Black legends of South Carolina sports: Part 3

In celebration of Black History Month, our Post and Courier sports team has collaborated on compiling a list of Black trailblazers in South Carolina sports history.

These spotlights run daily in print, and compiled here for our digital viewers.

This edition is part three of four.

Burke High has produced many great athletes, including Jonathan "Stitch" Moore, one of the best basketball players to ever compete in the Southern Conference.

Furman retired his jersey in 1985, five years after he graduated.

He still holds the Furman freshman record for points scored in a season (561).

He is second all-time in career points (2,299) behind Frank Selvy.

He was a two-time SoCon Tournament MVP, two-time SoCon Player of the Year and a four-time first-team All-SoCon selection.

Furman twice made the men's NCAA Tournament with Moore, and he averaged 20.5 points and 15.5 rebounds across two games.

After college, he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the No.

64 overall pick but found success overseas in Finland.

He played there for 14 seasons.

Summerville native and former NFL star receiver A.J.

Green does a lot to impact lives in Charleston and in Cincinnati, where he played football for nearly a decade.

"I'm not the type of person to have that big spotlight," A.J.

Green once told The Post and Courier.

He never really searched for fame, he just wanted to play good football.

But when you're unguardable like Green once was, the recognition comes with the success.

Before becoming a seven-time NFL Pro Bowler, he was a defensive back's worst nightmare at Summerville High School.

Under the guidance of late coach John McKissick, he caught 279 passes for 5,373 yards and 53 touchdowns.

He was named all-state four times, befitting someone who's in the argument for South Carolina's greatest high school player.

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Green out of Georgia with the No.

4 pick in 2011.

He started his 10-year career with five straight 1,000 yard seasons and was second in Bengals history in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns when he retired.

After two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, Green's retirement was as low-key as he could have wanted.

The kid from Summerville had already shown all that he needed to.

Its such a huge honor to be recognized like this, Katrina McClain Johnson said of her Hall of Fame induction in 2012.

She is currently the girls basketball coach at Fort Dorchester.

No one needs to say that Katrina McClain Johnson was one of the best to ever step on a basketball court.

The awards beside her name say enough.

Johnson began her prep career in Charleston at St.

Andrews High School , where the 1982-83 state player of the year led the Rocks to a 30-0 season.

She committed to Georgia and grew into a legend.

In her four years there, the Lady Bulldogs went 116-15, won two SEC championships and made it to a national championship game.

The forward was the conference's freshman of the year in 1984 and SEC Player of the Year in 1987.

She connected on 62 percent of her shots in college and still sits in the top three in many Georgia basketball statistics.

McClain Johnson didn't spend her career just representing South Carolina and Georgia but the United States as well.

She was rostered on 13 USA teams, winning eight gold medals, one silver and three bronzes.

She was a no-doubt selection to the FIBA, Georgia, Women's and Naismith halls of fame.

To honor her legacy, the Katrina McClain Award is given to each season's best women's power forward.

She's now back in South Carolina after being hired as Fort Dorchester High's girls head basketball coach in 2023.

Shawn Crawford won the 200 meter finals at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

As the most accomplished track athlete in Clemson history, Shawn Crawford carries plenty of hardware around his neck.

Coming from Van Wyck, it was Indian Land High School where he found his love for track.

He then went to Clemson, where he became one of the most prolific Tigers ever.

The former Tiger won three NCAA championships, including indoor and outdoor titles in the 200 meters.

Crawford and Michael Green, another Black Clemson track legend, are the only Tigers to each bring home three NCAA track and field championships.

Crawford competed in the 200 at the 2004 Athens Olympics and he earned the event's highest honor.

With a time of 19.79 seconds, he took the gold medal, becoming the first Clemson athlete to win an Olympic medal in a individual event while representing the U.S.

The momentum wouldn't stop there.

He won silver in the same event four years later.

He now resides in Los Angeles, where he is a fitness trainer.

Maybe another track star will come from his guidance.

He at least knows what it takes to get there.

Former Bonds-Wilson star Art Shell became the first black coach in the NFL.

The Charleston native was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

Born in Charleston in 1946, Art Shell had to overcome adversity at an early age.

His mother passed away when he was 15, so he took the responsibility of taking care of his siblings.

He was a student at a segregated high school but managed to get through the racial tension thanks to his positive energy.

He had another reason to keep going when others tried to tear him down.

Football.

At what is now Maryland-Eastern Shore, Shell became a stud on the offensive line.

He made the all-conference team three times, leading to him being drafted by the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders.

Lined up next to Gene Upshaw, Shell became one of the best tackles of all time.

He was an all-pro for six straight years and was a member of the Raiders' Super Bowl XI and XV championship teams.

He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989, one of two honors he received that year.

The second was Shell replacing Mike Shanahan as the Raiders' head coach, making him the first Black coach of the Super Bowl era.

In fact, he was the first Black head coach since football helmets were made of leather.

He coached the Raiders for seven years, compiling a 56-52 record.

Alex English, who played at Dreher High School from 1968-72, graduated from South Carolina as the schools all-time leading scorer (since surpassed) and then played 15 years in the NBA.

He was an eight-time NBA All-Star and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997.

Alex English left USC at the top, becoming the first Black athlete to star at the school.

He must've liked the feeling of being a leader, as he did it again in the pros.

After 78 starts and 31 points per game as a Dreher High junior, he was sought after by over 100 colleges.

The small forward ended up staying in his backyard, committing to South Carolina.

English was described as a coach's dream because of how well-rounded of a player he was.

The Gamecocks legend was named an All-American several times and held the career scoring record until another hometown product, BJ McKie, passed him.

He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, but it would be Denver where he became an NBA staple.

He's still the Nuggets' leading scorer and scored more points in the 1980s than anybody, including Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

He was the first player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in eight straight seasons.

After his career, the Naismith Hall of Famer remained in the sports industry.

Today, he can be seen as an analyst on NBA TV.

Wherever he is, he can call himself the top guy.

Multi-time top guy, that is.

Former South Carolina star A'ja Wilson recently released her own Nike signature shoe.

Smiles were everywhere at Colonial Life Arena when A'ja Wilson's number was retired this year .

As Dawn Staley's best product, it was an icing on the cake for the Gamecocks idol.

In case you've haven't kept track, Wilson has always been this skilled.

It all started at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, where the forward was unguardable.

She averaged about 25 points and 13 rebounds per game and was named the 2014 National High School Player of the Year by Naismith, Parade and the WBCA.

She set the standard for Heathwood Hall girls basketball and has inspired other players to follow her footsteps.

Next up: The Gamecocks.

Before Staley became Wilson's "second mom," she was a seventh-year head coach trying to turn South Carolina into a juggernaut.

USC's improvement was there, but the head coach just needed that one piece to put it all together.

Insert A'ja.

USC scored a Final Four berth in Wilson's first year, immediately setting the precedent for USC women's basketball.

If we listed all the honors she earned during college, we might hit our word-count limit.

She's now the face of the WNBA, going into every season as the MVP favorite.

She has three such awards already, and who's playing better than her right now? She may play in Las Vegas, but her heart will always be in South Carolina.

The jersey hanging in CLA's rafters is the visual of that..

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