South Carolina Hall of Fame announce inductees for 2012

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The official South Carolina Hall of Fame board of trustees have announced the 2012 inductees, one contemporary and one deceased.

Thomas Lynch, Sr., a South Carolina planter and statesman delegated to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765 as well as the Continental Congress, was selected by the board of trustees while Judge Ernest Finney, Jr., the first African American Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court since Reconstruction, will be presented as the as the contemporary inductee. 

“I am extremely privileged to be able to honor both of these remarkable contributors to the state of South Carolina by inducting them into the official South Carolina Hall of Fame. It’s an exciting day for them and their families, and an exciting day for South Carolina,” said Leo Twiggs, chairman, board of trustees. 

Both inductees will be honored at a formal ceremony on Monday, Feb. 13 at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel at 10:30 a.m.

The event is free and open to the public. Speakers will include Brad Dean, President of the S.C. Hall of Fame, Dr. Leo Twiggs, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the S.C. Hall of Fame and John Rhodes, Myrtle Beach Mayor. Musical tributes to the inductees will also be made.

The Official S.C. Hall of Fame is located in the Myrtle Beach Convention Center where attendees to the induction ceremony will be able to learn more about all past inductees.               

Thomas Lynch, Sr., (1727-1776) was born in St. James Parish, Berkeley County, S.C. in 1727. He rose to early success as one of the most successful indigo and rice planters in the colony of South Carolina, securing his placement as the colony’s second-wealthiest citizen.

Lynch was also the leading statesman in the colony from 1751 until his death in 1776, serving in the Colonial Legislature of South Carolina, representing the colony of South Carolina in the Stamp Act Congress of 1765 including heading the committee that drafted the petition to the House of Commons, and serving as a representative to the both the first and second Continental Congresses under George Washington. 

Lynch was held in extremely high regard among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, but at the time of signing he was suffering from an illness. To signify their high regard for him, they left a blank place created solely for his signature, and elected his son, Thomas Lynch, Jr., to the Continental Congress to sign in his father’s absence.

Thomas Lynch Sr. was the only founding fathers to have his son replace him as a representative. Lynch was considered invaluable to the Independence of America, and spearheaded the idea that the Legislative Branch of Congress should consist of two houses, one to represent the area and one to represent population. 

Ernest A. Finney, Jr., was born in 1931 in Smithfield, V.A. and was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice appointed to the South Carolina Supreme Court since the Reconstruction era.

Finney’s mother passed away when he was a young boy and he was raised by his father, Dr. Ernest A. Finney, Sr.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Claflin College in 1952 and graduated from South Carolina State College’s School of Law in 1954, before beginning work as a teacher. In 1960, he moved to Sumter, S.C. and began a full-time law practice. 

Finney served as chairman of the South Carolina Commission on Civil Rights in 1963 and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1972.

He was appointed to the House Judiciary Committee, making him the first African-American to serve on that key committee in modern times. Finney was also one of the founders of the Legislative Black Caucus and served as charter chairperson. 

In May 1994, the state's general assembly elected Ernest Finney to the position of Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court of South Carolina. He had been on the state Supreme Court since 1985. Finney retired in 2000 and in 2002 was named interim president of South Carolina State University. 

Persons eligible for induction into the S.C. Hall of Fame include those born in South Carolina who obtained recognition elsewhere and those born elsewhere but who lived and obtained recognition in the state.

One contemporary citizen and one deceased citizen may be inducted annually. Past inductees include author Pat Conroy, President Andrew Jackson, jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, Sen. J. Strom Thurmond, astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr. and more than 70 others.