Capital Rotary Club

If you follow South Carolina football, you know Tommy Suggs. Regarded as one of the school’s all-time greatest quarterbacks who played for the garnet and black from 1968-1970, Suggs may be more familiar to generations of fans as the color analyst for South Carolina’s radio broadcast for the last 40 years. As he begins his fifth decade behind the microphone, the 65 year old president and CEO of KeenanSuggs still has as much passion and excitement for South Carolina as the student section bouncing around to “Sandstorm.”  “It’s a lot of fun when you’re winning 11 games three years in a row,” Suggs said. “But it’s always fun. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of tremendous wins, gut-wrenching losses, great venues, and all the special things that keep you engaged.”Suggs and his wife, Jane, have been involved in philanthropic efforts for the university for many years, and there is a mutual respect between he and university administrators. “He’s a part of the family,” said athletics director Ray Tanner. “If Tommy wants to share something with me, question something that’s going on, or compliment something that’s happening, then I want to hear about it. It’s very much appreciated. I take the opportunity on occasion to ask him how he feels about certain things or get his perception of difference situations.”

Suggs led the Gamecocks to the 1969 ACC Championship and a berth in the Peach Bowl. He was named MVP of the 1970 Blue-Gray All-Star Classic and was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 and South Carolina State Hall of Fame in 1983. Suggs may also be famous for something fans won’t find in any of the record books as he explains he first pitched the idea for the iconic “2001” entrance for the Gamecocks after seeing Elvis Presley enter the stage to theme music at a concert in the Carolina Coliseum in the 1970s.

Source: http://www.gamecocksonline.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082514aae.html

Our speaker at our meeting Wednesday, February 10th was Mr. John Sherrer and the general topics will be, “Remembering Columbia”.  John currently serves as the Director of Cultural Resources for the Historic Columbia Foundation.  Originally hailing from Columbia, John received both Bachelors and Masters degrees from Clemson University and a second Masters degree from the University of South Carolina.   John has published three books:

1. Fancy and Fine, Plain and Simple: Furniture in Columbia and Richland County, South Carolina, 1800-1860 in 2002;
2. The Governor’s Mansion of South Carolina, 1855-2001 in 2008;
3. Remembering Columbia in 2015

Our speaker at Wednesday’s meeting was Mr. Curtis Loftis, State Treasurer for South Carolina.

Referencing the Treasurer website: Curtis M. Loftis, Jr. is the state’s “private banker,” managing and investing the state’s funds. He is the custodian of more than $43 billion in State funds, including the state’s pension funds. He serves as Vice Chairman of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, an executive body that provides oversight to such statewide policy matters as property, procurement and debt. He is the Chairman of the Board of Financial Institutions, which supervises state chartered financial institutions and supervises mortgage originators and lenders, finance companies, payday lenders, and title lenders, and is a member of the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission which manages the $30 billion retirement fund’s investments.

Mr. Loftis was elected State Treasurer in 2010 — winning all 46 counties in his first bid for public office — and was re-elected in 2014. Mr. Loftis owns several businesses and is the founder and sole benefactor of the Saluda Charitable Foundation, a charity that operates in Ukraine, Bolivia and Haiti. He is a resident of West Columbia, SC and is a 1981 graduate of the University of South Carolina.

http://www.treasurer.sc.gov/treasurers-office/meet-the-treasurer

Our speaker on Wednesday morning, December 16^th was USC’s First Lady Patricia Moore-Pastides.  In addition to being the University of South Carolina’s first lady, Patricia Moore-Pastides is an accomplished cook, successful public health professional, advocate for many worthy causes and author of two Greek cookbooks. Moore-Pastides received a sociology degree from the College of the Holy Cross and a Master in Public Health from Yale University School of Medicine and is a graduate from the University of North Carolina’s Management Academy for Public Health.

Our speaker on Wednesday morning, November 18h was Mr. Bill Davies, Jr.  Mr. Davies, Jr., formally a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP for 34 years, practiced law in Columbia, South Carolina in the areas of general litigation, general product liability, toxic torts and mass tort litigation. He has been retired since January 1, 2010. Active in community affairs, Mr. Davies served on the board of directors of the Family Service Center, the Harvest Hope Food Bank, and the United Way of the Midlands. Mr. Davies also served on the Citadel Class of 1964 50th Reunion Capital Campaign Committee.  He has been active in local Episcopal churches including St Martin’s in the Fields for 19 years and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral since 1992. He is a member of the Edisto Island Historic Preservation Society, the South Carolina Archives & History Foundation,  the South Carolina Historical Society, the Charleston Museum, the South Carolina State Museum, the Sons of the American Revolution, the Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Civil War Trust, the Blue and Gray Educational Society, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military History Museum, the Military Order of the Stars and Bars and the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust.  Bill’s remarks on Wednesday will pertain to all things Robert Mills.

Prior to joining Nelson Mullins, Mr. Davies was a captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the U.S. Army serving on active duty for over 5 years with duty stations at Ft. Lewis, Washington as well as Frankfurt, Germany and Vicenza, Italy.   Bill earned a Juris Doctor from the University Of South Carolina School Of Law in 1967. In 1964, Mr. Davies earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from The Citadel.   Mr. Davies was born and had his basic education in Greenwood, South Carolina, while spending all of his summers at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. He has been happily married to the former Mahalie King Brown of Anderson, South Carolina since 1966. They have three children and nine grandchildren.