COLUMBIA — Soon after the shooting that left nine dead at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, University of South Carolina athletics director Ray Tanner received a call from football coach Steve Spurrier inquiring how the Gamecocks could honor the victims throughout this coming season.
The result was a helmet sticker adapting Mount Pleasant graphic designer Gil Shuler’s image of nine doves comprising the crown of a palmetto tree, next to a crescent moon as in the state flag. While Shuler’s original design was white on blue, the USC helmet decal will be garnet on white.
“We contacted him, and he was extremely cooperative with us moving forward with that design,” Tanner said Sunday.