A Standard of Excellence: The case for inducting Frank Standard into the USC Athletics Hall of Fame now

Alan Piercy is the author of A Gamecock Odyssey: University of South Carolina Sports in the Independent Era (1971-1991). The following was originally published on Alan’s South By Southeast newsletter.

“Frank Standard was one of a kind. He was a great rebounder, but his key was his basketball IQ. He knew exactly where to be on the court at all times. He was also a pool and card shark and quite a character. His stats speak for themselves, and he should definitely be in the hall of fame.” – Bobby Cremins

Twenty-five men’s basketball players are enshrined in the University of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame. Their names conjure the sound of leather-scorched cotton and read like a holy grail of garnet hardwood greatness. 

Wallace, Roche, Joyce, English, Fredrick, McKie, and Downey, to name just a few. The list transports a reader instantly through time, to grainy images of an ACC Championship in the Greensboro Coliseum, to two NCAA scoring champions, and to South Carolina’s first SEC championship in any sport. They are whispered reminders of the greatest teams and moments in the long history of Gamecock men’s basketball. 

There are more to follow, to be sure. Jimmy Foster, perhaps (a subject for another time), and Michael Carrera. Sindarius Thornwell is a no-doubter. Maybe Chris Silva as well, both stalwarts of that glorious 2017 Final Four squad. 

If induction into the Hall of Fame is any indication, perhaps the greatest single senior class in program history would be that of 1968 – Skip Harlicka, Jack Thompson, and Gary Gregor, inducted in 1997, ‘99, and ‘03, respectively.

They were three members of the legendary Four Horsemen of Carolina basketball – that iron man senior squad of 1967-68 who, along with “The Pony,” sophomore Bobby Cremins, electrified Gamecock fans in the final winter amidst the wild cacophony – and soon-to-be smoldering ruins – of the Carolina Fieldhouse. 

They were the early tormentors of Tobacco Road boys, an unruly gang of Gotham-bred ballers who refused to accept the Gamecocks’ long-established role of supplicant in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Cumulatively, they put the ACC on notice of a coming insurrection and set the stage for McGuire’s legendary John Roche and Tom Owens-led teams that followed. Those latter teams brought championship banners to the University of South Carolina and spread basketball hysteria in a football-first state. 

But it all started with the Four Horsemen. Without them, there would be no Carolina Coliseum (and likely, no Littlejohn Coliseum) – certainly not as early as 1968 anyway. There would be no Roche and Owens, no championship banners, and no basketball goals erected in suburban South Carolina driveways from Beaufort to Greenville and Aiken to Myrtle Beach. They were trailblazers who paved a recruiting highway from the hardscrabble courts of New York City to a then-sleepy Southern capital. They made it all possible with a collective pluck and grit that defined Gamecock basketball under McGuire. 

One of those Horsemen is missing from the University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame, however. It’s an honor and debt of gratitude now decades in arrears. But we still have a chance to remedy that. 

Gamecock letterman and former teammate Lyn Burkholder said of Frank Standard, “He could play any position better than any player I’ve ever seen. He could guard, rebound, hold his own underneath – great shooting forward, strong forward, best ball handler of any player his size… he was just a complete basketball player.” 

Let’s talk about the Hall of Fame

As noted on the University’s HOF site, potential inductees must meet at least one of the following criteria:

Conference Player of the Year; National Player of the Year; All-America First or Second Team; All-Conference First Team; All-South Independent First Team (when the University was not in a conference); Team MVP; School Record Holder

Standard checks the Team MVP box, winning in both 1967 and ‘68 – his junior and senior seasons, respectively. He qualifies for induction by that criteria alone. But there’s more to it. 

Fellow Four Horseman Skip Harlicka says of Standard, “Let me start by saying Frank belongs in the hall of fame. I believe a big reason he is not in is that three of us are. But let’s look at that. First, Jack Thompson,, who after one hundred years of South Carolina basketball was named the playmaker of the century. Gary Gregor, who [at 6’6”] led the conference in rebounding his junior year (and was second in his senior year), when the UNC front court was 7’1”, 6’10”, and 6’7”; and was the eighth pick in the first round of the [1968 NBA] draft. Along with those great players was myself, who was fortunate enough to be the first guard in the history of South Carolina to receive All-America honors, and (along with Gregor), gave us two first-round draft choices in the same year.”

Indeed, Standard was one of the ACC’s elite rebounders during his varsity career, cumulatively placing second in the ACC behind only Mike Lewis of Duke over that three-year stretch. Standard managed this while playing in 19 fewer career games than Lewis (67 versus Lewis’ 86). Of note, Lewis was inducted into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame nearly 40 years ago in 1986. 

Harlicka adds, “Frank would have had garish statistics had he not chosen to be the consummate team player. He always guarded the toughest wing of the other team.” 

Standard placed second in rebounding in the ACC during the 1966 season (behind Lewis); third during the 1967 season (behind Lewis and top rebounder Gregor); and seventh during his senior campaign of 1968, when Lewis (1st) and Gregor (2nd) again led the league in rebounds. Standard earned second-team All-ACC during the 1968 season.

Gregor recalls Standard’s exceptional intelligence as a basketball player. “Considering his physical size, it was really unbelievable that he could do what he did. He was the only guy I ever saw at six-three-and-a-half who could out-rebound guys that were six-eight, six-nine or taller.”

Jack Thompson, USC’s all-time passing wizard, says of Standard, “He had the best hands of any forward I ever saw. He was an early Dennis Rodman, but with a good 15-foot jump shot. He was perpetual motion – great offensive and defensive rebounder. [He] could shut down opposing forwards, as he did in the second half of the big Duke win (McGuire’s first signature win at USC in December, 1965), when Jack Martin did nothing to help his team at the very end because Standard was all over him!” 

Thompson adds, “He was fearless, and Frank McGuire loved him.”

Standard’s player profile from the 1967-68 USC Basketball media guide (Courtesy University of South Carolina)

Dan Klores, a Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, author, and USC student in the late ’60s and early ’70s says of Standard, “Frank Standard had it all: his IQ, presence, ability to play the baseline, passing, 15-foot range, rebounding; [his] toughness coming out of Brooklyn was ‘Billy Cunningham-like.’” 

Klores wrote of Standard in Roundball Culture, his 1980 book chronicling Gamecock basketball in the McGuire years, 

“At six-foot-four, 180 pounds, Standard never looked like the blue-chipper he was. Even when he tried out for his Erasmus Hall High School team, Frank appeared to be clumsy and out of place. He was thin, his arms were exceptionally long and he was not very fast. Yet Frank always seemed to come up with the big rebounds. The more he played, the more he impressed an observer. He could drive the baseline, shoot from 12 feet and elbow a defender with artistic grace.”

A legendary character beyond basketball

Klores also echoed Cremins’ recollection of Standard’s extracurricular activities, joking, “The only plausible reason I can possibly think of as to why he’s not in the hall of fame is he was a card shark and may have hustled someone on the selection committee.” He wrote in Roundball Culture, 

“Off the court, Standard was as shrewd as he was on it. He mastered pool, poker and Bogart. Frank was tall, dark, and handsome, a pool and poker shark. He had an answer for all questions and hosted his own show at the Varsity Billiards Hall, across the street from the male dormitories. Standard was raised in Flatbush and went to a high school with over 10,000 students. He had to be tough enough to stay healthy and shrewd enough never to get caught, and he was.”

Proof that Standard’s legendary hustle extended beyond the basketball court was a December 3, 1999 reader’s poll in The State chronicling the “best of” in various categories across South Carolina sports during the Twentieth Century. Greatest game, greatest comeback, greatest player, etc – the type of lists prominent as the year 2000 approached. 

One particular category was “Greatest Character,” which included the likes of USC quarterback Steve Taneyhill, Clemson football coach Frank Howard, high school football coach Mooney Player, and Clemson football player William “The Refrigerator” Perry. Quite a list of characters, indeed. 

Rounding out the choices? Frank Standard. 

Howard won the poll by a wide margin, but Standard’s inclusion on the list was a testament to his legacy in South Carolina lore.

Loyal to a fault

Standard was fiercely loyal – a trait highly valued and emulated by McGuire. In an Oct. 12, 1994, article published just days before McGuire’s death, The State’s Bob Cole relayed a favorite story from Indiana Pacers president Donnie Walsh – a former McGuire player (UNC) and assistant (USC). 

It was two days before Christmas 1967, Standard’s senior season and McGuire’s fourth in Columbia. The Gamecocks traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to play the high-powered, No. 7-ranked Wildcats, coached by the legendary Adolph Rupp. 

Standard was late to the pre-game meal. Very late, as Walsh recalled to Cole:

“I looked at Coach McGuire and his hair was starting to rise – I mean, I was just waiting for him to blow up,” Walsh said. “When Standard walked into the room it got so quiet you could’ve heard a pin drop. Before anyone could say anything, Standard said, ‘Look Coach, I know I’m late, but I was out in the lobby arguing with a guy who said Rupp was a better coach than you!’”

Walsh added, “That’s the only time I saw Coach speechless.” 

Not too late to get it right

Standard’s post-collegiate life is somewhat of a mystery. He was drafted in the 13th round of the 1968 NBA draft by the Hawks in the year that the franchise moved from Saint Louis to Atlanta. After a brief stint with the Hawks, Standard left basketball for good, eventually finding work as a customs agent or perhaps as a sky marshal by some accounts. I have found little information about his family. Standard died in his native New York City in 1998 at the relatively young age of 51. His later life remains an enigma even to his former teammates. 

Still, to add the final member of the legendary Four Horsemen to the University’s athletics hall of fame is an honor long past due. Frank Standard earned that honor – the University’s criteria for induction confirms as much. His name belongs alongside his teammates, Thompson, Harlicka, and Gregor. Frank Standard should not be excluded from the hall of fame simply because of the rare excellence of his fellow Horsemen. 

The 1968-69 Gamecock basketball media guide featured a piece on that historic senior class, who by then had graduated and gone on to careers in professional basketball. It read in part, 

The 1967-68 Basketball Gamecocks captured the hearts of fans in this section of the country as few teams have before. The ”Four Horsemen” – Gary Gregor, Skip Harlicka, Frank Standard, and Jack Thompson – teamed with sophomore Bob Cremins to register some of the most remarkable upset wins in the history of the ACC. They had “more guts than any team I’ve ever coached,” said Frank McGuire. When challenged, they had patience, poise, character, and nerves of steel. They were McGuire’s first recruits at South Carolina. They were the forerunners of a new era in USC athletics. They will not be forgotten. 

Indeed, they never will be forgotten by those who saw them and those who, like me, grew up on stories of their exploits. However, there are younger generations of Gamecock fans who have likely never heard of Frank Standard. That’s a shame, but it’s a shame that can be corrected. 

Some 28 years after the induction of Harlicka, 26 years after the induction of Thompson, and 22 years after the induction of Gregor, it is time to properly recognize Standard, and to ensure the Four Horsemen ride together into perpetuity. 

Forever to Thee, friends. 

To nominate Frank Standard or any former Gamecock Athlete for induction into the USC Athletics Hall of Fame, you can submit your nomination here. 

(Many thanks to Bob Gillespie and Ernie Trubiano, who have been most helpful in connecting me with former Gamecock players, and to Jack Thompson, Skip Harlicka, Gary Gregor, Bobby Cremins, Lyn Burkholder, and Dan Klores for their insights and recollections.)

Note: Gregor, Thompson, and Harlicka have also been inducted into the South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame, a separate entity honoring outstanding athletes with ties to the Palmetto State. Gregor was inducted in 2007, while Thompson and Harlicka were inducted together in 2009.

Note: Klores’ 1980 book, Roundball Culture: South Carolina Basketball, is a must-read for any Gamecock fan. A self-described “frustrated basketball player,” Klores was close to the teams, players, and coaches during the McGuire era, and his book is a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes anecdotes and observations. “Culture” is long out of print and hard to find, but is a cult classic for Gamecock fans who have read it. Copies become available on eBay from time to time.

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