 3x Pro Bowl, 2x All-Pro, Heisman Trophy
Johnathan Joseph - 2x Pro Bowl, 2nd Team All-Pro
Melvin Ingram - 3x Pro Bowl
Pharoh Cooper - 2017 First team All-Pro (returner), Pro Bowl
Jared Cook - 2x Pro Bowl
Jadeveon Clowney - 3x Pro Bowl, 2nd team All-Pro
Alshon Jeffrey - Pro Bowl
Sterling Sharpe - 5x Pro Bowl, 3x All-Pro
Harold Green - Pro Bowl
John Abraham - 5x Pro Bowl, 3x All-Pro, 2nd team All-Pro
Bobby Bryant - 2x All-Pro, 2x Pro Bowl, 50 Greatest Vikings
Andrew Provence - 1983 All-Rookie
Tom Addison - 3x All-AFL, 4x AFL All-Star, AFL Players Association leader credited with enabling the AFL to challenge the NFL
Men’s basketball:
Mike Dunleavy - 1999 NBA Coach of the Year,
Alex English - 8x NBA All-Star, 3x Second team All-NBA, 1988 Citizenship Award, Number retired by Denver
John Roche - 1972 ABA All-Rookie; only NBA player who was an active lawyer (1982)
Brian Winters - 1975 NBA All-Rookie, 2x All-Star
Women’s basketball:
Shannon Johnson - 5x WNBA All-Star, 3x WNBA 2nd team, 2004 Olympic Gold
Allisha Gray - 2017 Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie team
Kaela Davis - All-Rookie team
A’ja Wilson - 2020 WNBA MVP, 2018 Rookie of the Year, 2x All-Star, 2018 Player of the Year, NCAA Final Four MOP, 3x SEC Player of the Year, 4x All-American
Dawn Staley - WNBA top 15 players, 6x All-Star, 2x ABL All-Star, 3x Olympic gold, namesake of two different Dawn Staley Awards
Baseball:
Mookie Wilson - Mets Hall of Fame
Dave Hollins - All-Star
Brian Roberts - 2x All-Star, Orioles Hall of Fame
Justin Smoak - All-Star
Steve Pearce - World Series MVP
Whit Merrifield - 2019 All-Star
Jackie Bradley, Jr. - All-Star, Gold Glove, ALCS MVP
