COLUMBIA - At a special ceremony on Sunday, January 24, 2010, a local legend was honored when coach Harriet ‘Boots’ Bandy was inducted into the South Carolina Coaches Association of Women’s Sports during the organization’s annual banquet held in Columbia.

Coach Bandy had an outstanding 39-year coaching career during which she posted a record of 277-79-3. Many of those years were spent as head women’s coach at Strom Thurmond High School, where she led the Lady Rebels to a pair of state championships and a state runner-up finish.

Her Strom Thurmond teams also captured six conference championships. In 1976, Coach bandy was named the National High School Coach of the Year. Coach Bandy is a 1958 graduate of Winthrop University and she received her masters and educational specialist degrees from Clemson University.