FOOTBALL

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

The UCLA equipment managers defeated the USC equipment managers, 71-48, at Howard Jones Field on Thursday night.

  • The annual Blood Bowl between the staffs of the Daily Bruin and Daily Trojan will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Drake Stadium.
  • USC held its Conquest Rally on Thursday night, which also featured a concert. No more bonfires. UCLA canceled its rally because of fears about inclement weather. Maybe they just didn’t want Chip Kelly to speak.
  • Nothing beat the 1980 rally which featured USC football players Hoby Brenner, James Hunter, Ronnie Lott, Keith Van Horne, Dennis Smith and Speedy Hart. Lott in the vintage Pirates cap and Smith in a Playboy shirt are additional touches.
  • Plenty of Trojans attended the rally in 1965.

Does anyone remember the Troyland Carnival? In 1959, it was the Friday night before the USC-UCLA game and held at Bovard Field, which makes me wonder if the football team practiced with a bunch of rides and booths on the field. There were 39 booths and games in 1959. The entertainment was Dave Pell and his band.

  • I’m hearing a lot Jedd-the-Fisch to UCLA chatter within the Pac-12. Woe to UCLA if it happens.
USC students celebrate claiming the Victory Bell in 1952
  • In 1941, six USC students stole the Victory Bell, which was given to UCLA by its alumni assn. in 1939 and part of an actual Southern Pacific Railroad locomotive.

The bell was hidden for the next year at various locations and UCLA students would sometimes raid the USC campus and fraternities to search for the bell. Pranks began to get out of hand and USC president Rufus B. von KleinSmid threatened to cancel the USC-UCLA game if this vandalism did not stop.

When UCLA students made threats to kidnap USC student body president Bob McKay, a cease fire was declared and USC returned the bell on the condition it be awarded to the winner for a year.

A calm George Tirebiter at Tommy Trojan in 1947. Note the “Choke Bruin” sign on Tommy’s pedestal.
  • UCLA’s Ray Smith tries to squeeze between Jack Treier (55) and Willie Wood. (partially hidden behind Smith) in 1959. No. 32 is USC right halfback Bob Levingston. USC was desperate for a win in 1959 because in the previous nine games, the Trojans had scored 86 points. And not more than two touchdowns in a game since 1949.
  • USC QB Pete Beathard (12) fights for yardage in the 1962 Crosstown Rivalry.
  • Nothing like a copy of TV Guide with the rosters for the 1964 USC-UCLA game.
  • Dave Levy, who died earlier this week, played football at UCLA and became the Brubabes freshmen football coach in 1955. In those days, all the UCLA coaches shared a locker room. Levy’s locker was right between John Wooden and Red Sanders.
  • UCLA receiver Harold Busby with a 17-yard reception vs. USC safety Mike Battle in 1966.
  • This photo from the 1970 Crosstown Rivalry shows how teams were uniform in wearing their “uniforms.”
  • Here’s a 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 “Wild Bunch” defensive linemen Willard Scott (left) and Al Cowlings (right). 
  • USC coach Jeff Cravath sits in a folding chair, which was not unusual at the time, and watched the 1944 USC-UCLA game.

Does the rivalry get any better than All-Americans Richard Wood (83) and Kermit Johnson (37) in the same photo? I’d love it if USC and UCLA played a game with these throwbacks.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

  • It’s been awhile since Marilyn Monroe made an appearance. So let’s watch her completely carry a scene from Clash by Night.
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31 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column”

    2. “The UCLA equipment managers defeated the USC equipment managers, 71-48, at Howard Jones Field on Thursday night.”

      In Related News…

      pudly, gotroll22, Slo Cal and Cal75 hippie were all caught in the locker rooms sniffing the jockstraps from players on both teams after the game and were promptly escorted off campus.

      Campus security said several jockstrsps remain unaccounted for.

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      5. Slo Cal and Cal75 hippie were last seen on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd proudly waving the jockstraps that they made off with

        Like

      7. Pasadena Trojan was standing on the sidewalk complaining about the wokeness of changing the name of Santa Barbara Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

        Like

      8. What’s Life Like Today On The Streets Named After Martin Luther King?
        Would Dr. King be happy with what life is like on the streets named after him?

        BY ADELE PETERS

        If you live on or near one of the nearly 900 streets in the U.S. named after Martin Luther King, Jr., you’re more likely to be poor, and you’re more likely to be black.

        And some might argue that your street serves more as a symbol of inequality than of progress made since King’s death.

        https://www.fastcompany.com/3055536/all-the-streets-named-after-martin-luther-king-in-photographs

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      11. You love your racist posts, Zero Football IQ Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka Cowardly Gabby/TebowObama

        Gabby (original)
        JUNE 22, 2023 AT 9:22 PM
        horse plow wants to use his wife’s black dildo to enter the peenus sword fight tourney. The guy is hung like a pimple… I promised we wouldn’t laugh

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      1. Speaking of woke, the GOP/MAGA Lunatics now want Snoopy and other cartoon characters that most believe to be male, banned from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade because they believe them to be non-binary as they have no exposed genitalia i.e. penis and testicles.

        True Story

        LOL!

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      2. By including non-binary performers, Macy’s is giving the MAGATs the middle finger. And telling them to not watch the parade and no longer patronize their stores.

        HAHA!

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  4. A defensive statistic sometimes forgotten is ‘points allowed’
    and sucla was 90th last year (out of about 120 schools)
    and 9th this year under a new defensive coordinator.
    Wiley took note, “It can be done”

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. Nice to remember Trojan sensation Mike Battle (good football name)
    and the guy at 170-pounds was fearless and seldom took a fair catch, blessed with cat-quickness he faked out many a defender

    He played with legend Rossovich, a nut case, and Battle wasn’t far behind

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. Notwithstanding SC’s ‘Parting of the Red Sea’ defense
    this team was not going to win the National Championship
    even with Celeb; the offense had some average games and
    there were too many close ones that could have gone either way

    And as mentioned with the new 12-game playoff system it will be easier to qualify for the tournament but harder to win it.
    So if it is ‘National Championship or Bust’ Trojans are in for a lot of pain

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    1. Caleb is running for his life from the second of the snap..

      I would like to see them put in Paige and Noa for some of the UCLA game. We never hear anything about Tobias Raymond, but I think he is going to have a shot at playing next year. He was 260 lbs when they recruited him and is now at 300. He is a double major at USC (smart) and a multi-sport athlete in high school. He was 3 star mainly because he played against no real competition and was underweight.

      I think next year’s o-line is young, but has great upside potential.

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