Mark Kingston reflects on impact Tommy Moody had on South Carolina baseball

This fall the South Carolina baseball program lost a special member of its team, with color analyst Tommy Moody passing away.

He was a well-respected member of the program, in many ways the voice of the program. And coach Mark Kingston promised that South Carolina plans to honor him during the season.

“Tommy is missed by all. One of the best to have ever done it,” Kingston said. “Nobody had more pride and love and passion for Gamecock baseball than Tommy did. He was a close friend of mine and a close friend to many.

“He’s been sorely missed, and I think he’ll be missed even more once we start playing games and we don’t hear his voice and we don’t hear his passion and I don’t go on the radio show with him so he can ask very detailed questions about how the weekend went.”

In addition to his duties as the color analyst for South Carolina baseball, Moody was involved on the airwaves in various other capacities.

He hosted “The Tommy Moody Show,” self described as “a trip down memory lane every week.” The show aired Monday at 6 p.m. ET and Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.

Moody played baseball on scholarship at South Carolina in the early 1970s, receiving a degree in marketing in 1975. He spent 28 years working for General Mills in Charleston and Columbia.

In addition to his time playing for the Gamecocks, Moody previously served as the president of the University of South Carolina Association of Lettermen in 1992. He also served as the USC Athletic Hall of Fame chairman.

But his work on the radio endeared him to thousands.

“Going to miss all those things,” Kingston said. “But we are going to honor him as is deserved in a manner that I think will make him and his family proud. The one thing I can say is I know he’ll be watching over us. When you see us get good breaks during the year I think we can look up and say, ‘Tommy might have had a hand on that.'”

Tommy Moody had done color for Gamecocks baseball since 2000.