HISTORY

USC Morning Buzz: What Is A Trojan?

I’m going to start off the day by expanding on something I brought up on Friday: What is a Trojan?

I’m centering on direct ties since there are a lot of fans who developed an affinity for USC and consider themselves Trojans.

A Trojan would be someone who attended USC or developed an emotional bond with the university through their work with USC.

Some examples:

  • Art Bartner is a Trojan. He became synonymous with USC through his work with the band. I’ll skip the excessive ego today.
  • Henry Bibby is not a Trojan. The fact Bibby went to UCLA has nothing to do with it. Dave Levy is a Trojan and played football at UCLA. Levy is a revered figure at USC who was beloved by his players. Bibby collected a paycheck. See the difference?
  • Richard Saukko is a Trojan. A legend.
  • Andy Enfield is not a Trojan. Another paycheck collector.
  • Pete Carroll is a Trojan. He transformed USC football and it’s still living off his legacy. John McKay and Howard Jones are Trojans. None of the three went to USC.
  • Paul Hackett and Clay Helton are not Trojans. What was their bond or legacy?
  • George Lucas, John Wayne, James Hong, Forest Whitaker, LeVar Burton, Ke Huy Quan, Herb Alpert, Marlo Thomas, Mari Blanchard and Saweetie are Trojans.
  • Is Max Nikias a Trojan? He thinks he is . . . but no. Willis O. Hunter (Willis O’Hunter on USC social media) was athletic director for 32 years and helped build a powerhouse. He is a Trojan. Carol Folt? The jury is still out. If she gets her “moonshot” you might like her more. Mike Bohn? Nope.
  • Pat Haden and Lynn Swann? As players? Yes. As athletic directors? No.

There is room for debate. Most say Allyson Felix is a Trojan. She attended USC so she qualifes. But tell me what she accomplished for USC athletically? Nothing. Is Jordan Addison a Trojan? Does one semester count?

89 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: What Is A Trojan?”

    1. ALMOST ALL OF US HERE ON THE BOARD ARE TROJANS EXCEPT FOR
      YOU KNOW WHO
      AND
      YOU KNOW WHO

      OK OK
      OWNS AND TEBOWOBAMA IF WE ARE NAMING NAMES !!😇😇😇😇😇😇

      HAVE MERCY ON THE POOR THINGS!!😇

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      5. Yep. That’s us, George.
        #MovieTrailer:”InAWorldWithoutRules…Come2Mutants!”

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  2. well we do know wolf is NOT ONE … THEREFORE HAS NO IDEA WHAT ONE IS…it definitely is something that goes into the depth of ones thoughts and preferences…and an SC coach would be one for sure.

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    1. Any man who called out Sark, Swann and Helton before it became popular…and loves Jon Arnett, the Daily Trojan and Marilyn Monroe …is a Trojan….

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      3. WELL I can’t see any way that is a criteria…anybody with a brain for football knew hellton was a disaster whether a trojan or not except that abc commentator from ohio st,he said he was a great coach…Sark and Swann are not helltons in any way shape or form…the others?the Jaguar and Marilyn?who would not love them…I’m waiting…

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      1. Ain’t life messed up when your wannabe aspiration in life is being a second class citizen..

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  5. Clay Helton’s Legacy Stuff:
    He played a center who couldn’t snap the ball….and defended his decision by saying he was “in love’ with the player…..
    He also filmed himself cleaning his wife’s kitchen [wearing a light blue apron] while reading from a miniature bible…
    …But the best Legacy Stuff he did came during his press conference after the big, big loss to Iowa in the Holiday bowl when he congratulated the Iowa fans for outcheering the Trojan fans ….and went on to say that his team was “good but not yet great.”
    Helton is a Trojan…..a Bad Trojan…
    #….SomeMaySayEvilTrojan

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  6. Being A Trojan

    “Of course it is only a game, but somehow the Trojans, bursting out of that stadium tunnel, have come to stand for a way of life. The sight of those USC teams rolling across the Coliseum grass, dominating their opponents – and without a single penny of government aid that the UCLA’s and Oklahomas and Nebraskas depended on, damn it. All of it happened, year after year because the school annually turned out a phalanx of new achievers, men who pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and went on to be the cream of their crops and the captains of their industries, men who started companies and expanded businesses that created jobs and took people off the welfare rolls, men who took care to plow back their superabundance into the institution that launched them, so that the Trojan tradition of independence and excellence would go on and on. Yes, the sight of that wave of cardinal and gold articulates everything. Maybe you cannot comprehend that. But a Trojan can. It is a little like being a Marine. You know you are one of the elite.”

    – Sports Illustrated, November 28, 1988; Gunning for No. 1

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    2. Thanks for the SI article Conquest. Particularly enjoyed:

      “. . .men who took care to PLOW back their superabundance into the institution that launched them, so that the Trojan tradition of independence and excellence would go on and on. . .”

      As the Plow Horse, I am willing to Plow back something to the university but am waiting for some superabundance first.

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    4. Carol Folt is calling Sports Illustrated to demand an apology for that description of a Trojan. She wants to re-write the Trojan history.

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      1. Carol’s proposed amendment: Take out everything that comes after the word “game” in the first clause of the first sentence……

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    5. Yeah, tell that crap to O. J. I cannot stand this phony elitism. So, qualification on being a Trojan depends on your popularity of your contributions? It’s a freaking school mascot nickname not something your supposed to defend with your life, like, you know Marines do.

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  8. Sure seems subjective to me. It is obviously up to the person making the decision. But who gives a dang, live as a Trojan and don’t worry about what Wolf thinks about you.

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    2. Addison’s skills will be missed in 2023…. his commitment [“I have to pass on the Cotton Bowl, hope the fans understand”] won’t be missed.

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      1. Yup poor guy only knows how to tweek little mick’s nose.. what’s his record vs the screaming little bald guy?

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  11. – Happened to glance at one of Just Owns’ latest reiterations of past
    painful SC losses such as the Vince Young Thing in 2006.

    This J.O. that J.O. has created is remindful of the closing of
    The Great Gatsby, “So we beat on, boats against the current,
    borne back ceaselessly into the past.-”

    A man who is never able to move beyond the past– must be a tough life

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    1. How about the opening of Gatsby LJ:

      “When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction—Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn.”

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      1. But unlike you SloMess, I’m not a chronic ingrown anal hair, and I don’t have projectile diarrhea for brains.

        #Cheers, you two-bit, SUCC AH.

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    3. Damn John, thanks for the softball…

      ‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.’ ~ Geo. Santayana

      The Las Vegas debacle/humiliation seems to me like a Clown U , FB ‘repeat.’

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      2. Dear Owns,
        You should read Santayana’s “The Idea Of Christ in the Gospels” —maybe the most extreme [and mystical] version of Platonism ever written……
        #MatterDoesn’tExist…
        #ButTheSoulIsReal

        Liked by 1 person

  14. The singin’ cowboy, gene autrey wood be a trojan, he wuznt just a paychek collectur. alfalfa frum the our gang comedyz wood be a half pint bruin.

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  15. Is Scott Wolf a Trojan? On the one hand he attended USC but on the other he makes his living being a Trojan naysayer and seems to he can judge who is or is not a Trojan. Is Petros Papadakis a Trojan? On the one one hand he transferred from Cal and single handedly made the Trojans worse and the Bears better. On the other hand he was a decent waiter/busboy at Papadakis Taverna.

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    1. That is not giving Petros his due; a least in the early 2000s he was a kick as a solo neurotic radio guy who at times could be quite funny,
      but then he went corporate and I stopped listening

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      1. Petros also scored a few TD’s from the 2 yard line with suicide leaps into the endzone…
        #btw,PetrosStillHasTHATLookInHisEyes…
        #TheWorldHasn’tCompletelyDevouredHim[Yet]

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  16. Folt the Dolt will never be a Trojan. She sold her ass to the woke crowd. She is a piece of …. I despise her more and more with her politcal crapness and wokeness. She is a leech and a check collector.

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  17. Is Walt Disney a Trojan? How about John Wayne? Marilyn Monroe?
    I have enough Trojan gear to wear a different outfit everyday for a month (except some baby blue under garments my wife buys occasionally)
    Disney’s company has served as summer employment for TMB members and permanent employment for engineers and designers. One of my collective USC shirts is from an imagineer. It has Mickey Mouse embroidered over the USC logo.

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    1. San Marcos Trojan,

      Micky is nothing but a pride, woke, social justice warrior, an political crap machine. This first started when the changed the Pirates to the Carribean ride where the guy was chasing the girl. May they rot in purgatory.

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      1. I think San Marcos was referring to the OLD Disney Company [the one that died with Walt Disney]…..

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      2. Michael,

        Only San Marcos can answer that. But I think he was thinking that way. When Disney was alive, Disney stood God, family, and country. Now they cower and take a knee to the Pride, woke and political crapness god, which is a false god.

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  20. Scooter,

    You forgot Rod Deadux, Cromwell, and Aldrin as being Trojans. How about Schwarkoff? I think so. How about Marcus Welby and Bronson in the tv show, called Marcus Welby MD. In the opening scene on every show, they would show OJ and the SC offense in a huddle. they also used the LA County hosptal. I would say yes.

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    1. World,

      I am LMAO. True. But better yet, let the sharks eat themselves. After the dust is settled people like you and Michael and few others will be around here.

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    1. The leftist agenda wont be derailed by anything as ridiculous as the law.

      I see a whole lot of lawsuits being filed against universities in the future for discriminatory practices.

      Liberal ideology doesnt address the real issue at the heart of the education system – the poor performance of public schools in lower income and minority communities. These schools simply dont prepare students for rigorous academics.

      This is the result of a teachers union and school bureaucracy that blocks all innovation and change.

      If you solve the problems with public schools, you solve the issues related to minorities, on average, being less qualified to enter universities on their merits.

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    2. CR,

      In other words from Folt the Dolt, we will accept the kids that normally would not be able to get in but with this thought we will fleece families of $90,000 per year until they flunk out, because there is no refunds.

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      2. SoCal is lying again. The stupid President is trying to get the hysterical people to stop asking him to issue an Executive Order that won’t change a damn thing. Biden knows this is going to help get more votes. Way to go, Supreme Court. Your making sure the silly man wins. Either side.

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      3. Why should she? Feds selectively enforces laws. Biden completely ignored SCOTUS ruling on Stay in Mexico. SCOTUS has shown it can be intimidated by the angry mob.

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      4. Biden’s false promises are like covid —repeated exposure is providing folks with natural immunity…
        #…InOtherWords,BidenIsDone[AndHeKnowsIt]

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  23. Folt says:

    “USC provides a learning community where differing backgrounds and points of view are embraced, where ideas collide, beliefs are challenged and innovation thrives.”

    That is what a university should strive to be. I hope she means it but I am skeptical.

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    2. Plow,

      So what will be the lowest gpa that SC will accept? 2.3, 2.1, 2.7? Where is Bluto when you need him. Didn’t he have an F – – -? He got kicked out Weber, but not SC.

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    3. I think MG may be right when he says Folt does not intend to abide by the Court’s decision. If correct, she will be exposing the university to millions in discrimination claims. Will the Trustees intervene? Harvard flat out said they will now base admissions on the essay, a totally subjective standard. I don’t think that will work. Court said colleges have to abide by a measurable standard.

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      1. It’s the original standard that Harvard used before they started being “creative” and merit based on admissions. It’s hard for any court to tell a school (especially a private college) to be transparent when that’s not what the decision inferred by the majority. And I thought Earl Warren had a crazy court.

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  24. Memo to: Dear Pissley

    If anybody knows all about 2nd class or lower citizen echelon experience, it’s Dear Pissley and his squeeze Rashmore.

    Pissley milks pregnant rats cause he can’t afford a half-pint of out of date code milk.

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  26. John Robinson is a Trojan, in spite of the shabby treatment he got at the end of his second tenure as HC.

    Marv Goux is a Trojan.

    The elder Papadakis’ are Trojans.

    Dr. Jerry Buss is a Trojan.

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