Carolina basketball

Another Fredrick takes the floor

While he's always been a Carolina basketball fan, 1981 National Scoring Champion Zam Fredrick Sr. is front and center at games these days. Only now he's watching his son play.

A basketball phenom in his own right, Zam Fredrick Jr. joined the Carolina team for the 2007–08 season.

“I'm very proud and very excited about him being at South Carolina,” Fredrick Sr. said. “I love seeing him out there wearing the Garnet and Black. It's a special time for the Fredrick family, and I'm sure he's going to do well and do some good things for this team.”

A South Carolina native, Fredrick Sr. played for Carolina in the late 1970s and early 1980s under coaches Frank McGuire and Bill Foster. He lead the country in scoring his senior year—the 1980–81 season—for a total of 781 points, a total that ranks second on Carolina's all-time single season scoring list, just behind Grady Wallace, who scored 906 in 1957 and also led the country in scoring. In 2002, Fredrick Sr. and Wallace were both named to the USC Athletics Hall of Fame.

After Carolina, Fredrick Sr. went on to play basketball in Europe from 1981 to 1990. After Fredrick Jr.'s birth, the Fredericks returned to St. Matthews. Fredrick Sr. began coaching at Calhoun County High School and is now head basketball coach. In the past seven years, his team has won five state championships. And his son was on three of those championship teams.

As a high school senior in 2003–04, Fredrick Jr. averaged 34.5 points a game and was named Mr. Basketball for the state. He lettered five seasons and was a four-time all-state performer. He also scored a state record 3,481 points.

Many people were surprised when it came time for Fredrick Jr. to play college ball and he chose Georgia Tech. After two good seasons there, he transferred to Carolina. It was a move home. “Any time I have a question about basketball, I call my dad,” Fredrick Jr. said. “I even called him the morning we started practice for this season. We talked about what I needed to do, what I needed to work on, my approach for the year. He has taught me everything I know, and I take his advice.”