FOOTBALL

If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column

A high school coach was amused by USC coach Eric Musselman’s comment Thursday that “at USC there’s an academic piece as well. Our pool of recruits is different than maybe other places I’ve been.”

I’ll cut Musselman some slack because he was at Arkansas.

  • Bronny James worked out for the Lakers this week. I’m sure it went spectacularly.
  • USC women’s soccer will play its home games at Dignity Health Sports Park (home of the L.A. Galaxy) in Carson this season while its new soccer stadium is being built.

Call me crazy but wouldn’t it make more sense to play at BMO Stadium in Exposition Park? It’s close to campus and USC actually allowed LAFC to build the stadium on the land. I also thought USC was supposed to be allowed a certain of dates to use the stadium. Oh well.

  • And now for some history:

BRUTAL RIVALS

  • When USC went to play Cal in Berkeley in 1953, it was one of the worst atmospheres in maybe the ugliest decade for the rivalry. Or maybe any USC rivalry. The games often got ugly in Berkeley and this might have been the worst.
  • The game drew 78,000 fans and Cal featured an all-male cheering section. During halftime, those students pelted the USC band with bottles, oranges and other debris.
Des Koch runs for yardage vs. Cal in 1953
  • It was so bad that Cal formally sent a letter to the USC band apologizing for the behavior of the students.

Cal’s student newspaper advocated banning all-male sections in the stadium and said the presence of female students would “remove some of the manifestations of unsavory conduct.”

The Associated Students for the University of California received a bill for $45 for a pair of glasses that were broken by a sailing stunt card. One female student received a cut above her eye after being hit by a stunt card.

  • Two years earlier, USC linebacker/All-American Pat Cannamela knocked Cal star tailback Johnny Olszewski out of the game with a twisted knee. His USC teammates congratulated Cannamela after Olszewski left the game and Olszewski hinted he was hurt on purpose. Cannamela also had three “roughness penalties” in the game according to Life magazine.
  • When running back Addison Hawthorne arrived at USC from Pasadena City College in 1952, he became the first African-American football player for the Trojans since All-American Brice Taylor in 1926.
Addison Hawthorne was a co-starter at running back for USC with Harold Han in 1953.

LOST TRADITIONS

The cardinal and gold Victory Flag used to wave from atop the tower of the Bovard Administration building for a week following a USC victory.

The Trojan Sword used to be placed on the sideline at the Coliseum in front of the student section and would point in the direction the Trojans were going on the field.

  • This is what a dual track meet looked like on campus in 1958 as USC hosted Stanford. Rink Babka is throwing the discus. He won the silver medal at the 1960 Olympics. He initially also played football and basketball before knee injuries forced him to focus on track.
  • In 1984, the Helenes brought USC basketball coach Stan Morrison a cake on his birthday at practice in the North Gym. I wonder the last time the Helenes brought a coach a cake?
  • The 1953 USC Homecoming parade, which was on the Miracle Mile portion of Wilshire Blvd., was so big that KTTV (Channel 11) televised the first half hour. Five Los Angeles City Council members attended the parade. There were 30 floats, 35 non-floats and 10 bands in the parade.

Of course, now I have an excuse to mention the 1956 parade, which featured Jayne Mansfield, who posed for pictures and signed autographs before an estimated crowd of 100,000. Danny Thomas as grand marshal.

A year before appearing at the USC Homecoming parade, Jayne Masfield, who just signed with Warner Bros., celebrated her 22nd birthday on April 19, 1955 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where she placed her hands in the prints of Marilyn Monroe. In the background is actor Lance Fuller.
  • The rally the day before the 1953 Homecoming game was held at Bovard Auditorium, emceed by disc jockey Johnny Grant and featured singer-actress Barbara Ruick, who you might remember from the musical Carousel. Three years later, she married famed composer John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars).
Barbara Ruick
  • Last week I wrote about famed USC band director Tommy Walker. Here’s another example of his impact: In 1954, Walker started playing the famous Dragnet TV show theme when USC committed a penalty.

Dragnet star/creator Jack Webb then wrote a letter to Walker, saying “you don’t have to be a detective to learn why Tommy Walker is the top inter-collegiate showman.

“An example of your resourcefulness was your electrifying treatment of the Dragnet theme at SC football games. This was a great treat (to me) and all of us here at Dragnet.”

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

  • Let’s appreciate USC great Gus Williams stealing the ball from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and then making a pretty behind-the-back pass for a layup. Williams suffered a stroke in 2020 and some of his friends tell me that he recently opened his eyes for the first time.
  • Since the USC band said Tusk was the “fourth fight song,” let’s look at the original version of Conquest, which was composed by Alfred Newman for the 1947 film, Captain from Castile.

Newman, who won nine Academy Awards, famously bestowed the rights to the song to USC. Thankfully, USC hasn’t mismanaged that, like it did the Mudd Estate, which was similarly bestowed to the university and then unceremoniously sold.

Or when actress Victoria Horne bequeathed the ranch, Oakridge, owned by her and husband Jack Oakie to USC. It was previously owned by actress Barbara Stanwyck.

Naturally in 2007, USC sold the ranch to a developer. But in 1990, Horne had the house designated a historic-cultural monument so USC gave it to the City of Los Angeles, which has preserved it.

90 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

  1. “At USC there’s an academic piece as well,” says Muzzleman, who might have added “Except for the One-and-Dones”

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      1. Swift’s endorsement! That’s BIG. It changes everything. [Is Ed getting a little dumber each day]?

        #YourBiden/HarrisTicketIsStillABigJoke,Ed

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    1. Hi Mr Gabby

      The nut jobs can’t stand it now that you have a lot of support on the blog They even think I am you. It’s driving them crazy. Especially GUARINO and slo cal

      LMFAO !!!!!!

      CROTCH KICK !!!

      HAHAHA HAHA

      IF THEY ONLY KNEW !!!!

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      3. ED……keep up the great work…..you are a fine patriot of this country….death to the MAGAts

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      4. Yes…. that’s right, Ed…. ex prez Obama follows all your posts VERY closely….

        #SO SAD

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      6. YOU SENILE SACK OF FECES……Ed and Gabby are two different people, you’re too senile to realize it…….must suck to be a holy-roller with dementia

        ….and wipe the chin, looks like trump pulled out too quick

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      1. less posting and more studying…….you need to work on your modern football IQ……the 1960s crap is hilarious

        …….and empty the drool bucket…..gross!

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  3. Cal’s all-male cheering section throws bottles at SC’s band and Cal said the presence of females would have curtailed the misbehavior. Amazing the quieting effect woman has over man

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    1. “Amazing the quieting effect woman has over man.”

      I wonder what today’s feminists would think of the above statement. It is truthful and intended to be complimentary but that seldom matters.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. 100%, Plow!

        btw, how is it ALL of the roughly 48 million photos of Jayne Mansfield show her in the exact same pose?

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Mortimer: The republicans will accept each voter. Even someone who is a bit slow. Just like the democrats will accept Joe Biden, Maxine Waters, John Fetterman, AOC and Gabby.

        Liked by 2 people

    1. Yep. Thank you very much, Scott! I guess we rabid Trojan fans could do without the “love theme” inserted into the middle of the march, though … btw, Carol Folt would be SO unhappy with Cesar Romero blowing up the pyramids with his canons before the troops moved in [we should consider something along those lines when we play Michigan —what comes closest to being a pyramid in Ann Arbor]?

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      3. speaking of “crap”……….. dropping a duce in your diaper and then marinating in it all day is disgusting and unsanitary……..just saying!

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  8. Speaking of politics Bitin is in town at a Hollywood dinner party and the best seats are going for $500,000 but liquor is extra

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    1. A recent Biden T.V ad says “every donation is notice.” It then goes on to ask for $5. C’mon, the guys paying $500,000 per plate are the ones who get noticed. How can these type of people possibly relate to someone concerned about the cost of education, affordable housing, gas, car insurance, groceries, and other issues afflicting the middle class.

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      1. I’m surprised [well, maybe not] that the repub house hasn’t used Biden’s many public statements about plans to “keep Trump off the ballot” to show the ongoing criminal conspiracy between DOJ and Bragg’s office in their current hearings.

        #It’sSoObviousWhat’sGoingOn

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  9. Stirring song ‘Conquest’ is that raises the spirit inside you. And what would say religions be without music, for example ‘play-back in your head’ one of your alltimers and see if that doesn’t improve your mood a bit

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    1. Speaking of religion & music…happened upon a great, little movie last night, “The Band’s Visit”. Very funny and quite touching!

      Also reminded me of how spoiled most of us are in the U.S. Took me back to my days at USC and a very nice young lady from Hungary who was a vocal performance major. We were going to a party at a friend of her’s house and stopped to get a bottle of wine. As she glanced around at a very small mom & pop market, she remarked about how spoiled we were, having so many products & flavors at our disposal. Could only imagine the local store to which she was accustomed, that carried only a few dozen of the most basic staples.

      We are blessed to live in such a great country!

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      4. As Plow Horse & I have stated, she’s actually the one who isn’t called out the way she should be by Michael. But he & I don’t call Michael an “f-ing idiot”. We merely say he is far too kind to her.

        We’re not the vile disgusting pieces of garbage that she is. That’s why she’s earned so many charming names from a dozen different blog posters. But she lies to herself about this. It’s so sad.

        Liked by 3 people

      5. Nothing we can do or say can discourage Gabby. It’s like Bill Murray said in Groundhog Day: “It won’t stop. It’ll never stop.”

        #NotAsLongAsSorosIsPayingAQuarterPerLooneyLeftReply

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  10. Btw. “This is what a meet at dual meet looks like on campus” is kinda funny. Rink was throwing aginst Oxy at Oxy in that photo. The place still looks exactally the same unlike most campuses today.

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    1.  Rink Babka is the perfect name for a discus thrower. Or maybe a WWE wrestler or a prison guard. You don’t want to mess with anyone named Rink Babka.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Plow horse is the perfect name for a MAGAt at a manure plant. Or maybe a washed up lawyer or habitual liar. You don’t want to mess with someone who deals with dung

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      1. Have you noticed no one here demands Biden be electrocuted?

        #WeJustWantHimVotedOut….

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      3. Neither has Trump….

        #It’sOnAppeal…

        #[BesidesElectrocutionIsn’tWithinTheSentencingGuidelines]

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      4. hey dumbass, you file an appeal after the conviction. According to you he wasnt convicted but is filing an appeal. So what is he appealing

        the real lawyers are laughing their ass off

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      6. The conviction isn’t final until the last appeal is lost. Things happen in gradations. It gets complicated. Poor Gabby mustn’t have been too great at calculus.

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  13. A different world back then. Instead of a congratulatory letter from Jack Webb, if the band “borrowed” a piece of music today from just about anyone today the only letter they’d get is a cease-and-desist or a demand for royalties owed.

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  14. SC thought they were getting a finished product in ‘Wiley’ but turns out the guy is still learning on the job (at great expense!) and with his stubborness of “Don’t you tell me what to do” constantly prevalent the “jury is out” on ‘Wiles’

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  15. Looking back on the affordable 1950s when “a hand shake will due” and compare it to today’s runaway sense of ‘just doing the right thing’ But you play the ‘hand you’re dealt’ as people can still be a kick

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  17. Teasing Scott is easy (he doesn’t talk back notwithstanding alleged puppets) but as the cliche goes “Wolf has forgotten more about SC matters than I remember”

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    1. dabby said i have a nice rack…..and i said he was hung like a pimple. I used to laugh at it when he forced me to shower with him

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  19. The morally impoverished Boston Celtics will be passing the Lakers 18-17 Championships and do this during ‘Jerry West week’, the Celts were always rubbing Jerry’s face in it even after death

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  20. That old picture of a half-century ago SC-Cal game shows nothing but slender footballers, regular sized college students who most probably couldn’t make a modern SC team

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  22. Pro-itizing probably isn’t a real word but it seems to be what happened to college sports resulting in less spirited ‘Rah Rah for ‘ol Alma Mater’

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  23. EVERYBODY: WE’RE INCHING UP ON GEORGE TIREBITER’S BIRTHDAY!! LET’S NOT FORGET TO CELEBRATE ON JUNE 19TH!!!

    HAPPY [ALMOST] BIRTHDAY, GEORGE!!!

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  24. So ‘Muzzleman’ walks into an SC basketball nest that is so empty that early Muzzle recruits turned down SC “because they didn’t know who they’d be playing with,” although this firey personality and his staff holed up for 30-days in what was like a ‘bunker’ convincing pretty good stock to become Trojans

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  25. We haven’t heard from George in quite some time which is always worrisome at Age-95 pushing 96, kind of like what’s his moniker ‘ol’ Cal75′ disappearing perhaps dead

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  26. To the guy who wrote that George Tirebiter died and is being trolled here, I say the troller makes a marvelous Tirebiter with his SC history and old jokes, just like the real one

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  28. Mike Downey, one-time LA Times sports columnist has died- he started out in Detroit where his rendition of the Tigers’ 1984 World Series victory still hangs on urinal walls all over town, whereas most of our stuff would end up in the urinal

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    1. Time for the Mike Downey bus story: Since Mike needed to get off the bus immediately & didn’t want to ride to the next scheduled stop, he walked up to the bus driver one block from the stop he wanted and asked “what happens if I light up a cigarette?” Driver sez, “I throw you off the bus.”

      Mike lights up. Voila.

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  29. Talk about hurting footballers to take them out of the game, I recall this Oregon St Beaver kamikazing down the field on an attempted punt return by a Trojan and hitting him with such force that after being congratulated by teammates he later matter-of-factly exclaimed, “I hit him so hard the snot came out of him”

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  30. Bitin: Hey Stump, I’m raking in $500,000 per tonight in Hollywood

    Stump: That’s chump change where I come from, pal

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  31. Bitin: I got the Swifties on my side now

    Stump: You think that’s a lifeboat, more like an anchor, and even if you got 50,000 extra votes from those Swift knuckleheads you’re still a Titanic in waiting

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