Courtesy of SC State Athletics
Orangeburg, South Carolina – SC State women’s basketball legend Roberta Williams will become the first woman from the university to be inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame on Monday, May 23, during an induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. The event will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m.
Williams, a Charleston native, will be one of seven members of the Class of 2020 to be inducted after a year-long hiatus due to the pandemic. Four other inductees will make up the class of 2022 for a total of 11 people to devote. She will join 12 former SC State athletes and coaches at the prestigious sanctuary.
Joining Williams, the all-time leading scorer in women’s basketball at SC State, in the 2020 class will be Peter Boulware, a Columbia native and standout Florida State footballer; Dan Driessen of Hilton Head and a star with the Cincinnati Reds; USC quarterback Todd Ellis; USC Pitcher Ed Lynch who served as the Chicago Cubs’ general manager; Limestone pitcher and MLB Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry; and Clemson running back and NFL standout CJ Spiller.
The Class of 2022 includes retired Wofford head football coach Mike Ayers, legendary Clemson sports medicine guru Fred Hoover, USC and NFL wide receiver Sidney Rice, and manager longtime UNCC sportsman, Blacksburg native Judy Wilkins Rose.
Williams was the first female athlete to receive a full scholarship to SC State in 1976. When her career ended in 1980, the Burke High graduate had become the most prolific scorer in women’s basketball history. SC State, scoring over 2,000 points while leading his team. scoring three seasons.
SC State went 121-13 in the four years Williams played. She led the Lady Bulldogs to the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) Division II basketball championship in 1979 with a 73-68 triumph over Dayton and was named MVP. A year earlier, she helped her team to the national championship game in a 92-88 overtime loss to High Point.
Williams earned numerous basketball honors at SC State, as she was a three-time All-MEAC and All-State selection, earned All-Region honors, and was named an AIAW All-American twice.
In 1980, she was a second-round pick of the San Francisco Pioneers of the Women’s Basketball League (WBL), the premier professional women’s basketball league in the United States.
Williams has previously been inducted into the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Hall of Fame. She was recently named a member of MEAC’s 50and All Time Basketball Team Anniversary.
In 2018, she was recognized as a “Game Pioneer” by the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Hall of Fame, and the City of Charleston (2018) and Avery Charleston Research Center (2019) honored the C. State basketball legend with a “Roberta Williams Day” celebration.
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