Dawn Staley — oh, you know, just:

The Gamecock's Women's Basketball coach
American basketball Hall of Famer (player and coach)
Three-time Olympic gold medal winner (player and coach)
Two-time NCAA National Championship winner (🤞 for three)

is getting a statue at the corner of Gervais and Main Streets, across the street from the State House.

The bronze replica statue will stand 1½ times her 5 ft 6 in. height and be unveiled early next year, with funding for the statue coming from Statues for Equality, along with private funding.

Cocky gazes at Dawn Staley as she speaks to the crowd at the 2022 National Championship parade in downtown Columbia. | Photo by COLAtoday

🏛️ Placement

In June of 2021, the Columbia City of Women unveiled a 16-ft-tall statue called “The Architecture of Strength” at the corner of Main and Gervais Streets, just outside of Hall's Chophouse. Coach Staley's statue will be placed nearby to honor and acknowledge her impact on the Columbia community. She's no stranger to the State House steps, it's where she speaks after each National Championship parade.

🏀 Coach Staley at USC

Since taking over the women's basketball program in 2008, Coach Staley has led the Gamecocks to six SEC regular season championships, six SEC tournament championships, eight Sweet Sixteen appearances, and four Final Fours while posting an overall record of 366-105 (.777) over 14 seasons. The current team is ranked No. 1 in the country (and has been for 33 straight weeks, breaking SEC history), riding a 23-game winning streak this year with a huge matchup on Sunday vs. No. 3 LSU. Grab a ticket here.

🗽 About Statues for Equality

Statues for Equality advocates for gender equality with the goal of creating public statues to inspire, celebrate success, and tell essential community stories. A few notable statues are for pioneers like Jane Goodall, Harriet Tubman, and Eleanor Roosevelt.