FOOTBALL

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

It’s obviously important who USC hires as baseball coach. But if you look at the Texas schools, they have bigger coaching staffs and more resources than USC.

That will have to change if USC wants to become nationally prominent again no matter who gets hired.

Maybe USC can use some of that money it offered Brandon Sosna, who turned down a raise to go to the Detroit Lions, for the baseball program.

  • USC forward Boubacar Coulibaly has transferred to Pepperdine.
  • Did you know Johnny Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, graduated from USC in 2006?
  • Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas won the NCAA men’s decathalon title Thursday. He was a member of the USC track team in 2019 before he transferred because of coaching staff turnover and lack of training partners for the decathalon.
  • Here is my favorite Brandon Sosna–Mike Bohn photo because it reminded me of this scene from Caddyshack.

Spalding Smails:
I want a hamburger… no, a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake…

Judge Smails:
You’ll get nothing, and like it!

  • And now for some history:

Leo McCarey is a graduate of the USC Law School. That makes him a Trojan.

Who is he?

McCarey was responsible for the teaming of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and guided the development of their characters.

But that barely scratches the surface of McCarey’s career: He directed “The Awful Truth,” (1937) considered by some to be the greatest screwball comedy ever made (McCarey won the first of his three Oscars with this film).

He also directed “Duck Soup,” (1933) considered the Marx Bros. best film.

If that doesn’t ring a bell, maybe you remember “Going My Way” (1944) or “The Bells of St. Mary’s” (1945) or “Love Affair” (1939) or “An Affair to Remember.” (1957).

He is one of only of eight directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Orig/Adapted) Oscars.

French director Jean Renoir said “Leo McCarey understood people better than any other Hollywood director.”

And you can add him to the list I compiled recently of USC Trojans with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Actor Cary Grant (left) and director Leo McCarey. The duo made four films together.
  • You want to know a big difference between USC today and the past? In the old days, you could meet anyone and everyone knew each other.

In 1978, USC held a Walk-Jog-A-Thon to raise funds for a proposed stadium at Cromwell Field.

Baseball coach Rod Dedeaux participated as did Traveler.

What are the chances a typical USC student today ever met the baseball coach or Traveler?

  • Although the Walk-A-Jog-A-Thon raised $250,000, USC never came up with the $2.5 million for a track stadium. That didn’t happen until 2001 following a $3.4 million donation from Katherine Loker, an heir to the Star Kist tuna fortune. She and her husband donated more than $30 million to USC.
  • Who says it never rains in Southern California? Look at the conditions for the 1978 USC-Washington game. Those conditions favored the 19th-ranked Huskies but No. 5-ranked USC won, 28-10.
  • Nothing to see here, just USC president John Hubbard on the sideline consoling injured center Brad Green during the 1978 USC-Arizona State game. This was the famous 20-7 loss where USC lost its top four centers and had six snaps fumbled.
  • Hubbard once got a penalty at a USC-Hawaii game in 1979 for arguing with the refs on the sideline.

My favorite Hubbard story: A former USC athletic dept. official told me that after USC played Notre Dame in the early 1970’s, Hubbard flew back to Los Angeles on the team plane.

But then he disappeared for two weeks.

“They couldn’t find him,” the official said. “They eventually found him in Germany on a bender.”

A member of the Board of Trustees at the time told the USC official that Hubbard was warned to change his behavior after the incident or risk losing his job.

Cllff Robinson shoots a free throw vs. Utah on Dec. 2, 1978. USC won, 70-56.

One of my favorite USC basketball teams was the 1978-79 Trojans, who won 20 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. They upset No. 7-ranked Kansas and played Houston, Utah, Duke, Xavier, Maryland and Texas in non-conference games.

The Trojans played No. 2-seed DePaul in the NCAA Tournament, which featured Mark Aguirre, Curtis Watkins, Gary Garland and went to the Final Four.

Andy Enfield would be flat on his back passed out if he had to play those teams.

  • The Trojans were led by Cliff Robinson, who averaged 18.8 points and 11.6 rebounds; Purvis Miller averaged 12.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg; Steve Smith 10.7 points and Don Carfino 10.6.

USC won its final seven regular-season games without the injured Robinson. He also missed the NCAA Tournament, which proved the difference after USC defeated Utah State, 86-67, in its first-round game at Pauley Pavilion.

Miller made 10 of 13 shots vs. DePaul and finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Carfino scored 20, but Watkins led DePaul with 27 points while Aguirre had 25. DePaul won, 89-78.

  • The 1978 USC team was so good it’s easy to remember only that. But the USC-UCLA game matched the then-No. 5 Trojans vs. the No. 14 Bruins. USC won, 17-10.
  • USC defensive lineman Ty Sperling was named Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Game after sacking Bruins quarterback Rick Bashore three times. USC threw only 10 passes and tailback Charles White became the leading rusher in Pac-10 history after he gained 145 yards in 33 carries.
  • There are many great stories from the past and USC usually neglects to tell most of them.

Jack Hupp was the MVP and captain of the 1936 USC basketball team. He was a two-time (1935-36) All-Pacific Coast Conference Southern Division first team forward. He is also in the USC Hall of Fame.

You can see the USC basketball player on Hupp’s headstone in Marysvale, Utah. His wife, Emily Marie Bertelsen, is far better known as the actress Marie Windsor, whose best movies were probably “The Narrow Margin” (1952) and “The Killing.” (1956).

Jack Hupp and Marie Windsor were married for 46 years.

Vincent Price portrayed Oscar Wilde at USC in 1978 in the play “Diversions and Delights.”

Look at how pleasant Figueroa Blvd. looked in 1927 with the Automobile Club building and St. Vincent church. Both buildings are still there.

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

    1. Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, written by Harold Ramis. And a caddy named “Danny.” Time worth spending on this one.

      Liked by 4 people

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    2. I’m sure the satire in Caddyshack is above your mentality.

      WOW!!!!!! The 6th hearing was extremely compelling. The orange cheeto is FUCKED.
      You repukes might want to start looking at your next worst option, DeSantis(another racist, homophobic, bigot). laughing my ass off

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      1. The worst option is more democrat policies. Just take a look around. Almost every major city is the US is run by democrats and has been for decades. They are all dirty, dangerous, and sad. Liberal policies done in the name of “compassion” are neither compassionate nor effective. I’m not a trump fan, I hope he just goes away, but I do understand that conservative values are significantly better for our country than what we see from the left. You can get excited about the hyperbole coming out of the Jan 6th Comittee, but we all know it’s just huge political theatre. It was an unfortunate day for certain, and the knuckleheads who went in to the building, who shoved and caught the police should all be charged. But it was most definitely not what that comittee hopes to spin it to be. Coups aren’t attempted by unarmed dudes in Buffalo costumes.
        The democrats are playing the fiddle while watching Rome burn. Always looking for the next victim to exploit for political power while their policies hurt American families. If you can’t see this then you are part of the problem. Come November you will be dumbfounded by the amount of seats that Republicans gain.

        Or, maybe I’m wrong and Americans love record inflation, low GDP, opioid surges spurred by weak borders, formula shortages, insane energy policies that will kill the economy, stagflation, infanticide, no processing of criminals producing record crime surge, etc.

        Nope, they will forget all of that because some idiot stole a podium out of the Capital building.

        Liked by 4 people

      2. You need to forward this reply/comment to the GOP obstructionist in the senate.

        seditious conspiracy is a serious crime and no one is above the law. If you do the crime, you will do the time. One “oath keeper” has already pled guilty to seditious conspiracy. The dominos will fall.

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      4. I support honest and ethical people, not the people who continue to be a mouthpiece for trump’s lies. (enough said)

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      5. Trust me! Dumbass can’t see it.

        In fact, he can’t even read or else he’d know most of us on this blog don’t want Trump in 2024. Though we’d support him if he were the nominee.

        We merely know he would have been better than the dumpster fire going on now. But he’s in denial about that simple FACT.

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      6. Hey so cal, glad you let me know your brain is still functioning (barely)

        The orang cheeto repeatedly bragged about having the biggest, bestest(trump’s word) economy ever, ever, ever(major lie). With that said, why did he continually pressure the Feds to lower interest rates? Anyone with at least half a brain knows cheap money will eventually spike inflation. ..get educated, I can’t do it for you.

        (don’t even get me started on the stock buybacks)

        Wipe the drool!

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      7. Gabby,

        So you support ethical and honest people. Does that you support Pelosi and Biden? Tump asked Pelosi and the mayor of DC to disperse 20,000 National Guard on Jan 4th to protect DC. They did not, they wanted the distruction and mayhem so that they could have a field day on Trump. They did not protect the US or the Constituion of the US. Pelosi is a f##king drunken traitor who should be brought up on charges for lying and obstruction of protecting the US. The mayor as well as well as “Rat Fink” Schiff and Shumer for enticing riots in front a US Supreme Court Justice.

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      8. Let’s not overlook the fact it’s been more than 48 hours since an armed gunman, with intentions to assassinate Kavanaugh was caught near his home and Biden has yet to call them out for their intimidation!

        Going around calling their group “Ruth Sent Us’, when anyone with a brain knows damn well RBG would never support their actions. Has Dementia Joe even called THAT out yet? No!

        This is a lying sack of @#$! who said he was going to be a President for ALL, Democrats and Republicans.

        Liked by 1 person

      9. Spoken like a true democrat. No rational arguments just name calling…..”racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, islamaphobe…….” Before you start talking about someone else’s IQ, you better check your own…..especially when it is par with a cucumber.

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      10. Hey parcelman, no disrespect, but this is between so cal and me. Please, go voice your grievances on idealogy somewhere else, thanks

        Better yet, try picking candidates who have a legitimate platform and the majority of voters can get behind and vote for.

        In April 2020, Dr. Oz appeared on Fox News with Sean Hannity and stated that reopening schools in the United States might be worth the increased number of deaths it would cause.
        (Does the guy even legally even live in Pa.?)

        Is this the crazy who going to help you win back the senate?….laughing my ass off

        (don’t even get me started on Herschel Walker)

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      11. PS….. speaking of a “cucumber”, trump is marketing a new KY jelly called “scent of salmon”…..FYI

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      12. LMAO! Three other people called out his bs, but he focuses on Parcel.

        Too dumb to see that few people who work (or worked) for a living are going to be OK with a government that wants us all to be dependent on them!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. St. Vincent de Paul Church was built in the 1920s. Paid for by local oilman Edward L. Doheny and thus is known colloquially as “the Church of Holy Oils.”

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    2. I was a regular attender of St. Vincent’s back in those days.
      On a hot LA Saturday or Sunday, the massive stone church was always nice and cool.

      I recall the poor priest once asking the few USC students in attendance to “save a little beer money each week” and toss it in the collection basket. He “got us” (understood us). We complied. I suspect the weekly collection doubled.

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  4. Scott,
    I will continue to give you a hard time in return for all of your bashing of my beloved Trojans, but I will also say well done when deserved. Once again, well done with this history. It’s always a fun read.

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. Yep. Scott jogs failing memories —such as me & the little woman, without umbrellas and parked 2 miles from the coliseum, watching USC defeat Washington in the pouring rain [and freezing cold].
      Scott did, however, fail to note the superiority of the Warren Beatty re-make of an Affair to Remember —so classic that it’s never been shown again after it’s initial 2 week run in theaters.
      [Gabby —I don’t care how much your local marxist club is paying you —time to give it a rest. I respect your intelligence too much to see you run interference for The Big Joke]….
      #Scott:NoMoreReferencesToImaginingEnfield”FlatOnHisBack”
      #[LeaveThatToTebow]

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Once again…far too much credit.

        Intelligence?! Please. As Cal said, his parents should sue USC for their money back. (That is, IF he actually graduated from ‘SC. I actually doubt that very much.)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. He writes well –so he’s just gotta be above believing the crap he writes. The stock market is crashing (check it today), some police departments are announcing they can’t respond to 911 calls because they’re broke and can’t afford the gas, the southern border is a designed crisis ….and German, French, English, Saudi, Japanese and Australian news programs now have regular comedy segments devoted to harpooning Biden….
        #BottomLine:It’sNotSmartToRunCoverForTheBigJoke

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Speaking of “The Big Joke”, Alec Baldwin should have won a gold statue for his critically acclaimed acting performances of Donald Trump. My vote is in!

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      4. SkyNews in Australia has been doing it since he took office. They were smart enough to know the train wreck would soon follow.

        They are not only hilarious, but far more brutal (but truthful) on Dementia Joe than Fox is! LOL

        Liked by 2 people

      5. Sky News is owned by the Sky Group, a division of Comcast. It was founded by Rupert Murdoch, who has interests in many other media outlets such as Fox News. Given Rupert Murdoch is openly on the right, and many of his media companies have been and are also on the right, it has long been assumed that Sky News is right-leaning.

        So why would this surprise anyone?…. Dude, get a new playbook.

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  5. Scooter,

    The movies that you mentioned like Duck Soup, Going my Way, and Bells of St. Mary are just incredible great movies. What a great director.
    I wonder if he had a Catholic background due to two of them dealing with the Catholic culture.

    Even more bit of trivia and history. In Bells of St. Mary, Natalie Wood was the daughter to John Wayne, who was the head coach at a college. So the director hired another Trojan to make a great movie. Better yet, in the movie, the field that they used for the football practices was Loyola High’s practice field.

    I know for a fact that Loyola has been used for at least three films and one commercial. The films are, Bells’ of St. Mary, a Steven Segal movie, and the basketball movie with Samuel Jackson.

    Now back to St. Mary’s, history repeats itself. John Wayne has to build a football team and the school has no history or background in football. Wayne has to win right away, so he schedules, all the tough teams at that time, Santa Clara, ND, and others. Now here comes the tricky part, Wayne pays the players through ticket receipts, concessions, and parking. he did this so that he could win right away. That sounds like the NIL. But after awhile, the president priest calls in Wayne and lets him know that it was going against what he wanted, a pure innocent way of winning and he put too much pressure on Wayne to win. Great movie. I want to see that again.

    Liked by 3 people

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      1. “Mister Wolf —could you make out that inscription to “Secret Trojan Fan”….?”
        #”It’sForAFriend –NotForMe”

        Liked by 2 people

  9. Who, what, where, when? Today’s post is a regular four word blast. Excuse me if I didn’t recognize any of it.

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  10. Ivanka: I believe Bill Barr

    Trump: Ivanka was checked out

    what he really wanted to say: That stupid bitch has no fucking idea what she’s talking about. (narcissism)

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  11. Thanks Scott as some of the above comments, I would agree your history segments are outstanding. Also I would point out most of Scott’s criticism of the University are dead on

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Yep. If you’ll notice Scott loves USC tradition…. what he doesn’t love is the string of incompetents and/or ethically compromised folks who’ve damaged that tradition — Nikias, Haden (no, actually he doesn’t belong on this list—he’s better than the rest), Sark, Swann, Helton, Folt, etc….

      Liked by 2 people

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      3. Agreed. Let’s start with the football program and work down to the admissions office…..
        #HopeYou’reFeelingBetterByTheDay

        Liked by 1 person

  12. I hate politics especially on a sports forum. So why are the Democrats popping of here? It’s an interesting fact that the Democrat party, is neither democratic not a party. Their goal is one party rule. Their tactics are often buying favor from one group by taxing another. They often attack the opposition for doing the same things they have done. They coerce testimonies to fit their narrative and are experts at sound bite manipulation.
    Republicans are closer to their definition, usually embracing smaller government and less taxation. While not perfect in any sense, are usually closer to common law practices and for the people.
    Neither party plays football, baseball or basketball (kinda like those commies at Ucla)

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Answer to Ghost’s question: It’s an “all hands on deck!” moment for the dem party —every site in the world (art, politics, sports, cinema) now has at least one person running interference for Biden. It’s poignant.
      #WhereIsLawyerJohn?

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      1. In the words of the twice impeached con man, and to this day, still claims it was a perfect phone call(which one, Georgia or Ukraine?): Lawyer John was checked out.

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    2. “I hate politics especially on a sports forum. So why are the Democrats popping of here?” Because there’s a lot of Republican, right wing, conservative slant from the commenters on this blog and sometimes people want to defend their points of view. TBH, I mostly ignore it because it’s not the right forum for it and I’d like to maintain camaraderie with my fellow Trojans. I also take it with a grain of salt given USC’s history of conservatism–at least when I was a student. Even though I’m a Democrat and don’t agree with all of the blanket generalizations and demeaning of Democrats (can you please retire the term “libtard?”), I still enjoy this blog–and many of the commenters–immensely. Though I will say that over the almost 20 years I’ve been reading it, the last six or seven have been challenging given the political vitriol. Let’s try to stay focused on what matters most: getting back to the top of the heap–and our wonderful love/hate relationship with the Wolfman.

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      1. If there weren’t a fool actually trying to claim it’s not a dumpster fire, it would be easier.

        The paper towel thing in Puerto Rico?! So stupid of Trump! Also, holding the bible up for a photo? I was just shaking my head.

        That’s the difference. I can call out the stupid things he did and admit it!

        But as much of a jerk as he is, we’d all be MUCH better off right now if he were in office. Biden was not even close to being fit for office and it’s showing not only here, but abroad. For someone to deny the death & suffering that has resulted from him being installed as President? That’s just asking for it.

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      2. Nicely said, Oaktown.
        The scroll button is quite effective, I find.
        The info in this Friday’s post is worthy of a hundred pops (w/o the politics, of course).

        Nevertheless, many of us do recall that not too many years ago, Inside USC SW “shut the doors and turned out the lights forever.”* It was shocking!

        As it was an election year, The demo and repub commentators on this site took the opportunity to voice their political opinions in what can only be called the greatest blog thread in modern history–thousands upon thousands of posts going on for weeks on end. It was almost like a filibuster. GT22, ’67, Cal, Just Owns, Tebow/Obama kept the string going, and Guarino might have even dropped a few posts onto the interminable thread (2,000+ maybe).

        Eventually, Wolf and WordPress had to resuscitate Inside USC/Scott Wolf, and the rest–as they say–is history!

        *Many of us suspect that it was when Mr. Wolf was dealing with a major medical problem. We kept the clicks going….

        Liked by 2 people

    1. When our center went down in the Arizona State game we were fucked. It was gonna be a rough game under any circumstances….but that injury sunk us.

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      1. Arizona State was sky high for that game — and it seems like the stars lined up for them (weird calls, USC injuries to key guys —it was one of those nights)…..

        Liked by 1 person

      2. That was a one-off team, with Charles White AND Marcus Allen running behind that line. And McDonald had a really good year statistically for that era. I hate to say it, but I don’t know if J Rob got the most he could have gotten out of that team. I thought there were some games that were much closer than they should have been. That could have been a candidate for best team of all time, with the usual caveats and provisos in mind. Incredible level of talent.

        Liked by 2 people

    3. I went home at halftime of the 79 Stanford game to study for a Chemistry exam. Didn’t know we had tied until the LA Times came the next morning.

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  14. “You’ll get nothing, and like it!” That sounds like the World Economic Forums “great Reset” commercial where they said “you’ll own nothing and be happy”.

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      3. James Franco comes out of sex therapy to play Heston’s role …Jonah Hill (replete with 3 hours worth of aging make-up) takes over for Edward G. Robinson……

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      4. I think you got it, Michael!

        We could do this low-budget. Lot’s of Computer Generated Imagery, etc.
        Should we be the producers?
        Time to call a meeting?

        “let’s do lunch.”

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  15. Fwiw, I’m not “Gabby.” I haven’t been here much lately as it’s Summer and USC is a school. Not a lot of any consequence going on.

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