L to R: Claude T. Prevost III, Member; S. Harrison Saunders VI, 2023 President; Michael J. Polk, 2024 President; Shannon Furr Bobertz, President-Elect; Amanda N. Pittman, Member; Derrick L. Williams, 2025 President; and Lamar J. Fyall, Treasurer. Not pictured: Susan O. Porter, Member.
By Patricia Abraham
FEATURE People who are considered pioneers often pay a great personal price and bear scars that they carry for years. One such person was Debra Woods, who was a trailblazing athlete at the University of South Carolina.
In high school, Woods excelled in volleyball. While attending Dreher High School, she and some other athletes were told to create their own volleyball team, because the lady that was over athletics did not want to start a team. They started a team that played so well that they won a state championship.
When Richland School District One decided to completely integrate all of their schools, they wanted Black students to attend the new W.J. Keenan High School. She, along with four white students, graduated the summer before 1971. This made her the first black student to graduate from W. J. Keenan High School.
This was not the first time
Debra Woods was one of the first Black female athletes at theh University of South Carolina.
she made history.
“I started playing collegiate volleyball at Benedict college from 1971-73,” she recalled. “I then transferred to the University of South Carolina and was elected as one of two co-captains during the 1974 school year.”
“I was a part of the inception of Title IX for women varsity sports at Carolina in 1974,” she continued. “I played varsity volleyball, softball and participated in club track and field.”