Ray Tanner's number retired, street renamed in his honor

Latest Scores, Headlines and Analysis

Ray Tanner's number retired, street renamed in his honor

Posted: Updated:
By Jeremy Turnage - email
Ray Tanner and his family before the ceremony. Ray Tanner and his family before the ceremony.
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -

The University of South Carolina and the City of Columbia have honored former baseball coach Ray Tanner Friday just before his old team took the field for Opening Day.

Tanner received a hero's welcome at Carolina Stadium just before the first pitch. Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was on-hand and presented a plaque to Tanner and decree to name the street in front of the stadium as Tanner Way.

The university honored Tanner by retiring his number, painting it on the field, and painting it on the left stadium wall.

Tanner stepped down as the coach of the Gamecocks last year to become the new athletics director after former AD Eric Hyman took the same position at Texas A&M University.

Copyright 2013 WIS. All rights reserved.

  • Local Sports News

  • The stick and ball sports have their All-Star games but, it is usually more of a social event instead of a hard fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each other
    The stick-and-ball sports have their All-Star games but they are usually more a social event than a hard-fought competition. NASCAR's version places the past season's best teams against each other with the winner leaving with at least a million dollars in their pocket.

  • Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy after
    Richard Petty, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. are but a few of the sports greats who have gone to victory lane in the Southern 500. Matt Kenseth can now add his name to that historic trophy after a late surge took him to the win Saturday night.

  • Last week's white knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, South Carolina. Darlington
    Last week's white-knuckle action at Talladega pitted driver against driver. This week it's a battle of another form as they try to defeat a "Track Too Tough to Tame" in Darlington, SC.
    •