In the 1990s in USC sports, much anxiety was experienced by the faithful due to football woes, basketball short falls and baseball frustrations.

In January 1993, USC took a major step forward in its athletic program with the hiring of a new Athletic Director, Dr. Mike McGee.  Dr. McGee worked diligently to move the University forward in all sports.

In June 1996, he made a very significant move by hiring Ray Tanner as the baseball head coach.  Coach Tanner brought a new drive, enthusiasm and insight to the job of bringing USC baseball to its previous glory and even to taking it further.  As Coach Tanner re-built and re-loaded, Dr. McGee worked some magic and hired Lou Holtz in December 1998 as the football head coach.  Coach Holtz inherited a team that had gone 1-10, suffered through a 0-11 season (to give us the embarrassing 0-21 string) before he was able to turn the ship around.

This brief history is given to help our readers understand how Sir Big Spur started and reached his current point.

We have always been very dedicated USC sports fans having not missed a home or away football game since 1990 and had season tickets to baseball and basketball.  We made it to some soccer, volleyball and softball games and even went to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series in 1997.  In the summer of 1998, a friend of the family learned of our devotion to the Gamecocks and, partly as a joke, gave us a live Gamecock.  This bird, an Old English, Black-Breasted, Red Gamecock, with much TLC was able to temper his naturally combative nature and become a welcome addition to our menagerie and quickly became a ‘family member’ on the small farm in Aiken County.

For as long as we can remember, there has been much press devoted to the alleged “Chicken Curse”.   Many attempts to remove the curse were made. In March of 1999, we won a promotional give away dinner with Coach Tanner at a local BBQ restaurant.  During the course of that dinner, the subject of the Gamecock pet arose and we asked Coach Tanner if bringing him to the games was possible, if his presence would be a distraction to the team etc.  Coach agreed that we could try it and if his attendance at the games became a problem, he would tell us.

So, with this go-ahead, we began the process of planning a method to transport the chicken, how to secure him at the games and most importantly, what to call him.  We considered Cocky-Doodle-Ray but with the arrival of Lou Holtz, the name Cocky-Doodle-Lou was more poetic, rhyming with the usual chicken call ‘Cockle-Doodle-Doo’.

Subsequently, we named his hen Louella and he was Lou to us until his death in the summer of 2007.

In April 1999, Cocky-Doodle-Lou made his first appearance on top of the first base dugout  (at Sarge Frye Field) and was an instant hit, especially with children and the team members.  Many had never seen a real gamecock and were amazed by his beautiful coloring and his impressive spurs.  This enjoyment by the fans and players and the increase in knowledge of USC and South Carolina history made the time, energy and effort to bring him to many games worth it to us, die-hard fans that we are.  (Also, who knew if we were helping to cure the Chicken Curse?)  From that April 1999 game, Lou became a very big part of our game day tradition.

On April 30, 2000, Carl Langley, then senior writer for the Aiken Standard, wrote an article entitled “Lou Predicts End of the Chicken Curse”.  Since that time, the baseball program under Coach Tanner’s direction has been competitive, disciplined, successful and incredibly fun.  Although NONE of that success has been or should be attributed to the presence of a live mascot, he certainly has not been a detriment to the program and had added some fan enjoyment and pageantry to Sarge Frye Field.

While Lou continued to strut on the dugout and “deal” with the Curse, Coach Tanner and the team worked very hard.  In 2002, USC went to Omaha for the College World Series.  Because of scheduling and travel time, we made it just in time for the first game which we lost to Georgia Tech.  Brainstorming to think of what we could do to help the team, we convinced the ground keeper at Rosenblatt Stadium to allow us to take Lou on the field for some pictures.  When we got on that field very early on a Saturday morning, we took pictures AND Lou left a small deposit on the pitcher’s mound (don’t tell, but we cleaned it up).  Our team went on to win four straight games including beating Clempson twice to make it to the championship game.  We don’t know if Lou helped but, again, he didn’t hurt—may the Chicken Curse be forever banned from Rosenblatt stadium!

Cocky-Doodle-Lou at Rosenblatt Stadium Omaha, Nebraska

In early March 2004, a part time fan and his family decided Lou stunk.  He complained to the Athletics Department and for a time, Lou was banned.  Through communication with the University, national media attention and support of the fans, this ban was overturned and the Gamecock continued to crow on top of that dugout.

Since that baseball start, Lou started participating informally in football tailgating.  Prior to the start of the 2006 football season, a group of dedicated fans were asked by the Athletic Department Administration to list and describe anything that would get the fans more involved and make our university’s sports programs better.  The inclusion of a live mascot, specifically our gamecock, was one of the suggestions.  One of the members of the new team of enthusiastic, energetic administrative officials, Mr. Jeff Crane, (at that time) Director of Marketing, contacted us and asked if we would be willing to involve the gamecock formally in the football program.  Of course, we were delighted and ecstatic—it does not get better for die-hard fans who love the university.

With only two weeks to prepare, we scrambled to rename the gamecock more appropriately and to devise his travel arrangements again.  We wanted a name that would transcend specific coaches and be able to be permanently attached to the mascot (like UGA, the “ugly” Georgia mascot).   After late nights, endless thoughts and countless names, we chose Sir Big Spur in recognition of one of the first human mascots “Big Spur”.  Sir Big Spur is accepted more by children (he’s cuter) than Big Spur and has become a complement to Cocky, the nation’s best mascot.   That season we actually used the original gamecock some and gradually conditioned his son to take his place.  We wanted Lou to hear 80,000 Gamecock fans cheer his team before he was retired to the farm.

Sir Big Spur at Williams Brice Stadium

That first year brought challenges of getting from our tailgate spot to the stadium and getting to our spot in the stadium.  We made a simple goalpost out of PVC pipe and brought it and the gamecock in a cage on a luggage carrier through the parking lot, down Assembly Street and into the stadium.   This cumbersome, make-shift approach did not do justice to our mascot or to our University.  So, after making sure we were still to be involved in the 2007 season, we built a remote controlled car from a child’s toy, the Roost Roller.   This mode of transportation is powered by three 12 volt batteries and controlled by a modified miniature helicopter control unit with 6 channels.  It can remotely move Sir Big Spur around the entire football field, can play the fight song and the rooster crow and has running lights and bright, red lights which flash for safety of operation around crowds at night game exits from a venue.  The Roost Roller is brought to the game in its own specially designed trailer pulled behind a 1979 restored VW convertible occupied by Cocky Too, the stuffed doll who has made it to Omaha three times.  All of this is called the Roost Roller Transport and gives our mascot a uniquely different way to arrive at any sport venue.   Here’s hoping we get to use it in Omaha in the near future!!!!!

The Roost Roller