ORANGEBURG, SC (May 24, 2022) – South Carolina State women’s basketball legend Roberta Williams became the first female from the university to be inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame on Monday, May 23, 2022, during an enshrinement ceremony at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
Williams, a Charleston native, was one of seven members of the 2020 Class inducted following a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic. Williams was the first female athlete to receive a full scholarship at SC State in 1976. When her career concluded in 1980, the Burke High graduate had become the most prolific scorer in SC State women’s basketball history, pouring in over 2000 points while leading her team in scoring three seasons.
SC State compiled a 121-13 record during the four years Williams played. She led the Lady Bulldogs to the AIAW (Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) National Division II Basketball Championship in 1979 with a 73-68 triumph over Dayton and was named MVP. A year earlier, she helped her team to the national championship game in a 92-88 overtime loss to High Point.
Williams garnered a host of basketball honors while at SC State as she was a three-time All-MEAC and All-State selection, earned All-Region honors and was twice named an AIAW All-American.
In 1980, she was a second-round draft pick of the San Francisco Pioneers of the Women’s Basketball League (WBL), the first professional women’s basketball league in the United States.
Williams previously was inducted into the SCSU Athletic Hall of Fame and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Hall of Fame. She was recently named a member of the MEAC’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Basketball Team.
In 2018, she was recognized as a “Trailblazer of the Game” by the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Hall of Fame, and both the City of Charleston (2018) and the Avery Research Center of Charleston (2019) have honored the SC State basketball legend with a “Roberta Williams Day” celebration.