Seven new Gamecocks were inducted
into the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame Thursday at
the annual banquet held by the Association of Lettermen in The Zone at
Williams-Brice Stadium. Since the University of South Carolina Athletics
Hall of Fame was created in 1967, only 131 members have been selected
to the elite group by the University of South Carolina Association of
Lettermen. We'll catch up with each of the new inductees here on Spurs
Up Blog. Be sure to give a loud round of applause when they are
recognized on the football field between the 1st and 2nd quarters of the
game vs. Navy.
Kent DeMars: spent 26 of his 37 years at Carolina as the men's tennis head coach, ending his tenure in Spring 2010... led the Gamecocks to 18 NCAA Tournaments, including a stretch of 13-straight appearances (1994-2006)... his Gamecock teams appeared in the NCAA Tournament's round of 16 six times, including an appearance in the national semifinals in 1989... is the program's all-time winningest coach with 390 career victories... guided the team to six conference championships in his first seven seasons... coached seven Gamecocks who accumulated nine All-America selections and saw at least one Gamecock on an all-conference team in 18 of his 26 seasons at the helm... was inducted into the ITA Collegiate Men's Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010 and was a 1996 inductee into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame.
Brittany Lane: How is retired life?
DeMars: I've been doing a fair amount of travelling, actually just got back from Reno [Tuesday], spent a few days out there; mainly visiting family. I joined a club and so my wife, Dawn, and I are doing some golf and tennis in some different leagues that we've enjoyed. The house that we moved into was just finished a little over a year ago, so there are a lot of things to go shopping for. We went to a furniture place in North Carolina a few times, trying to get the house in order. It's actually been more of a whirlwind. I made a little bucket list of things I'd like to do. I've got a grandchild who's a little over two years old so I enjoy taking her to the zoo and different places and spending time with her. It's easier to spend family time than it was before, now that I've got time. I feel like sometimes you don't spend as much time with your family as you should have with your job, now you can make up for it a little bit and do some things for the kids. I've enjoyed the retirement time. I also feel like being in my late sixties I don't know how long these legs will be good for [laughs], and I'm going to try and do some things in my life that I want to do while I'm still capable. I think it worked out perfectly, staying as long as I did, 26 years at South Carolina, and now trying to do something a little different.
BL: Where are some of the places you've been traveling? Any dream places?
DeMars: I've never taken a cruise, Alaska or a couple places, a little bit more abroad traveling. I have several that I'd like to go to that I haven't yet I'd like to go to Prague I think that would be really interesting, and places that I've already been and want to get back to like Hawaii, I'd like to go to the Australian Open tennis and New Zealand. I've been to Paris and it wouldn't take very much to convince me to go back.
BL: Are you still involved with tennis?
I wanted to do some things locally to give back a bit, I've joined a couple boards that have taken some time and require me to do some things with tennis, one is the South Carolina Tennis Association board, the other is the ITA, which is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association board of directors. So each of those I've picked up some duties and responsibilities. It's almost like a mentoring program, we get hold of several young coaches and talk to them about our experiences and things we did, try to answer questions for coaches just getting into the business. We're working here locally with kids 10 and under. The whole long tennis court isn't made for kids so we've taken the court in half and we've done a few things to make it a lot more fun for young kids because it's harder for them to pick up the sport at a young age. It's much easier for them to kick a ball around like soccer or do a little softball, its much harder for them to hit a tennis ball 78 feet over the net. We're trying to develop a system, some of the things which I think are good for the game, giving back a little bit I think is fun.
BL: You had a long career at Carolina, any favorite memories?
DeMars: Well, the furthest we went was the semi-finals of the NCAA tournament back in 1989, and our team then finished tied for third in the country so we got one of the national championship trophies for third place, and that's a real nice trophy and in that same year, I got National Coach of the Year, so 1989 other than Hugo coming in here and setting us back a bit, those were probably the highlights for the team. There are certainly many others, we had a player make it to the semi-finals of the NCAA in singles as well, a French player.... And we're excited about the new facilities coming together, the new tennis complex is beautiful. Pretty anxious to get over and watch a match in there, it's going to be really outstanding, so that will be fun.
BL: What's it feel like to learn you're going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? How did you react to the phone call?
DeMars: Well, it's really, really nice needless to say. I know Tommy Moody and he's the one who called. I guess the reaction is surprise initially and then when it's your peers deciding it makes it extra special. Columbia, USC...this is home and being put in the same group as football, basketball, baseball, etc. it's nice that they include us in this group as well. I think overall it's really gratifying to be chosen.
*Photos courtesy of Allen Sharpe.*
Kent DeMars: spent 26 of his 37 years at Carolina as the men's tennis head coach, ending his tenure in Spring 2010... led the Gamecocks to 18 NCAA Tournaments, including a stretch of 13-straight appearances (1994-2006)... his Gamecock teams appeared in the NCAA Tournament's round of 16 six times, including an appearance in the national semifinals in 1989... is the program's all-time winningest coach with 390 career victories... guided the team to six conference championships in his first seven seasons... coached seven Gamecocks who accumulated nine All-America selections and saw at least one Gamecock on an all-conference team in 18 of his 26 seasons at the helm... was inducted into the ITA Collegiate Men's Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010 and was a 1996 inductee into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame.
Brittany Lane: How is retired life?
DeMars: I've been doing a fair amount of travelling, actually just got back from Reno [Tuesday], spent a few days out there; mainly visiting family. I joined a club and so my wife, Dawn, and I are doing some golf and tennis in some different leagues that we've enjoyed. The house that we moved into was just finished a little over a year ago, so there are a lot of things to go shopping for. We went to a furniture place in North Carolina a few times, trying to get the house in order. It's actually been more of a whirlwind. I made a little bucket list of things I'd like to do. I've got a grandchild who's a little over two years old so I enjoy taking her to the zoo and different places and spending time with her. It's easier to spend family time than it was before, now that I've got time. I feel like sometimes you don't spend as much time with your family as you should have with your job, now you can make up for it a little bit and do some things for the kids. I've enjoyed the retirement time. I also feel like being in my late sixties I don't know how long these legs will be good for [laughs], and I'm going to try and do some things in my life that I want to do while I'm still capable. I think it worked out perfectly, staying as long as I did, 26 years at South Carolina, and now trying to do something a little different.
BL: Where are some of the places you've been traveling? Any dream places?
DeMars: I've never taken a cruise, Alaska or a couple places, a little bit more abroad traveling. I have several that I'd like to go to that I haven't yet I'd like to go to Prague I think that would be really interesting, and places that I've already been and want to get back to like Hawaii, I'd like to go to the Australian Open tennis and New Zealand. I've been to Paris and it wouldn't take very much to convince me to go back.
BL: Are you still involved with tennis?
I wanted to do some things locally to give back a bit, I've joined a couple boards that have taken some time and require me to do some things with tennis, one is the South Carolina Tennis Association board, the other is the ITA, which is the Intercollegiate Tennis Association board of directors. So each of those I've picked up some duties and responsibilities. It's almost like a mentoring program, we get hold of several young coaches and talk to them about our experiences and things we did, try to answer questions for coaches just getting into the business. We're working here locally with kids 10 and under. The whole long tennis court isn't made for kids so we've taken the court in half and we've done a few things to make it a lot more fun for young kids because it's harder for them to pick up the sport at a young age. It's much easier for them to kick a ball around like soccer or do a little softball, its much harder for them to hit a tennis ball 78 feet over the net. We're trying to develop a system, some of the things which I think are good for the game, giving back a little bit I think is fun.
BL: You had a long career at Carolina, any favorite memories?
DeMars: Well, the furthest we went was the semi-finals of the NCAA tournament back in 1989, and our team then finished tied for third in the country so we got one of the national championship trophies for third place, and that's a real nice trophy and in that same year, I got National Coach of the Year, so 1989 other than Hugo coming in here and setting us back a bit, those were probably the highlights for the team. There are certainly many others, we had a player make it to the semi-finals of the NCAA in singles as well, a French player.... And we're excited about the new facilities coming together, the new tennis complex is beautiful. Pretty anxious to get over and watch a match in there, it's going to be really outstanding, so that will be fun.
BL: What's it feel like to learn you're going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame? How did you react to the phone call?
DeMars: Well, it's really, really nice needless to say. I know Tommy Moody and he's the one who called. I guess the reaction is surprise initially and then when it's your peers deciding it makes it extra special. Columbia, USC...this is home and being put in the same group as football, basketball, baseball, etc. it's nice that they include us in this group as well. I think overall it's really gratifying to be chosen.
*Photos courtesy of Allen Sharpe.*
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