COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPORT WEEKDAY REPORT : South Carolina Satisfies Its Taste for Football, Joins SEC

South Carolina accepted an invitation to join the Southeastern Conference Tuesday and accomplished its goal of becoming a member of an all-sports league.

SEC presidents voted earlier Tuesday during a conference call to ask the school to join the conference, which on Aug. 1 added Arkansas. Since then, the SEC had been searching for a 12th member to give it an even number of schools.

South Carolina and Miami of Florida were the front-runners to become the 12th team.

“Today is a great day for South Carolina,” Arthur K. Smith, the school’s interim president, said at a news conference at Williams-Brice Stadium. “This afternoon, on behalf of the 10-member universities, Commissioner Roy Kramer of the Southeastern Conference extended an invitation of membership to the University of South Carolina. On behalf of the University of South Carolina . . . I enthusiastically accepted that invitation.”

Many supporters sported stickers saying, “Proud To Be in The SEC.” The stadium’s scoreboard posted “SEC” in big letters.

“We now join the finest all-sports collegiate conference in the country, one with a proud history that began nearly 100 years ago when member teams began competing with one another,” Smith said.

South Carolina had been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference from that league’s inception in 1953 until it withdrew June 30, 1971, becoming the only school to leave the ACC. South Carolina then joined the Metro Conference April 14, 1983.

The Metro does not include football. South Carolina wanted to become a member of a league that included football.

The SEC hopes to integrate all South Carolina sports except football into the league by the 1991-92 season. Participation in football probably will be postponed a year because of scheduling problems.

South Carolina was founded in 1801 and is the oldest state institution in the United States to be continuously supported by public funds. The school has nine campuses across the state, with 25,613 students attending the Columbia campus.