Shaunzinski Gortman, USC’s first WNBA draft pick, reflects on Hall of Fame college career

Ask 6-foot-1 Shaunzinski Gortman about her accomplishments and watch her blush.

The integral role she played as a senior on South Carolina’s first Elite Eight team.

Her gaze drops to the floor.

Her status as the first Gamecock drafted into the WNBA in 2002.

She closes her eyes and scrunches her nose.

Her newest honor as one of the eight USC Letterman’s Hall of Fame class of 2023 inductees.

A shy smile spreads across her face and a sheepish laugh falls out.

Those who know Gortman best say she’s always been humble, both on the court ( evidenced by her 318 career assists at USC) and off it. She describes herself as a behind-the-scenes kind of person. But her resume demands center stage.

After putting together one of the best Gamecock women’s basketball careers from 1998-2002, Gortman’s laudatory moment has finally come. She and seven other Gamecock greats will be formally inducted into the USC Letterman’s Hall of Fame on Thursday and honored Saturday at South Carolina football’s homecoming game against the Florida Gators.

When athletic director Ray Tanner called Gortman to tell her about the honor, she figured he had the wrong number.

“Me?” she thought. “Hall of fame?”

After he said her name, Gortman knew he was serious. Once the surreal feeling wore off, gratitude took over.

“I think that was one of my proudest moments,” she said.

In four years (105 games) at South Carolina, Gortman scored 1,367 points, snagged 576 rebounds, had 318 assists and 212 steals. She led the team in 3-point percentage as a junior and senior, earning second-team All-SEC honors in 2000-01 and first team All-SEC along with honorable mention All-America in 2001-02. That same year, she led the Gamecocks team to a 25-7 record and its first-ever NCAA tournament Elite Eight. Her performance earned her a spot on the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament team.

“When you’re in school or when you’re in college, you don’t realize how much you’re gonna miss those moments,” Gortman said. “But looking back, they’re fun moments. Like our team making it to the Elite Eight, just seeing the program evolve, even during the time that I was there.”

Gortman’s verbal commitment to the Gamecocks back in the late 1990s was huge deal. She was awarded All-State and All-Region honors all four years at nearby Keenan High School, earning the S.C. 3A Player of the Year award and the state’s Miss Basketball honor her senior season. Then-Keenan coach Van McCloud remembers that legendary women’s basketball figures like Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, Rutgers coach Vivian C. Stringer and UNC coach Sylvia Hatchell showed an interest in the young guard.

“She’s one in a lifetime,” McCloud said of Gortman. “She never considered herself a superstar, but she was.”

Gortman chose to stay home near her parents and three siblings, pledging to USC and a largely unsuspecting Susan Walvius (who thought Hatchell had Gortman on lock).

“Shaun put her stamp of approval on this program,” Walvius told The State in 2002. “In a sense, she took a chance on us, and that’s pretty powerful.

“I’d like to think (the turnaround) would’ve happened if she hadn’t come, but to be honest, I’m not sure it would have.”

Gortman in 2002 became the first South Carolina player drafted into the WNBA. The Charlotte Sting — then home to Dawn Staley, the tenacious point guard — selected her with the ninth overall pick. After a draft night trade moved Gortman to Minnesota, she never got to play alongside Staley — but she did guard her a few times. A few years later, Staley came to Columbia as the Gamecocks’ new head coach.

Gortman currently lives in West Columbia and works in the informational technology department for the Fairfield County School District Office. She’s still involved with sports through her work as the head coach of Fairfield Central High School girls’ basketball and her organization Infinite Dreams, which aims to team local youth with life skills through basketball.

Those are the skills she learned from the sport and her coaches: mom Betty Gortman, Jennifer Stroman (who coached Shaunzinski Gortman’s AAU team with Betty), McCloud and Walvius.

Betty was Gortman’s first coach. The two of them spent hours working in Spires Gym in Cayce, which Betty managed, starting when Shaunzinski was just 7 years old.

Some of Betty’s methods were a little unconventional. She had Gortman dribble down the court at full speed and pull up in front of a tall orange ladder to establish her jumper. To work on Gortman’s handles, Betty blindfolded her and had her dribble down court with one hand at a jogging pace. When Betty whistled, Gortman switched hands and directions.

“I was tough. At times we would be out there practicing and she would be about to cry,” Betty said. “I would be like, ‘OK, I quit.’ And she’d be like, ‘No, mama. No, mama.’ So we went through those phases.”

Gortman is grateful for guidance from her mom and the other women who coached her. She hopes to instill the same sense of discipline and accountability in her players.

“They were very strong-willed, and they taught me what it would take as a woman to be successful or to reach my goals,” Gortman said. “I think they were harder on me, and at the time I didn’t always see it as a good thing. But now I look back, and I appreciate it. Because it made me who I am today.”

Gortman’s family — her mother and three siblings (Samuel Jr., Olandra, Keszia) — will support her at the game Saturday. McCloud will be at the Hall of Fame banquet on Thursday.

Gortman says she owes all her success to them.

2023 USC Hall of Fame class

USC Lettermen’s Hall of Fame’s newest class: Allison Brennan (swimming & diving), Ernest Dye (football), Eric Ecker (men’s golf), Shaunzinski Gortman (women’s basketball), Wallie Jones (baseball), Chris Mayotte (men’s tennis), Kim Pietro (softball) and Demetria Washington (women’s track & field).