Eight former University of South Carolina standout student-athletes have been selected for induction into the USC Lettermen’s Hall of Fame as the Class of 2023, it was announced today.
The eight who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame include Allison Brennan (swimming & diving), Ernest Dye (football), Eric Ecker (men’s golf), Shaun Gortman (women’s basketball), Wallie Jones (baseball), Chris Mayotte (men’s tennis), Kim Pietro (softball) and Demetria Washington (women’s track & field). The class will be officially inducted on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, and will be recognized at the South Carolina-Florida football game on Saturday, Oct. 14.
More information regarding the Hall of Fame dinner will be announced at a later date.
ALLISON BRENNAN (2001-06)
Brennan won the first and only NCAA Championship by a South Carolina individual in swimming & diving as she captured the 2004 NCAA crown in the one-meter event. She also won the U.S. Diving National Championship in the three-meter competition en route to being named the 2004 South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame Female Amateur Athlete of the Year. Brennan was named SEC Diver of the Year and USC’s Female Athlete of the Year in 2006 after winning the conference title in both the one- and three-meter events and capturing runner-up honors at the NCAA Championships in the one-meter competition. Overall, she earned four All-America certificates in her Carolina career. Brennan went on to finish third at the 2008 Olympic Trials and was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2008 Olympic Games. She also finished fourth at the U.S. Diving Grand Prix in the three-meter event, third at U.S. Nationals in three-meter, and sixth at the 2007 World Championships in the one-meter, and posted several other top finishes internationally.
ERNEST DYE (1991-92)
Dye played two years at South Carolina after transferring from junior college. An offensive lineman, he earned first-team All-SEC recognition from the league’s coaches in his senior season of 1992, becoming the first Gamecock to garner first-team All-SEC honors. Dye was drafted by the Phoenix Cardinals with the 18th pick in the first round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He played professionally from 1993 to 1998 in the Cardinals’ organization before his career came to an abrupt end in 1999 after he was seriously injured in an automobile accident.
ERIC ECKER (1995-2000)
Ecker was a standout on the Carolina golf team from in the late 1990s, helping the…