South Carolina’s ’2001’ entrance at Williams-Brice Stadium has a brand new look

South Carolina’s iconic “2001” entrance will have a new look going forward.

When the players exit the locker room just before kickoff and the booming music plays throughout Williams-Brice Stadium, the Gamecocks football team will now run through the “Tommy Suggs 2001 Gamecock Football Entrance,” the school announced Thursday.

Suggs, a quarterback at South Carolina from 1968-1970, was the one who pushed the athletic department ahead of the 1981 football season to play the song as the Gamecocks ran onto the field. As the story goes, Suggs had recently watched Elvis Presley perform and the King of Rock and Roll took the stage to the theme music from the 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“I felt like Carolina needed a little something extra at the time that had a little more pop to it,” Suggs said in Thursday’s news release. “Heck, if it’s good enough for Elvis Presley, it ought to be good enough for us.”

The tradition somewhat started in 1981, when football coach Jim Carlen had the USC marching band play the song. That only lasted two games. It was tough for the fans to hear it and it didn’t have the intended effect.

Two years later, though, the stadium’s sound system received a massive upgrade. South Carolina decided to try out the “2001” entrance again in 1983, booming the piece throughout the stadium as first-year head coach Joe Morrison led South Carolina on the field.

The Gamecocks have been running out to it ever since.

The new Tommy Suggs 2001 Entrance will have the Gamecocks walking down a garnet runway with a garnet backdrop before running onto the field through an archway that reads “Tommy Suggs 2001 Entrance.”

“It’s my legacy,” Suggs said in Thursday’s announcement. “Records on the field are meant to be broken. This won’t be broken. This is very important to me and my family to get recognition there in perpetuity. This is a way for me to leave a lasting impression and something that a lot of people can identify with. It helps them enjoy and be excited about Carolina football when they run out on the field.”