Frank Martin Chimes In On Fight To Rename Strom Thrumond Center

Former South Carolina Gamecocks are in the fight to make a major change on the university campus.

A petition has been started to rename the Strom Thurmond Wellness and Fitness Center at USC.

The petition states that former U.S. senator was a segregationist politician and lists a number of examples to support that sentiment including his involvement with the Dixiecrat Party and his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Former Gamecock standouts like Sindarious Thornwell, Alshon Jeffrey and A’ja Wilson have publicly supported the cause and Thursday men’s basketball coach Frank Martin said he backed the movement as well.

“It’s a complicated topic, but at the end of the day, my personal feelings are that land that is run by tax payer money should be inclusive for everybody and should not have symbols that are divisive to some of us.”

He added that USC falls under that category.

“Our university is a tax payer campus. It's a state university,” he said. “Gotta figure out what’s right and what’s wrong. Obviously Senator Thurmond fought for this country in World War II and battled to allow this country to stand up for what we are and who we are, which I have a lot of respect for, this country, but at the same time he’s also got some ugliness in there.”

He also noted that history is made up of good and bad moments just like the lives of every day individuals thus making the issue complex.

“That’s complicated, I don’t think it’s clear as daylight,” he said. “If you remember, the year is 2015 I believe, the whole movement take the flag down from the State House. I can’t remember give you word for word what I said then, but thinking back I believe my opinion at the time was in public areas are run by taxpayers, having a symbol that alienates a group of people is not right. I think there’s a place for everything, and there are proper places.”

Ultimately Martin said since accepting the job at USC, he’s been forced to expand his perspective by learning local history.

“Here’s where being the coach at this university helped me. Like we all do, we see life through our lense.” he said. “If you ask me if I would go to school somewhere where there’s a statue of Fidel Castro, I'd propably say good luck. I had to learn about a lot of the history, about the things that do impact people in the south, both white and black. It’s something that’s been very educational for me.”