Hillcrest grew out of the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre. S.C. State president M. Maceo Nance leased the school's 150-acre dairy farm to the city for $1 a year to build a public recreation complex open to Black and white residents alike. Russell Breeden's course opened in 1973, with Gov. John West hitting the first shot. It is S.C. State's home course.