FOOTBALL

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

With Kliff Kingsbury on the USC campus this week, the influence of Mike Leach has never been stronger.

And it’s been this way for the past four years, with Graham Harrell, Lincoln Riley and now Kingsbury. If there is a common theme between the three, I’d say they all love to pass the ball, probably could take-or-leave running the ball and view defense as a necessary evil.

It’s quite a transformation for Tailback U. The question is whether Leach’s offense will ever win a national championship.

  • Do stars matter in recruiting rankings? Per the Athletic, 58.1 percent of 5-star recruits since 2009 have been drafted. In terms of getting drafted, being a five star does matter.
  • Would Jordan Addison have been drafted higher if he came out last season after winning the Biletnikoff Award and putting up better stats at Pitt? I suppose we’ll never know.
  • Former USC QB Mark Sanchez is working for Fox on its USFL game telecasts. He also is an NFL analyst for Fox.
  • Lincoln Riley will throw out the first pitch tonight at Dedeaux Field as USC plays UCLA in a big Pac-12 series. The game is at 7 p.m.
  • And now for some history:
  • Quarterback Troy Winslow (10) is about to hand off the ball with halfbacks Mike Hull (23) and Rod Sherman (12) in the backfield. The left guard is Frank Lopez (62) and the left tackle is Mike Scarpace (76). The year? 1965.
  • This is the 1955 Look magazine All-American team arriving in New York City being greeted by actress Kim Novak. If you start at the plane’s exit and go five people down, that is USC tailback Jon Arnett. Right above him is Notre Dame halfback/quarterback Paul Hornung.

The Look magazine issue featuring its All-American team had a small picture of Arnett on the cover.

  • Sam Barry sits with Babe Ruth and the notorious USC president Rufus von KleinSmid at a dinner in 1941. Barry was USC’s football, basketball and baseball coach that year. The fact von KleinSmid is in the picture is just more confirmation the guy never, ever missed a chance to mingle with a celebrity.
  • USC offensive guard/linebacker Damon Bame talks to fellow student Sue Dossen after being named Lineman of the Week by the Associated Press following the Trojans game vs. Oklahoma in 1963.
  • Frank Gifford led USC to a big win over Army at Yankee Stadium in 1951.

Did USC go home right after the game? They would now. But this was 1951, so here’s USC coach Jess Hill and athletic director Willis Hunter (far right) speaking to the New York Trojan Alumni Club at the world-famous Stork Club in Manhattan.

Jess Hill at the celebrity-filled Stork Club? Amazing. That had to cause a laugh to those who knew the straight-laced coach. Hunter was athletic director for 32 years (1925-57) at USC but is largely forgotten today, unfortunately. He presided over USC’s transformation into a national championship power in many sports.

  • Jess Hill was low key, so he resented UCLA coach Red Sanders, who was popular with the media and had a colorful personality.

On Thursday, I stumbled across these photos of Sanders getting arrested for drunk driving in 1951. I love how a newspaper was there to take pictures, probably tipped off by the police.

  • A former UCLA assistant coach under Sanders told me that back in the 1950’s, newspaper reporters would meet Sanders at Scandia, a landmark restaurant on Sunset Blvd, for his weekly press conference. On some of those days, Sanders would skip practice because he had a bit too much to drink. It was no big deal to the coaching staff, which knew he might not make it back for practice.

About 10 days after getting arrested, here’s Sanders in a wheelchair with a cast on his foot.

  • Sanders had a lavish birthday party circa 1956 at the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood, which at the time was the biggest nightclub, restaurant and showroom in America. Sanders received a Cadillac as a birthday present. More than 1,000 people attended the party. No wonder Hill couldn’t compete.

Note: I’ve previously mentioned how Sanders died so I’m not going to mention it every time I write about him. You can read about it here.

Long Photography
  • A great color photo from the 1964 USC-Notre Dame game with future Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte (in 1965). The other Irish players are Joe Kantor (31) and Bill Wolski (35). The USC players are Jeff Smith (74), Frank Lopez (62) and Bob Svihus (76).

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain.The NBA at its best.

Jayne Mansfield would have turned 90 this week. Here she is in one of her best roles, “The Burglar” in 1957 with Dan Duryea.

Advertisement

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

    1. FYI….The actual real Gabby is on hiatus. I spoke to him on the phone last night and due to his kindness, he sent me a case of Depends. Since Biden cranked up the inflation dial it’s been enough to make ends meet.

      Like

      Reply

      5. speaking of cognitive lapses….you posted the same link yesterday! I’ll be in my outhouse enjoying some top-self

        Like

    2. When other people post under fake names, especially someone else’s, she posts this: “says the troll who posts under a fake user name because he’s too much of a coward”.

      But of course it’s OK for the biggest hypocrite on Wolf’s blog! LOL!!!

      We all knew she was the biggest hypocrite before, but she wanted to prove it some more. So pathetic.

      Like

      Reply

      1. Yes….I am truly a coward….the shar pei took my balls, so label me a ball-less
        sociopath. I love poking the bear and then hiding in my outhouse. I am also the biggest hypocrite on the blog. I converse with fake Gabby and give him the green light to troll the real Gabby, yet anyone trolling me is a coward. I am such a winner!

        Like

      2. LOL! Trying to rationalize it.

        Never gave a “green light”; I’m not the boss of him. I was merely stating what YOU said about imposters.

        But you can make all the excuses you want. The entire blog knows what a fool you are.

        Like

      5. These exchanges will be studied by Eloi and Morlock graduate students in the year 802,701….
        #…AndSoCal&GabbyWillBeCanonized

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Well, MG, I’m doing my best to take Cal, Plow Horse, Ghost of Me and Mrs. Helton’s advice to not feed the troll (too much).

        Fake Gabby and “GIABHN” are doing a fine job of slapping him around. They don’t need any assistance from me. Nice to see the Village Idiot admit a few threads back that it’s not me. Must have had his friend, the casino security guy (LOL), check the IP address.

        Like

      7. I am so thankful for the advice I don’t follow….am such a loser. I have no self-dignity or tolerance so I encourage more imposters and trolling in my honor…wow!….is this what acceptance looks like…. am really a winner. stop it, I am really confused

        Blame Biden for “GIABHN” must have been a word he mispronounced

        Like

      10. I hate saying this —but some of the stuff on both sides is pretty funny…
        #I’llALMOSTMissItWhenIt’sOver….

        Liked by 1 person

      12. Well, egging on the Village Idiot is sure to help keep it going. Funny that so soon after knocking someone for posting as her, she does the exact same thing under my name. Typical Lib.

        Like

      13. I am so impulsive, I never think before I post, often putting my foot in my mouth. I am part of the problem, not the solution, ignoring the advice of others. I truly am the blog dunce and village idiot rolled into one. I should stay off the blog and start repairing the crumbling single-wide

        The shar pei calls me a drama Queen, I wear it as a badge of honor. Biden has convinced me all Libs are evil… I am such a loser!

        Like

      1. I do care about my team UCLA, win or lose, and no excuses.

        It’s true I dislike Clown U for a number of reasons. And I do enjoy a delicious Clown U loss. But I like to post on Wolf’s blog because it kills to two birds with one stone.

        Liked by 3 people

    1. How did that work out for ‘Ol Mule Show and his Ladies of Troy in the Cotton Bowl vs Tulane?

      Worst, most embarrassing loss in USC football history

      Like

      Reply

      1. 52-48…..isn’t that my wife’s measurements….. no wonder why I keep her from using my outhouse

        Like

  5. Great column except the bit about whether “Leach’s offense” will every win a natty. It wins one every year if what one means by “Leach’s offense” is 4 WR, one RB, and the QB in the shotgun, making use of the RPO, because nearly every D1 team runs that today. And Leach refined it, I wouldn’t call it his offense, it dates back at least to the 1970s with Lavell Edwards at BYU and Bill Walsh and the West Coast offense.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    2. Thank you 67 for stating the truth. All the naysayers who shoot down the new air raid style just don’t get it. Any team with a good defense can win the natty, and one with a high scoring offense has a better shot at it.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

    3. I really enjoyed that goofball, Leach. I was really happy to see him join the Pac-12. I wish he & his A.D. had found a way to co-exist.

      He’d have probably been gone by now just the same. But the conference would have had him a couple of more years. He was a hoot!!

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      2. If stating how much fun Mike Leach brought to college football & how much he is missed makes me a failure, I am the first to say I’M GUILTY! Big failure here!

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Wow!……that was really hard to admit I am a big failure. Now I am confused, Mike Leach was actually a QB at Michigan……I am truly senile…..

        Like

      6. No one is a big a creep as me. I make Hunter Biden look like a great person.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. as an imposter, we all know you’re a creep….no need to reaffirm it….. Hunter is my hero, he bangs the hottest chicks in the floor while I could never get a second look….I am such a loser

        Like

      8. World**** as l was doing my one finger typing, I got distracted as urine was leaky from my diaper onto the “floor”….

        Like

      9. @ Fake Gabby

        Do you realize most USC alumni are conservative? This Hunter Biden info does not faze anyone here.

        Like

      10. fake Gabby is just as clueless as me…..But I am jealous of all the hot chicks Hunter gets…..He’s my hero in that aspect

        Like

      11. Uhm, SC Grad, that’s point. He’s trying to appear as clueless as Gabby/Fake So Cal. You know the one calls people who post as imposters “cowards”, but go on to do the same thing! LOL

        Like

      12. Imposter so cal thinks just like me… I never realized how stupid I truly was… I see why the share pei calls me dipshit….mystery solved!…..this call for some top-self, as I drop my daily duce!

        Like

      14. Hunter is my hero for keeping it in the family. I tried to bang my sister-in-law……she kept asking “Is it in yet”…..I kept giving her the same answer “yes”….She gave me a package of mushroom caps as a parting gift

        Speaking of family, I have yet to see a relative since Biden took office…..I have no idea why they avoid me.

        Like

  6. hi john,i slepped lait to day cuz i aint got no job and missus ed aint heer width mye fuud,dos u thinck couch wil get rid of r runin bakks cuz we aint evr run the bal no moar,thanx alot

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  7. Never knew Jayne Mansfield had a face until today; she was cute

    Give me ‘Lew,’ Oscar, Jerry and Wilt and I wouldn’t need a 5th player to win

    SC builds that auspicious tower to von KleinSmid and later decides he was unworthy

    I’ll take “straight-laced” SC’s Jess Hill over booze-stained sucla’s Sanders

    Too bad Troy Winslow didn’t just hand the ball off to Garrett instead of
    keeping the ball and fumbling it to sucla for their 1965 winner. With no Winslow
    in 1964 and instead Craig Fertig manning the quarterback position, the Trojans beat No. 1 Neuter Dame. Later that night the forlorn Irish players were in West Hollywood putting down the gays, when one of the gays retorted, “It takes one to know one,” and a fight ensued.

    Don’t bother me with facts indicating Wiley certainly likes to pass but knows how to run also. Now, about that defense Wiles

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. speaking of non-sequiturs, the shar pei told me I am often a red herring. I guess she’s been lying to me.

    #BLAME-BIDEN

    Like

    Reply

      2. Everyone thinks you are loser. Go find a different school/teams. No one wants to read anything you have to write. Whatever goodwill you may have had is spent. You possess low intellect, are self-absorbed, and are prone to anger. Normal people avoid losers like you.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Everything you said about me is true. I am such a loser…. Please remind me every hour…..I blame Biden for being such a loser

        Like

      1. When your wife has more wrinkles than a shar pei you might understand…..thanks for the diapers

        Like

      2. I enjoy the hypocrisy of Butthurt Gabby. Don’t say anything about my family while I make disparaging remarks about yours. The he/she is an angry, low intellect narcissist. How dumb does someone have to be to offer to fight a complete stranger? In this day when there seem to be so many nutcases on the street who can’t control themselves, this idiot, Butthurt Gabby, is inviting someone to do more than kick his ass. Butthurt Gabby is most likely an overweight and underemployed loser who can’t distinguish his few muscles from his/her numerous fat rolls. Can we trade him/her as a Trojan fan for someone else or anything? He’s a complete embarrassment.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I am sure glad you did some self-reflecting and come to your senses on how much of a loser you are to troll the blog as a fucking idiot. Gabby won’t stand a chance against me, I’ll pull out my GI Joe pocket knife to defend myself and the daisy red rider is nearby….

        Like

      1. I just love his dress….Wish I could buy one for the share pei….but trump doubled the price of his new and improved industrial strength diapers…. he claims lawyers are expensive.

        We love the new diaper with triple the holding power…..shar pei goes two days before she changes me….my trailer stinks like shit, who cares, no one visits.

        Like

  9. Sanders was only 53 when he died, but it’s surprising how old he looks in that picture at his birthday party. Lotta miles on that chassis, I guess.

    As for the DUI, my old man was Beverly Hills PD back in those days, and they did not have two-way radios in the patrol cars then, only one way. The department’s informal policy with high profile individuals who got caught driving under the influence was basically unless there had been an accident of some kind, put ’em in the back seat and drive ’em home. Don’t know if that LAPD policy or not.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  10. Look forward to Scott’s Friday column and see 49 comments; look forward to reading them all and then see about 40 of them are the same old back & forth. Pretty fucking sad.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

    1. Yes!…..It’s “Pretty fucking sad” when you have 5 different people with Gabby in their usernames. I thought I was the only child on the blog.

      Like

      Reply

    2. I agree, OneWay. But other posters were bound to get tired of her bs. I tried several times, to hit the reset button, to no avail.

      Like

      Reply

      1. I am the one who starts the fire, hides around the corner then reappears with an empty fire extinguisher……I am such a loser……

        Like

      3. speaking of the muzzle. I bought the shar pei a new gas mask….she claims the smell of spoiled diapers was killing her…..

        Like

    3. 100%. It IS sad, oneway…..
      ….but, in a strange way, it’s funny…
      ….I hope it ends….
      #..ButYou’llNeverSeeAnythingLikeTheseExchangesAgain…
      #…OnAnySite….
      #”ABlessing&ACurse”AsMonkWouldSay

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. Weeee!! This is fun, can I be MG for a few days? #can’t beat’em join’em #I don’t get no respect.
    Ut hum, now that I have cleared my throat, Wolf did it, he really did this time I had to look to see how Red Sanders died. Outa respect to Owns as part of the family (every family has one eccentric that is liked) Just the fact. Red Sanders died of complications of an enlarged heart at the height of physical exertion. You look up the exertion part.
    Red Sanders was a great coach, did you know he “invented” the squib-kick? If he were alive today, we could use him as a special teams coach.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. o’ wait. maybe Red Sanders is my true daddy….I am so confused…. back to the outhouse for some more top-self…..fuck working on the single-wide

        Like

      3. Yes!……trolling a blog as an imposter would be considered an issue….hold me, Joe’s knocking!

        Like

    2. Hey Ghost, there are worse ways to die than happily in the saddle on the down stroke. I’m sure his companion earned a tidy some to remain mum on the details.

      #A win-win, as it were.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. Owns, so true. But you missed your cue. Yours should’ve been “Red Sanders really did Own USC. Going 6-3 against the Trojans- a fact (If I may beat a dead horse here).

        Liked by 1 person

  12. Wolf is truly myopic. He doesn’t want to bring up Sanders death but posts a link about it. Envious, ya think? Hunter was such a great AD that he kept an idiot Track coach who thought Jessie Owens shouldn’t run in the Olympics around. He also kept some dummies in other sports around too long.

    Like

    Reply

      1. Actually if the Grinch who stole Christmas is to be believed Sander’s heart grew three sizes larger that day. In Scott’s case…what heart?

        Like

  13. MG, me hearty, “hope springs eternal” at Clown U. Every new CFB season, Vegas pays bribes FB pundits to overrate the bozos so SUCC Fat Cats bet enormous amounts of cash that, as usual, wind up in Vegas’ bank account. Some things don’t/won’t change.

    I expect a very competitive Nov., game betwixt the 9 – 1 Bruins and 8- 3 Clownsters, @ the Crumbling Mausoleum.

    ***I will be very surprised to see CW “the Destroyer” in that game. Imagine MG, if CW got hurt sufficiently enough to blow his probable Top 3 NFL draft status out the window.

    #Just saying for a friend.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I expect another close game too….with a similar ending…. When it’s over, L.A. will still be our town and bell will stay where it belongs….

      Like

      Reply

    3. That’s funny. You expect your historically awful football program to be 9-1? Last year will be as good as it gets for you for a long, long time. Hope you enjoyed it. You will be lucky to go .500.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  15. Pingback: USC Needs A History Refresher – InsideUSC with Scott Wolf

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.