ORANGEBURG, SC – The South Carolina State 1973 Football Team – the first Bulldog squad of legendary head coach emeritus Willie Jeffries – will celebrate its 50-year reunion on Friday (Nov. 10) during 7:30 p.m. banquet at the Bulldog Lounge of the Kirkland W. Green Student Center on campus. The event was originally set for the I.P. Stanback Planetarium and Museum but was moved to the new site to accommodate more attendees.

Coach Jeffries will be among the individuals saluted during the program and will also be the featured speaker for the event. Also expected to make remarks are Pro Football Hall of Famers Donnie Shell and Harry Carson, along with and current Bulldog head football coach and interim athletics director Buddy Pough, all members of the '73 Class. Pough is retiring at the end of the 2023 season after 22 years as Bulldog head coach.

Approximately 35 players and coaches from the 1973 squad, along with their guests are scheduled to attend the event.

Jeffries took over as SC State head football coach in 1973, inheriting a 1-9 team, however the Bulldog alumnus directed an immediate turnaround, guiding his team to a 7-3-1 overall mark, a runner-up finish in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and a berth in the Orange Blossom Classic opposite host Florida A&M.

Jeffries went on to amass a 50-13-4 mark in six seasons (1973-78), winning five MEAC titles and making five postseason appearances before making history in 1978 when he was hired by Wichita State as the first African American head coach at a major university in the country.

After a 10-year hiatus – with five-year tenures at Wichita State and Howard -- the Union County native returned to his alma in 1989 and had another successful run. During his second tenure, which spanned thirteen years, he produced seven winning seasons, amassed a 78-64-0 worksheet for a combined 128-77-4 mark at SCSU, where he played both football and baseball, and earned a civil engineering degree in 1960.

Jeffries earned numerous awards and honors during his enviable career and is enshrined in several halls of fame.