Four-star talback Taylor Tatum of Longview, Texas, will make his college commitment today.
It’s an Oklahoma-USC battle for Tatum, who 247 lists as the No. 1 back in the nation.
- FC Barcelona practiced Thursday at the Coliseum. The team will practice again tonight at the Coliseum.
- And now for some history:
This is immediately one of my new all-time favorite USC-UCLA photos. I don’t know how this dog got on the court or what the backstory is but the instant canine legend is there, right on the Sports Arena floor on March 1, 1963.
And not a single player seems to be worried about it. This will definitely go into my “dogs and USC” series of great canine photos in Trojans history.
The “underdog” Trojans upset UCLA, 62-60, after dropping two previous encounters a month earlier. So maybe the dog is playing for USC.
No. 33 for USC on the left is Pete Hillman and the Trojan with the ball is Wells Sloniger. No. 45 for UCLA is Freddie Goss. Next to him looks like Jack Hirsch. No. 35 is Fred Slaughter.
- Now let’s go down a rabbit hole:
Pete Hillman’s son, Joe, went to Hoover High School in Glendale and was a member of Indiana’s 1987 national championship team. Joe Hillman’s teammate at Hoover was Ron Young and they were co-MVPs of their team in 1982.
Young’s father was Allen Young, who played on this 1963 team with Pete Hillman. Got it? Ron Young also played basketball at USC.
Allen Young was a two-time all-conference forward and finished his career in the top 10 for career scoring at USC.
And just like that, I found another picture of the dog!
- You just never know what stars turned up at USC. Actress Linda Darnell made a surprise appearance at an army training-sponsored dance at USC on Feb. 4, 1944.
The dance was held at army barracks that were constructed on campus during World War II.
Darnell had already become a star following “The Mark of Zorro” in 1940 and “Blood and Sand” in 1941 that featured her opposite Tyrone Power. She first starred with Power in 1939 when she played his wife in the film, “Day-Time Wife.” She was 16 at the time.
- Defensive tackle Jeff Smith was a two-time All-American at Long Beach City College before he transferred to USC. This photo was taken on Oct. 22, 1964, a few days after Smith had nine unassisted tackles against No. 2-ranked Ohio State.
USC president John Hubbard, Casey Stengel and Rod Dedeaux at the opening of Dedeaux Field on May 10, 1974.
BANQUETS, LUNCHEONS AND BEAUTY QUEENS
USC’s Mary Memory, left, the UCLA’s Jamie Lynch, were co-queens of the Los Angeles Basketball Classic in 1960 at the Sports Arena and showed sportsmanship by pointing to their rival’s billing on the official poster.
This was a great tournament that also featured Cal (the reigning national champs who went to the NCAA championship game in 1960); Stanford; Indiana; Iowa; Minnesota and Michigan State.
The Sports Arena just opened the year before and the Los Angeles Classic drew more than 45,000 fans in 1960 and more than 50,000 in 1961, when John Havlicek played for Ohio State.
In 1961, Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas had 30 rebounds against UCLA and 38 points against USC while Purdue’s Terry Dischinger set a record with 16-made free throws in a game
Jerry West and West Virginia played in the 1959 Los Angeles Classic.
What a coup for the Van Nuys High School football banquet on Jan. 20, 1960 at Knollwood Country Club as the McKeever twins showed up to the delight of a crowd of 350.
The McKeevers are talking to Van Nuys coach Winston Tucker, who looks like he could play football. Tucker was football coach at Van Nuys from 1948-70.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
- This is the Vermont Drive-In Theatre, which was located on Vermont Avenue and 182nd Street and opened Oct. 23, 1947. It could hold 800 cars. The drive-in had a 45-by-60-foot screen that was more than twice the size of a standard movie screen.
But the thing to really talk about is the beautiful 45-by-65-foot mural painted in just two weeks by Arnoldo Rubio and his brother, which is a depiction of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
IN REMEMBRANCE
Let’s run another picture of the iconic Jane Birkin, who passed away earlier this week. This is a promotional photo for her 1968 film, “Wonderwall.”
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
Remarkable compilation of photos and even more amazing was the minutiae of research you took to describe each photo’s image. Well done Scott! That drive-in at 182nd was just north of Ascot Raceway and just east of the cemetery called Roosevelt Memorial.
Well done!
LikeLiked by 2 people
We could hear Ascot race track which was near the Vermont drive in all the way in Redondo on Fruday and Saturday nights
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lived in Redondo but frequented WeHo. I just want to make that clear.
LikeLike
RIP, Tony Bennett.
LikeLiked by 3 people
How many times has that clown Tony Bennett died in the last 10 years?
Probably as many times as Abe Vigoda,
Both actually died 20 years ago
LikeLike
Charlie Bucket, you should show more respect to a fellow full mooner Libtard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so hateful.
LikeLiked by 2 people
So Cal, thanks, now that guy could sing
and I understood every word
LikeLiked by 1 person
That Darnell lady and Birkin and Lynch were mighty pretty or very photogenic
I would not like to meet the McKeever twins in a dark alley
Drive-ins were great for breaking-in a new date, but the movie sound was so poor
Sounds like Scott is compiling all his SC history into some kind of commercial book
Looks like Tirebiter has some competition. Just kidding, George!
LikeLiked by 3 people
gotroll22 (aka everyone’s imposter) says he would ride his Huffy bicycle to the Vermont and Rodium drive in’s and break in new seat posts every once in a while.
LOL!
LikeLike
Bring back the Good Charlie Bucket!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Btw. Anyone else ride a bike on just the seat post? You should try it. I’m not gay by the way. Just more comfortable for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Banana seat, playing card in the spokes for sound, superman cape, and premium lube to ease the friction(ouch!)
He graduated to a “disco stick” permanently mounted to the single-wide living room floor(double ouch!)
LIKED! (aka everyone’s imposter)
LikeLike
it’s pretty pathetic when gotroll22 told his mom the seat post was his version of a banana with a tight fit. I guess it hurt so good!
LikeLike
It’s pretty pathetic when Cowardly Gabby is even dumber than Hunter .
LikeLike
HAHA!….THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A FREAK LIKE MTG PRESENTS FOOLS LIKE YOU…EMBARRASSING!
LikeLike
This is what happens when a freak like you represents Groomers like you:
LikeLike
First, thanks for the Jane Birkin photo, Scott. I watched her in Daddy Nostalgia last night and her performance was pitch perfect. Very underappreciated performer. I was surprised to read that she could be quite puritanical about singing performances. Apparently she liked to drink and felt it was a weakness —accordingly, she wouldn’t drink the week before any singing engagement. She believed it would bring bad luck if she enjoyed herself too much. She eventually stretched the abstinence period to an entire month. Wish me and my island buddies had that kind of self control.
To all my buddies on this blog: we should really hope that Scott puts these gems together in a book —and everyone part of the current USC administration reads it and learns a bit about what made USC a special place once upon a time.
P. S.
Glad Travis missed when he tried to shoot Old Yeller….and that “crazy yellow mutt” found his way to USC …where he could compete in sports instead of chase wild boar and fight bears.
P. P. S.
Linda Darnell to Tyrone Power [disguised as a Monk] in The Mark of Zorro: “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Tyrone: “More lovely than a Spring Day.”
LikeLiked by 4 people
Saw Tony Bennett at the Greek Theater in 1995. RIP.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Tatum is 94.9% to OK and 5.1% to USC per On3 Scott Schrader. Not looking good. It boils down to baseball, not football for Tatum.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Does the song (or movie) make the man or is it vice-versa–
“I left my heart in San Francisco
High on a hill, it calls to me…
Above the blue and windy sea
When I come home to you, San Francisco
Your golden sun will shine for me
LikeLiked by 3 people
Lady Gaga helped him restart his career. They did a lengthy tour together
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe Lady Gaga could take you on tour and we would be rid of you.
LikeLike
A dog on the court would be about the only impediment to gutty basketball that the gangster sam gilbert couldn’t fix.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Come on, Scott, too many pictures of suclas
LikeLiked by 1 person
Owns & Tebow, CBS Sunday Morning did a segment with Kareem last Sunday. It’s on YouTube. I’m sure many Trojans admire him for what he accomplished, but didn’t want to post it here because I know there are also many who don’t. I mean, he is a Ruin afterall. 🙂
LikeLiked by 4 people
pointless….shit or get off the pot
LikeLike
Your existence is pointless, Cowardly Gabby.
LikeLike
GOTROLL HAS AN ACCIDENT…STINKY
LikeLike
Cowardly Gabby is proud of her Dictator!
LikeLike
THAT’S THE GUY WE ALL WANT…THE CROWD WILL GET ITS WISH
LikeLike
LikeLike
So Cal played Tony Bennett’s ‘Fly me to the Moon’ and some of the lines are to die for–
“How often we use many words to say a simple thing
Fly me to the moon, so I can play among the stars
It takes thought, time and rhyme, to make a poem sing
[If you know not what I mean] I’ll translate as I go along
LikeLiked by 2 people
Your Friday column are your best work Wolfe. I’m from Carson n will be a Colt for life. I remember going to the Vermont Drive in back in the 70’s and hearing Ascot Speedway. Scott do you remember the Big Slide on Rosecrans and Western in Gardena back in the 70’s, that was the hood amusement back then. #FightOn##CarsonColtForLife#GahrHighSchoolClassOf82.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, fuck…somebody besides me remembers Big Slide….
#ParadiseOnEarth
LikeLiked by 1 person
MG, I didn’t know someone on this blog remembers how fun it was before gangs took over neighborhoods, and made our kids stay in the house. That is y these kids don’t have social skills for today’s time. Hey Original Gabby do you remember the slide?
LikeLike
Breaking News: Tatum chooses Oklahoma over us, we didn’t need him he was a luxury. Maybe we are trying to flip the Mater Dei Rb Nathaniel Frazier, a bigger version of Brown. Watched film on him, best homerun hitter on the West Coast. We need defense help.
LikeLiked by 3 people
“We didn’t need him (Tatum)”; yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah sure 7112.
Mighty mighty SUCC takes another takes another nasty, called Strike Three recruiting stick in the shorts.
FYI 7112, Clown U has a baseball team. Of course, it’s just not big boy ready for the tournament.
What a typical macho load of bozo recruiting BS/excuses, excuses, excuses.
#SUCC stinks on.
#8 – 4 if the bozo’s are lucky.
LikeLike
All off-season there were cries of ‘Wiley’ does not know defense
Well, if he didn’t know before he sure does now (hopefully)
LikeLiked by 2 people
…”he didn’t know before” isn’t strictly accurate, John ….he knows…but it’s not exactly uppermost in his mind [and never will be]….
#…However,WeShouldBeALotBetterAtLinebacker
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simple logic says Riley knows defenses. You have to know defense in order to know how to beat it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, he knows it alright —but nobody has ever called Lincoln a defensive genius….
#It’sNotHisDeal
LikeLiked by 1 person
How does our George Tirebiter put it–
“From your lips,” Michael, “to God’s ears”
LikeLiked by 1 person
MG, I didn’t know someone on this blog remembers how fun it was before gangs took over neighborhoods, and made our kids stay in the house. That is y these kids don’t have social skills for today’s time. Hey Original Gabby do you remember the slide?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. The atmosphere in the 70’s was pure joy compared to what it is now…
LikeLiked by 1 person
MG, your right, LR knows defense. The biggest question I have is AG. Far too many times the defense last year wasn’t in the right position to make the play. They looked confused on half of the plays. The last 2 games just was down right not fun to watch. My prediction is that if this defense gives up over 5.8 yards a carry or allows Qb’s 4.0 seconds to throw, then LR fire your boy AG. Go get Oregon pay him 5M and watch this defense be a top 10 hands down. #OregonForHire#FireAGNow#BeforeRecruitsDecommittFrom24/25Class
LikeLike
Scooter,
Outstanding today. Yu need to write a book on SC history and even uglies history. No on over there cares.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Tatum is a want not a need. As I said before, i would rather get one of the outstanding D-Linemen that are out there or the LB from Bosco than this RB.
LikeLiked by 1 person