COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina has honored the state’s first African American game warden by naming a stretch of highway in his honor.
U.S. Highway 378 from U.S. 601 to the Wateree River is now known as the “Lieutenant Ulysses Flemming Memorial Highway,” the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said.
Flemming joined the wildlife agency in 1970 as its first Black game warden. He primarily worked in Richland County, enforcing boating, fish and game laws on the Congaree and Wateree rivers, the agency said in a news release.
Flemming rose to the rank of lieutenant and was in charge of five Midlands counties when he retired in 2009. He died five years later and was inducted into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame.
The signs were posted on the highway earlier this month and duplicates were given to Flemming’s family, the department said.
“Ulysses was one of the greatest people you could ever meet. He endured a lot, but he survived and flourished and worked his way up. He knew what was right, and he created a path for others to follow,” said retired Lt. Chip Sharpe, who worked with Flemming before retiring himself in 1999.
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