South Carolina has competed on the football field for more than a century, but the original South Carolina Gamecock fought on the battlefield more than 200 years ago. General Thomas Sumter, the namesake of Sumter, S.C., was a fierce combatant in the American Revolution. As battles against the British raged on, he became the de facto leader of South Carolina during the War and waged many battles before being wounded in 1780. He survived his wounds and was commissioned a general near the end of the war. Sumter was a constant thorn in the side of the British forces -- so much so that the British dubbed him “The Fighting Gamecock” for his never-say-die attitude. The name made sense, since Sumter was devoted to the sport of cockfighting as a young man and employed fierce, guerilla-style tactics against the more buttoned-up Redcoats. Sumter’s other namesake -- the University of South Carolina football team -- plays just 44 miles from the town of Sumter, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia. The football team had several nicknames in its early years, including the less-inspired “College Boys,” before the town newspaper dubbed the players the Gamecocks in 1903. As is often the case with animal-nicknamed teams, South Carolina games feature a live bird named "Big Spur".