Randy Smith
A lot of you know Webb Wright who was an assistant to me at WRCB-TV several years ago. I was always fond of Webb as he was one of the hardest working guys I was ever associated with. We became pretty good friends and he even stayed at my house and watched my dogs for me one week a few years ago, while we were on vacation. He is also one of the very biggest South Carolina Gamecock fans I have ever known. I decided to write about Webb and his Gamecocks this morning because he is very likely as excited as a one-legged cat in a sandbox.
You see, his Gamecocks, both men and women, are in the NCAA Final Four this weekend. That was totally unexpected, especially for the men. South Carolina was only the third or fourth best team in the SEC during the regular season, but now has a chance to win a national championship.
Other than baseball, South Carolina sports has been mediocre at best for several years. Despite that fact, Webb has always pulled for his teams with a real passion and posted things on Facebook that bordered on "whining" . Well, let's just call it what it is. Webb whined a lot about his Gamecocks' lack of success. Despite the whining, he has always been quick to rub it in when USC beats someone they shouldn't. (Such as Tennessee this past season)
Even though I am still a die-hard Volunteer fan, I started pulling for Clemson a few years ago because my son-in-law was an IPTAY member and had season tickets to Clemson games. I also think a lot of Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney which I'm sure has placed my standing with the Wright family in dire straits. For those of you not familiar with South Carolina sports, the Clemson-USC rivalry is as intense as any in college sports, with the possible exception of Auburn-Alabama. Tigers and Gamecocks absolutely hate each other and it doesn't help that Clemson won the national title in college football in January.
Webb Wright is from Lancaster, South Carolina so he is a pure born and bred South Carolina fan. While other people in the state have celebrated while Coastal Carolina won the NCAA baseball title, Clemson won in football and both mens' and womens' teams in basketball are in the Final Four, Webb is quick to point out that those other two South Carolina schools were just lucky.
So while we anxiously await this weekend's Final Four telecasts, with South Carolina facing Gonzaga in Saturday's first game, I want Webb to know that I'm pulling for his Gamecocks to win it all. The fact that I like Clemson has nothing to do with anything, I want the Gamecocks to win the NCAA title. I also want Webb to know that I really like USC Coach Frank Martin who has most certainly been the most quotable coach in the Final Four so far. For the time being, all of us in the SEC can pull for the Gamecocks to win. We can get back to hating each other in the fall when football starts.
The South Carolina Gamecock is known for his "crowing." If you've ever been to a South Carolina game, a rooster crowing over the P.A. system is a regular occurrence. I hope that if his team wins this weekend, Webb Wright will be crowing as loudly as anybody.
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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for 30 years. He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga television for more than a quarter-century. In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith. They have five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.
He can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com