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.
Jeff Kefalos (1973-76)
Stood out in both men's tennis singles and doubles from 1973-76, earning Team MVP honors all four years and was a finalist for the Rafael Osuna Award for outstanding sportsmanship in 1976... holds the school record for career singles winning percentage, coming out on top in 88.1 percent of his matches (104-14) and owns three of the top five season singles winning percentages in school history, including the record .929 (26-2), which he set in 1972-73... his 81 career doubles victories is the second-highest mark in school history, as is his career doubles winning percentage (.844; 81-15)... the combination of singles and doubles prowess makes him the program record-holder in combined career winning percentage as he lost just 29 of the 214 matches he played in his four-year career for a .864 winning percentage.
Jeff currently works at the Columbia Tennis Center, where he has been for 34 years. He came to school here in 1972 and has been in Columbia ever since and comes to Gamecock Athletics events all the time.
Brittany Lane: What are some of your favorite memories from your time at Carolina?
JK: As far as playing, probably my freshman year, beating Clemson. Clemson at that time was 2nd in the ACC, and we hadn't beaten them in 4 years and we upset them. That was a really important match and the football coach/athletic director Paul Dietzel was there. It was important to beat Clemson; that was probably one of my better memories.
BL: How did you react when you heard you being inducted into the Hall of Fame?
JK: Obviously I was really excited. One of the first things I did was look up who was in the Hall of Fame and there are only a couple of tennis players, and really there aren't that many athletes. And that's what surprised me, since I've been here so long. I've seen so many good athletes come through that aren't in the Hall of Fame yet, and that made it even more special. It's a pretty small group, and there's a real deserving group of people that aren't in it yet, it really is an elite group.
BL: With still being here in Columbia, what do you think of the current program and the new facility?
JK: I think the new facility will help with recruiting and the conference is clearly the best conference in men's tennis. I think that it's going to take a few more years of recruiting and then they should be fine.
BL: What are some of the biggest changes you've seen at Carolina between then and now?
JK: I think that the one thing that is to the university's advantage now is that we're in a conference, the best conference to be in in the country. When I was in school we weren't in a conference. We were already out of the ACC and I think that makes a really big difference, because you have the opportunity to go for a conference championship.
*Photos courtesy of Allen Sharpe.*
Jeff Kefalos (1973-76)
Stood out in both men's tennis singles and doubles from 1973-76, earning Team MVP honors all four years and was a finalist for the Rafael Osuna Award for outstanding sportsmanship in 1976... holds the school record for career singles winning percentage, coming out on top in 88.1 percent of his matches (104-14) and owns three of the top five season singles winning percentages in school history, including the record .929 (26-2), which he set in 1972-73... his 81 career doubles victories is the second-highest mark in school history, as is his career doubles winning percentage (.844; 81-15)... the combination of singles and doubles prowess makes him the program record-holder in combined career winning percentage as he lost just 29 of the 214 matches he played in his four-year career for a .864 winning percentage.
Jeff currently works at the Columbia Tennis Center, where he has been for 34 years. He came to school here in 1972 and has been in Columbia ever since and comes to Gamecock Athletics events all the time.
Brittany Lane: What are some of your favorite memories from your time at Carolina?
JK: As far as playing, probably my freshman year, beating Clemson. Clemson at that time was 2nd in the ACC, and we hadn't beaten them in 4 years and we upset them. That was a really important match and the football coach/athletic director Paul Dietzel was there. It was important to beat Clemson; that was probably one of my better memories.
BL: How did you react when you heard you being inducted into the Hall of Fame?
JK: Obviously I was really excited. One of the first things I did was look up who was in the Hall of Fame and there are only a couple of tennis players, and really there aren't that many athletes. And that's what surprised me, since I've been here so long. I've seen so many good athletes come through that aren't in the Hall of Fame yet, and that made it even more special. It's a pretty small group, and there's a real deserving group of people that aren't in it yet, it really is an elite group.
BL: With still being here in Columbia, what do you think of the current program and the new facility?
JK: I think the new facility will help with recruiting and the conference is clearly the best conference in men's tennis. I think that it's going to take a few more years of recruiting and then they should be fine.
BL: What are some of the biggest changes you've seen at Carolina between then and now?
JK: I think that the one thing that is to the university's advantage now is that we're in a conference, the best conference to be in in the country. When I was in school we weren't in a conference. We were already out of the ACC and I think that makes a really big difference, because you have the opportunity to go for a conference championship.
*Photos courtesy of Allen Sharpe.*
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