WATCH: Emotions overflow as South Carolina awards walk-on special scholarship
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer introduced a very special guest speaker on Sept. 22, as Stephen Panus walked to the forefront of the Gamecocks’ meeting room to deliver a message.
Stephen is the father of 16-year-old Jake Panus, a Southport, Connecticut resident. Jake had always dreamt of playing football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, falling in love with the school, the program and the team. But on Aug. 9, 2020, Jake was tragically killed in a DUI car accident.
“I want you for a second to imagine a boy, who had a dream,” Panus said to the Gamecocks. “In his dream, he used every fiber of his being to have a goal, and that goal was to attend the University of South Carolina and to become a Gamecock.”
In his emotional speech, he explained to the team that the Panus family was still in mourning when, to his surprise, he received a phone call from someone hoping to offer his condolences and make a connection: head coach Shane Beamer.
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Panus and Beamer connected; so much so, that Beamer brought him back to present the inaugural Jake Panus Football Scholarship to walk-on Matthew Bailey.
A redshirt sophomore from Deland, Florida, Bailey first walked onto the Gamecocks team as a long snapper. He took over starting long snapper duties in 2020, his redshirt freshman year, and took every short and long snap in both placement and punting situations. Bailey continues to serve as South Carolina’s starting long snapper in 2021; only now, he’ll be doing it on scholarship in memory of Jake Panus.
The emotional tribute to Panus concludes with another emotional moment, as Bailey alerts his family to the news that he had received a scholarship. He called his mother and father, both of whom were overcome with emotion upon hearing the news.