Lawmaker’s surprise proposal goes viral
By Jane Robelot
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GREENVILLE, South Carolina (WYFF) — This is a big year for freshman S.C. Rep. Adam Duncan.
In November 2024, he was elected to represent District 2 in the state legislature, serving his native Oconee County, and Tuesday, Jan. 13, was the first day of the 2026 legislative session.
On Wednesday, the Westminster native stood on the mat to receive his high school alma mater’s highest athletic award.
The 1996 West Oak High School Varsity football quarterback, basketball player and wrestling legend was inducted into the school’s Warriors Athletic Hall of Fame.
With his cherished award in hand, he then made the move of a lifetime, dropping to one knee and asking his girlfriend, Rachel Kean, if she would be his wife. The gymnasium erupted in cheers, and Rachel said, “Yes!”
“Her son wrestled for our cross-town rival Walhalla, so we had made jokes about me proposing at the West Oak-Walhalla match, but I couldn’t wait. So, I figured it would just be a perfect storm, and hopefully she was surprised, I think she was,” Duncan told News 4.
West Oak High School posted the proposal on its Facebook page, and the cheers heard ’round the county exploded on social media.
“I’m lucky to be from Oconee County, South Carolina, and I thank God every day that I am. I thank God every day that he put her in my life. I thank God that I got to go to West Oak and compete in the greatest sport there is, wrestling! So it’s been a pretty good week for Representative Duncan.”
Congratulations, Rachel and Adam!
The following is West Oak High School Award Recognition for Adam Duncan:
“A Westminster native, Duncan is a 1996 graduate of West-Oak High School. While a Warrior student athlete, he served as the varsity football quarterback, earning all region honors twice for that sport, and while he would play some Westminster Recreation Basketball come winter time- it was the wrestling mat where Adam Duncan became a West-Oak Warrior legend.
During his West-Oak High School Wrestling career Adam was the 160lb SC State Wrestling Champion in 1994, 1995, and 1996- he was also the 1996 South Carolina High School Wrestler of the Year, and Tour de Monde USA All Star Team.
Adam went on to attend and wrestle at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he was the 2000 Southern Conference Champion at 174lbs, and went on to qualify for the NCAA National Wrestling Tournament. In 2001, he moved up to the 184 lb weight class and STILL was the Southern Conference Champion, qualified for the NCAA National Wrestling Tournament, and finished 24th in the United States. This earned him UTC’s 2001 Most Valuable Wrestler Award.”
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