FOOTBALL

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

It’s a rough week for the Pac-12 and it’s been easy to criticize the leadership for more than 10 years.

But pointing out the incompetence at the top should not lead to enjoying the misfortune for the actual schools in the conference.

USC has a lot of its history invested with those Pac-12 schools so it’s immature to gloat over their troubles. It’s not great if any sport becomes nothing but the haves vs. have nots.

The West Coast needs a healthy Pac-12. College football needs more than the SEC and Big Ten. Empathy should be shown as the Pac-12 fights for its survival.

  • USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch identified the fourth quarter as a source of the defense’s troubles.

“We really struggled in the fourth quarter last year,” Grinch said. “We did. Part of that is maturity. Part of that is understanding what it takes to win, learning how to win. And part of that is the mental resilience part.”

  • Nigeria pulled off a huge upset with a 3-1 victory over host Australia at the Women’s World Cup. Starting defender Ashleigh Plumptre is a Trojan. She played women’s soccer from 2016-19 at USC and was a member of an NCAA championship team.
  • And now for some history:
  • Here’s a fresh photo from the 1969 USC-UCLA game, which was a classic. Both UCLA running backs, Mickey Cureton (30) and Greg Jones (43), were named All-Americans. QB Dennis Dummit passed for 4,356 yards in his career.

The USC players appear to be defensive linemen Willard Scott (left) and Al Cowlings (right). This was the game where controversy still reigns on whether Sam Dickerson caught the game-winning 32-yard TD pass inbounds plus a pass-interference penalty on fourth-and-10 to prolong the drive.

You know who was sitting high in the corner of the Coliseum at this game? An 18-year-old from Northern California named Pete Carroll.

  • Morley Drury (white shirt) talks to Jon Arnett (26) just after Arnett broke Drury’s USC rushing yardage record during a game vs. Washington at the Coliseum on October 22, 1956.

OK, first thing is how empty the sideline area looks compared to today (less hanger-ons and no towel wavers). Second, Drury is just having a casual conversation with Arnett during the game. No. 66 is offensive lineman Walt Gurasich while No. 54 is center Karl Rubke.

Drury, the “noblest Trojan of them all” looked pretty limber in 1927.

  • Last week, I wrote about Linda Darnell visiting a USC dance in 1944.

But it wasn’t Darnell’s first visit to USC. She visited the student union in 1941 when she was 17 with her publicity manager to pose for some photos to promote her upcoming movie, “Rise and Shine” which was about a football player, gangsters and mayhem.

Linda Darnell (right) plays a college cheerleader in the 1941 film, “Rise and Shine.”

Darnell played a college cheerleader. To the delight of USC students, Darnell requested four-or-five male volunteers to surround her for photos while she read an actvity poster on a bulletin board.

One student asked Darnell what she thought of the campus and she said she might enroll for courses the following semester.

Alas, her acting career was too good for that to happen. If I discover one more visit I might bestow “Trojan” status upon Darnell.

About three weeks before Darnell’s visit, USC students were filmed as extras for some scenes.

  • Actor Jack Oakie got top billing for the movie and he was a huge USC fan, who knew coaches and school presidents. The USC football banquet still features the “Jack Oakie Rise and Shine” award, which is named after the movie.

Former USC football player and then-assistant coach Robert C. McNeish was a technical advisor on the film. He later became head coach at Virginia Tech from 1948-50.

  • Paula (left) and Pam McGee, at USC on Dec. 4, 1980. Cheryl Miller might be the greatest player in USC history but the Trojans never won a national title without the McGee twins.
  • USC freshman Greg “Bo” Kimble goes for a shot vs. Baptist College on Nov. 23, 1985.
  • Dick Nunis led USC in interceptions in 1951 and was a member of the Trojans’ Rose Bowl champions the following year.

After graduating from USC in 1954, he took a job on the ground floor of a new business in Southern California. He began as an hourly employee in 1955, worked his way up to Director of Operations in 1961 and then Vice President of Operations in 1968.

The company? Disneyland.

He assumed the position of president of Walt Disney Attractions in 1980 and was named chairman in 1991. He was widely considered Walt Disney’s right-hand man for years. Nunis retired in 1998 after 44 years with Disney.

USC student Mary (Lee) Shon, second from left, sits with friends at the fountain in front of Doheny Library in 1935.
  • Look what you could do for a week with $20 in 1947.

BEAUTY QUEENS, BANQUETS AND LUNCHEONS

There really is an endless supply of the above trio.

  • USC student Donna Hartsock was named Miss Recreation of 1963 for the Parks and Recreation Department of Los Angeles.

And now for a luncheon.

  • USC sophomore QB Pete Beathard, left, gives Reseda High School quarterback Greg Olmstead instructions on how to pass football while Reseda fullback John Ogden observes at the San Fernando Valley Trojan club lunch on Oct. 4, 1961.

USC played No. 1-ranked Iowa a few days later, and it seemed totally normal that a player trekked out to the Valley weekly to see the fans. It was a different world.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

It’s the historic Golden Gate Theatre in East Los Angeles on Whittier and Atlantic Blvds. in 1956. The 1,500-seat movie palace had a Spanish Baroque Revival Churrigueresque-style that replicated the entrance to the University of Salamanca in Spain. It was built in 1927.

What’s playing? “D-Day the 6th of June” with Robert Taylor and “The Toy Tiger.”

Of course it had a balcony.

The outer building was torn down and only the theater remains today, converted into a CVS drug store.

Look at the size of those Hershey and Nestle bars in the snack bar at the Golden Gate Theatre.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

There are plenty of options to honor Tony Bennett. But I’m choosing “Solitaire” especially when it features Dolores Moran.

  • Now I have an excuse to tell this story about Moran. When she was 15, she worked as a car hop at a San Jose drive-in restaurant.

She served a cup of coffee to a stranger, Anthony Ponce, an apricot grower who was 32. He occassionally dropped in for coffee but did not know her.

When Ponce died 21 years later, he left nearly his entire estate to Moran, worth $300,000 in 1968.

“For the life of me, I cannot remember the man,” Moran said.

“He never wrote her a fan letter, never sought an autograph. He carried the memory of her in his heart,” said an attorney for Ponce’s nieces and nephew.

Talk about making an impression.

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

  1. Good work, Scott. Arnett, Golden Gate Theater candy stand, Linda Darnell. And USC QB Pete Beathard showing Reseda High School QB Greg Olmstead how to throw a football….
    #….Oh,ThanksPete…SoThat’sHowYouThrowAFootball!”
    #NowWeNeedToKnowWhich15ComicBooksRichardAllen Bought..
    #..AndWhich16MoviesHeSaw….

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Yeah, Michael, that picture of Beathard and Olmstead
      could have been captioned something like,
      “The 2 quarterbacks are seen sizing up a football”

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. A lot of people of different ethnicities mentioned in today’s column. One of them is sure to set me off. But I’m not a racist because I’m a self-virtuous, preachy leftist.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I thought the Recreation department had exceptionally good taste. She is drop dead gorgeous, then along comes Delores Moran. Like going to a candy shop, its all good.

      Liked by 1 person

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    3. USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch identified the fourth quarter as a source of the defense’s troubles.

      “We really struggled in the fourth quarter last year,” Grinch said. “We did. Part of that is maturity. Part of that is understanding what it takes to win, learning how to win. And part of that is the mental resilience part.”

      Alex Grinch has the same stupid simpleton mentality as Neil Callaway, they must be related.

      At some point the USC boosters/donors are going to put pressure on ‘Ol Mule Shoe to fire Grinch and the other two clowns Shaun Nua and Donte Williams.

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  2. Outstanding – a lot of research and composing to make this workable and the result is stellar! I did read of efforts by the Pac-12 to meld with the ACC thus staving off the collapse of the former and life for the latter with rumors of FL St. thinking of leaving for the SEC or Big10 or?

    As to the 1969 USC/Ucla game I vividly remember Tom Harmon had a weekly TV show on KTLA 5. He came unglued screeching specifically about the pass interference call as the pass was no where hear Dickerson but it was a win for Jimmy Jones in his 1st year as the starter at QB. Tommy Prothro was one weekly – he would leave for the NFL after the 1970 season.

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    2. WTF CL, so the City of Commerce, of LA, of the City of Lancaster and Lemon Heights Angels aren’t unloading Showboat San just in case the Angels make the playoffs…LFOL. Arte Ridiculous is at it again.

      I mean Arte could have unloaded Showboat San for enough good young talent that would actually might turn Angels into real Playoff Baseball Club.

      But no, Arte Ridiculous would rather pay $500 million for Showboat San and in the process, ruin the Angels financial/playoff future until the Showboat’s elephantine contract expires.

      Poor Mike Trout. Talk about getting Arte screwed.

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      1. Artie is the Hispanic version of Gene Autry who had his GM’s trade one great prospect after another for old big named has been washed up shit.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Only Owns would trade the second coming of Babe Ruth because he prefers the washed up past who is constantly hurt, doesn’t want to move to right field and is on the wrong side of 30. Arte has money and Owns only an ass to show for his superior intelligence.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. So 10 year-old Richard Allen saw 16 movies in a week. Big deal. Prior to the Pandemic I was big on sneaking out of work some weekdays and and going to
    the multiplexes to watch 8-movies or parts of them in a single afternoon. The theater personnel didn’t think someone my age would sneak around like that, so I got away with it

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Wonderful story. May I attempt to top it? My brother and I [at around ages 10 and 8] would walk into the Bundy Theater on Pico every Saturday for the matinee w/o paying. We saw the Delicate Delinquent, At War with the Army, The Robe, Cinderella and a bunch of stuff that was on the Catholic Church’s “Condemned” list [we figured it was okay cuz it was free]…..
      #NeverGotCaught

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      1. I can top your ‘top story,’ when after graduating SC I came into a little money and had a house with 3 Southwest Law students. Our big night was when we went marauding through the numerous Hollywood Boulevard movie theatres’ alleyways to crack open the movie-theater doors which were easy pickings back then until the movie houses began reinforcing them to prevent entry. But we had a field day while it lasted

        Liked by 1 person

      2. That’s a topper…
        #ProudOfYou…
        #YouWereExactlyTheKindaYoungManIHopedYouWere….

        Like

  4. That 1969 game started in the light but with Dickerson’s catch ended in the dark under the lights, and it was difficult to see even for the referees

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. I doubt the apricot guy was so enamored with a cute but not stunning 15 year-old Dolores Moran that he left her his fortune. No doubt he loved her movies and felt
    he had some kind of personal “connection” with her based on their one encounter

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    1. Nice light on things. [It’s also possible he watched her working so hard at that drive-in restaurant, admired her and promised himself he’d help her someday]…..

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  6. The abandonment by SC of its West Coast ties means no more treks to Oregon, Washington, or, ugh, Utah, where they treat college football as if it were the
    only show in town. That I will miss, but having Ohio St and Michigan appear
    regularly on SC’s schedule might make up for it

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    1. That feeling will get solidified, John, the first time USC beats Ohio State 14-12 in the last second with a deep pass to the end line of the end zone.

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      1. Actually, all that has previously occurred, MG–
        SC 12
        Ohio St 9
        From 1975 to 2009 SC beat the Buckeyes 7-straight

        SC 6
        Michigan 1
        From 1975-to-present

        No wonder those Midwesterners don’t like my SC-type

        Liked by 1 person

      2. …but think of how fun it’ll be when it means depriving them of both the Big Ten Championship & the playoffs….

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Always enjoy your Fridays article. Maybe I missed the picture of PC? Where was he at in the pic? Was he in the empty seats at the top? Dam Wolfe, I wear glasses and I scanned the whole caption and didn’t see a spec of PC. The WAC 12 can only survive, if it merges with the ACC, so Nike, Dogs, Utes are the top draws to maybe get TV ratings. You would have cross sectional games every other week like, OU vs Clemson, FL St vs. Huskies, Duke vs Stanford. That would make the WAC 12 network be bought by the ACC network and those teams would be in a league called ACC PCT aka Atlantic Coast Conference & Pathetic Conference Teams?. Can you see a 30 for 30 on Disney how the PAC went into the Dark days of a decade of Incompetence Fall Camp is here react bloggers have a take and some will suck!!!! Please don’t fuck up my take with a barrage of sexual innuendos please!!!!!!

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    1. Dam GK, “The longer we wait the better our opportunities”. GK are you that darn incompetent brah! Please who are you trying to convince sir? Not I or WAC chancellor’s, President’s and AD’s.Because you will be unemployed after 2024. Maybe you can apply for a Commissioner Analyst Internship with the SEC or WAC (Western Athletic Conference)

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    2. You are probably right Eric – the PAC needs to merge to stay relevant and the most logical candidates appear to be in the Atlantic region. I suppose local regional sports will soon be part of the past in college athletics. But what a logistical nightmare. If your a Huskie basketball or baseball player you have to travel to Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina multiple times during the year. It is difficult to believe that this will not affect academic performance but that does not appear to be a priority anymore. The amateur student/athlete is a thing of the past.

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      1. Agree Plow. Imagine those players getting ready n BB traveling on Saturday to get ready for Big ACC Monday game then travel to play Wednesday and then play a rival game on the West Coast. It works on paper but logistically it is a scheduling nightmare.

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    1. One sentence that kills expansion. The $34 million to leave the Mt. West by any school. SDSU attempted to leave economically but GK didn’t respond and hung SDSU out to dry. Talk about someone in over his head and floundering, GK is the poster child for those unable to perform.

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      2. The only crowd he is trying to reach are the university presidents. Keep them happy. A lesson learn from the infamous Larry Scott.

        Like

      1. Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Plow Horse & Pudly & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young's avatar Gabby aka The Guy who posts as So Cal's Wife & LawyerJohn & Plow Horse & Pudly & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young says:

        Jinx!

        Like

  10. Why is it whenever Christmas Grinch talks I cringe-
    His boys lacked “mental resilience,” he informs us
    Translation– his charges were fagged ( re TB), out-of-gas
    and just didn’t have it in the 4th quarter
    So one wonders if he knows how to substitute-in fresh players

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    1. LJ, can we get a straight answer from him about responsibility of a coach, if the coach cannot coach them. The players will not perform at a high level regardless of what quarter you say they lose it. This is heat is a killer, hopefully we will be able to be mentally tougher on defense. This heat is a good indication of training for mentally becoming tougher by blocking out all outside factors.

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    2. You guys have Grinch’s number. He talks like every other loser in every other field of endeavor: always pointing out the obvious….
      #WeAllKNOWThere’sA”HellOfAProblemIn4thQuarter”..
      #We’reWaitingToSeeYouSolveIt…
      #…That’sWhatYou’reThereFor,Sparky

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Remember last season is was “Trusting the system”. This year it is maturity. When the fuck do they learn to be bad ass and how to tackle the ball carrier.

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  11. ” The West Coast needs a healthy Pac-12. College football needs more than the SEC and Big Ten. Empathy should be shown as the Pac-12 fights for its survival. ”

    Uh, look at who resides on the west coast these days Scott, how many even know what football is or care ? Football to them is soccer, you should know this as you’re such a soccer fan. Look at the crowds at any college football game in the west, aside from Oregon the stands have no one in them.

    The SEC and Big 10 make money, draw fans and get ratings, that’s the bottom line, MONEY, the networks don’t give a shit about a healthy PAC 12 if it makes no money for them.

    The NCAA killed the biggest threat to the SEC and BIG 10 when they leveled USC with penalties for bullshit, the SEC does far worse things than SC did, and they get slapped hands because they aren’t going to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and the NCAA showed that they didn’t give a fuck about a healthy PAC 12 aside from Nike U.

    The PAC 12 is going to be gone, if it stays it’ll be a joke, but I can’t see it surviving.

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    2. Excellent response. I need these elitists to suffer. Mark Emmert, the SEC and Big 10 and other snakes can all see what their greed has done to their “beloved” cash cow. Collective Bargaining is coming to college football. More schools will drop out of FBS and if they don’t make the game safer, then participation at the youth levels will drop even more precipitously.

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  12. I read where an odd-numbered Pac-9 won’t work due to scheduling concerns & that an even-numbered Pac-10 would mathematically work
    Well then, why not make it an even-numbered Pac-8 (once again)
    and get rid of a school–
    Stanford or Cal would be a start

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. Ha!
        How many times have we had to say those exact same words to OUR lady friends over the years, So Cal?

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      1. Naaah, MG, Cal75 and I are merely nodding acquaintances
        and we like it that way
        But I owe him more than he owes me (which is nothing)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I remember once when some movie star was criticizing John Cassavetes’ movies on Dick Cavett’s Talk Show, Cavett said “Cassavetes doesn’t owe us…we owe him.”
        #[btw,IFeelThatWayWhenTheSamePeopleCritiqueScottOver&Over]

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    1. There will be a lot of movement of decommitting over the next 2 months. One thing I know is these players don’t want competition that’s all. I see us gaining traction on another OL who has us in there top 10?

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  14. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/where-ducks-now-assessing-options-115725931.html

    Oregon is on suicide watch. Duck fans are losing their minds at the thought of being shoved into the same level as Boise St.

    With the fallout of the Kliavkoff crash, it’s going to be interesting to see how recruiting is affected as the LA schools have joined a conference that has a more robust youth football participation than the West Coast currently enjoys now and in the future.

    Itete is going to get money as soon as he verbally commits to Florida St. USC will only get him money when he commits after signing. That’s how you prevent a meltdown like what has happened to Florida and Texas A&M.

    Liked by 3 people

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