ORANGEBURG, SC – Former South Carolina State head football coach Oree Banks became the fourteenth (14^th) person from the university to be inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame Monday night (May 20, 2024) during an enshrinement banquet at the Columbia (SC) Metropolitan Convention Center.

Banks was joined in the Class of 2004 by nine other honorees and was one of three inducted in absentia duty to unforeseen circumstances. The former Bulldog mentor, who spent eight seasons (1965-72) at SC State, was unable to attend the event because of illness and expressed his regrets in an email to the organization.

Other inductees included Allison Feaster (Harvard basketball) of Chester, SC; PGA golfer Lucas Glover (Clemson golf) of Greenville, SC;  NBA standout Anthony Johnson (College of Charleston basketball) of North Charleston, SC; WNBA standout Ivory Latta (UNC-CH basketball) of McConnells, SC;  Marcus Lattimore (USC football) of Duncan, SC; Legendary baseball coach Jack Leggett (Clemson baseball) of Bangor, ME; Coaching pioneer William Partlow (Booker T. Washington HS/ Benedict basketball) of Gastonia, NC; Clifford Ray (NBA player and coach) of Union, SC; and Tyler Thigpen (Coastal Carolina/NFL QB) of Winnsboro, SC. Like Banks, Feaster and Lattimore were unable to attend.

Banks, a Newton, MS native, compiled a 44-27-2 record as head coach at SC State and was named Coach of the Year in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) in 1965 when the Bulldogs posted an 8-1 record, with the only loss coming to SIAC Champion Florida A&M 19-13. SC State had winning seasons six of the eight years Banks served as head coach.

Banks' overall head coaching career spanned 15 seasons and included a tenure at West Virginia State where he was 32-36-1. Overall, he was 76-63-3 as a head coach.

He also served as an assistant under some of the nation's most recognized coaches, including Grambling's Eddie Robinson (1964-65) and South Carolina's Paul Dietzel (1973-74), where he became the first full-time African American coach in Gamecock football history. He also had assistant coaching tenures at Virgina, Wisconsin and Marshall.

Banks, who also served as an advocate for minority coaches for the NCAA, is a member of the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.