FOOTBALL

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

Oregon State’s 83-80 upset of Arizona means the Beavers moved into a tie for last place with USC in the Pac-12 standings. Both teams are 2-6 in the Pac-12.

  • Lincoln Riley visited high schools in Ohio, Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey and Kansas the past week.
  • UCLA coach Mick Cronin said this to the L.A. Times on the importance of beating USC at the Galen Center: “If the game’s important to your fan base, it better be important to you as a coach.”

Too bad Riley didn’t have this attitude in November when USC lost to UCLA with an anemic effort at the Coliseum.

  • Kris Richard has been hired as defensive backs coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars by defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen. They were teammates at USC.

And now for some history:

THE NIGHT SHARON TATE VISITED USC

  • I noted earlier this week it was Sharon Tate’s 81st birthday.

So I wondered: Did she ever visit USC? The answer, as with many celebrities, is “of course!”

Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski and Candice Bergen at USC’s Town and Gown in 1969.

Tate attended the National Delta Kappa Alpha Awards Banquet at Town and Gown on the USC campus the evening of Feb. 9, 1969. Delta Kappa Alpha is the honorary cinema fraternity.

Tate and her husband, Roman Polanski, were there for the part of the banquet that honored Steve McQueen. It was a star-studded affair, with McQueen, Jerry Lewis, Candice Bergen, Carol Burnett, Raquel Welch, Betty White, Irene Dunn, Greer Garson, Cesar Romero, Juanita Moore, Roddy McDowall and Henry Mancini among those in attendance.

Here is the program for the banquet. As you can see, Tate was part of three panelists who questioned McQueen:

  • The banquet was a yearly affair at USC and the previous year saw Mae West and Jimmy Stewart among those honored.

John McKay showed up that night with All-Americans O.J. Simpson, Tim Rossovich and Adrian Young. They got the loudest round of applause outside of West. 

When West was introduced, she had a full-length mirror, furry rug, bed and chandelier surrounding her on the stage. Simpson, Rossovich and Young were in front of her.

“I’ve been honored for many things,” West said. “But this is the first time I’ve become a fraternity brother.”

  • Below is a glorious photo, especially with the clouds in the background. The card stunt and band performance are from the 1949 USC-Washington State game.

Tommy Walker, who I wrote about last week, was assistant director of the band at this time, and would eventually change the band hats into Trojan helmets.

One side note on Walker’s most-famous accomplishment, when he wrote a six-note fanfare for the trumpet section: “Da da da DUT da DUH!” and Trojan fans then screamed, “Charge!”

The first time it was played to the fans was when actor Mickey Rooney introduced the song at a USC pep rally.

  • Here is USC tailback Ricky Bell on the cover of Street and Smith’s 1976 College Football Yearbook.
  • O.J. Simpson was on the cover of th 1968 Inside Football preview, which was an offshoot of Sport magazine. Look at the bottom right corner, where it says “O.J. Simpson, UCLA.”
  • Here’s USC All-American John Ferraro on the Street and Smith cover in 1946.

Here’s USC end (wide receiver) Ron Drake on the cover of the 1967 yearbook.

Charles White was on the 1979 cover.

  • And finally, here’s an Art Brewster illustration from 1958 celebrating USC coach Don Clark and Notre Dame coach Terry Brennan.

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

  2. Ron Drake had lots of receptions in 1966…but…he dropped the one that would have kept Notre Dame from shutting USC out. All alone in the endzone , he just let the ball go through his fingers.
    #51-7SoundsSoMuchBetterThan51-0.
    P. S.
    Sharon Tate, O. J. Simpson —who could have possibly guessed how tragically their lives would turn out?
    P. S.
    Awesome edition of “If It’s Friday”, Scott. Thank you!

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    2. Karma, Michael, is what got to Ron Drake for practically taking my head off, and I would not equate Sharon Tate’s fate with O.J.’s as she was the receiver and Simpson was the deliverer

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      1. Very astute point, John [I was thinking that thought one millisecond after I hit Send]…..
        #IfDrakeTriedToHurtOurJohnnyI’mGladItWas51-0…..

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      3. In February of 1997, the jury in the civil case found OJ Simpson personally liable for the wrongful deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole after deliberating for five days.(Conversely, CNN reported that the jury in Simpson’s criminal case deliberated for less than four hours after a case that lasted 11 months.) Simpson was ordered to pay a total of $33.5 million to the families of his two victims, according to the New York Times.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Some money grab. As of February 2021, O.J. has reportedly only paid the Goldman family $132,000, but Simpson’s debt has ballooned due to interest rates, and now he owes the Goldman family over $70 million.

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      9. They succeeded in showing everyone that people will do anything to make a buck, even if it’s blood money. See it all the time. Plaintiffs will claim “It’s not about the money.”

        Yeah, yeah, sure it isn’t.

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      10. They succeeded in showing OJ is a double murderer. It’s disgusting that USC honors him at every home game with his larger than life number 32 prominently displayed. I could get it if USC was a second rate school and didn’t have 7 other Heisman Trophy winners who managed to not get convicted of crimes. Fortunately OJ received some justice in Nevada. The look on OJ’s face: priceless!

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      11. Just because you think he is doesn’t make it so. The only 12 people who mattered said Not Guilty.

        He remains innocent.

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      12. I’d be disappointed in my alma mater if they didn’t display his jersey. It’s for what he did on the field. Nothing will ever take that away.

        Now if were actually guilty, that’s another matter. Maybe then I could see it.

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      13. He wasn’t found “Innocent”, he was found “not guilty” by one jury and personally liable for the wrongful deaths of Ron Goldman and Nicole by another. And then, if that wasn’t bad enough for one lifetime, he was then convicted of all 12 counts of kidnapping and armed robbery. It’s disgraceful we honor that criminal who squandered all the love and good will of the Trojan Family, America and the world.

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      14. I didn’t say he was FOUND innocent. I said he REMAINS innocent.

        In our system, you are innocent until proven guilty. He was NOT found guilty, therefore REMAINS innocent whether anyone likes it or not. That is a fact.

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      16. Quit using words that you don’t understand.

        Explaining where someone was mistake about something is not being “triggered”. I realize you & your peeps love using that word because you are all so easily triggered. Your team loves to accuse others of what they’re guilty. They are experts at it.

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  3. Scott Wolf: Too bad Riley didn’t have this attitude in November when USC lost to UCLA with an anemic effort at the Coliseum.

    Eventually a coach is going to give Scott a good ass whipping. The bad mouthing is out of control.

    PS…. The guy above was not generous when to came to Tate’s tities…..

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    1. I picked up on that too, Gabby, how can you be at either SC or sucla and not feel the rhythm of the rivalry

      You might recall the scene in the “Valley of the Dolls” where Sharon Tate is examining her breasts and is not happy with their size

      Talk about meeting stars I was engaging in my favorite hobby, picking up girls on the beach (it was easy back in the 1970s), and I came upon a nice girl who I then realized was Farrah Fawcett who I gave short shrift to as I closed with “I guess you have 6 million reasons not to go out with me” (hubby Majors starred in a show called that)

      Mae West– is her most famous line upon looking down at a man’s crouch, “Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?”

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      1. Speaking of 6 million, back in the day as a young kid Steve Austin was my favorite superhero. I never missed an episode. The female version didn’t have the wow factor, at least for me.

        Sharon Tate reminds me of a movie I recently rewatched “Once upon a time in Hollywood”… Good movie and has a great cast. It’s worth a watch if you have not seen it.

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      2. Although he’s not a fighter, Brad Pitt is athletic enough to pull off the 3 fight scenes in Once Upon A Time…. I particularly like the way he lets Bruce Lee show his cards with that first kick so he can cream him the second time he tries it…..
        #”WhatTheFuckHappenedToMyCar?”

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      4. Gabby –I was really happy for Pitt …until…. he started his acceptance speech with “I wish I could give my 30 seconds to John Bolton.” Brad was actually thinking about John Bolton during the Academy Awards?
        #Brad’sAgent:They’reGonnaGiveYouTheAcademyAwardTonight..
        #Brad:Fuck-A-Doodle!
        #Brad’sAgent:ButYou’reGonnaHaveToMentionJohnBolton…
        #Brad:Who’sThat?
        #Brad’sAgent:Doesn’tMatter…GotAPencil&Paper?

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  4. About the only other famous person I met was Groucho Marx when as a student I was sitting across from him at some sort of dinner party and I naively said, “You remind me of my grandfather,” to which he retorted, “Well you remind me of my grandfather”

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    1. Groucho may have been one of the two or three most brilliant comedians of our time —but practically everyone who met him on the street got the same treatment you did, John…..
      #MyFavoriteAppraisal:”HeRemindedMeOfMyObnoxiousUncle”

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      1. Although he was not a true comedian, Johnny Carson was the best, MG, with how he could find gold nuggets when interviewing anybody from Dean Martin to Mr. Nobody

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      2. True, John. Two Disney animators I knew, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, went on Carson’s show after Walt Disney died to plug their new feature, Robin Hood. They were super nervous in the green room —but Carson told them ” you’re among friends —let’s have fun.” When their wives were late to pick them up after the taping, Carson came out to the parking lot and asked if they needed a ride with him. Good guy. Great talk show host.

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    2. Groucho never smoked before noon and normally, but not always, had one cigar after lunch and one after dinner. If he had to stay up past his usual bedtime–with dinner guests who refused to go home or to attend some function on the town, he might, if he felt especially daring, smoke a third cigar around midnight.

      Some type of lung disease must of been a contributing factor in his death.

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      1. Actually that was not the cause of Groucho’s death at 86 as he had dementia and a hip surgery that went awry not to mention neglect by his caretakers

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      2. I was being sarcastic. I always remember him as having a cigar in his hand . It was like his trademark prop.

        Thanks for posting that.

        Liked by 3 people

      6. Hard not to love George Burns. He was so much more than a stand up entertainer. He was a kind of godfather to folks coming up the ladder in the business in the late 50’s. A relative was a dealer in Las Vegas and tells a story about Bobby Darrin coming up to George to ask for money cuz he just lost $50,000…and George slapping him in the face for being profligate. [Bobby later said that was a valuable lesson —a hard one but a valuable one]….

        Liked by 2 people

  5. Brad Pitt is not a fighter, well, I don’t think either one of us would do well to take him on MG as “Inglourius Basterds” would indicate not to mention how many fights he has had with wife Angelina Joline

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    1. Here’s what I meant —Some guys really know how to fight….they even direct their own fight scenes. Rod Taylor was one of those guys. Brad just looks good —there’s a difference.
      Watch the end of Oscar de La Hoya’s fight with Arturo Gatti to see how a real fighter sets a guy up for a knockout —a couple of inside punches and the left hook comes out of nowhere. Gatti doesn’t even see it coming. Rod understood that principle and incorporated it into his fight scenes — Brad doesn’t. Tarantino doesn’t. That right hand Brad throws at Manson’s dipshit wrangler would never land on someone who knew how to fight. You’d just duck under it and throw a left to the body, and then the head. Fight over.

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  7. Jose Huizar, corrupt city official, just got the maximum 13 year sentence
    He was a treacherous tough guy extracting bucks out of developers and then cried out for mercy to the judge saying he “lost everything”
    At 55 he won’t get out until about 65, and the question is ‘Was it worth living like a millionaire for a while?”

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    1. Sorry for the political tone of this reply [I know how you —very wisely — prefer this crap to stay out of our InsideUSC back & Forth] ….but… I often wonder how Hillary feels about the disaster she initiated in Libya just to explore the possibility of making a little extra pocket money for herself…

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      5. I guess we’ll just have to wait for her book to come out to know the whole truth, kind of like “The World according to Garp”

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Yup! But sending that letter to Dictator Joe will do absolutely nothing. It’s right in line with all of the other things he’s done to trample on the 1st & 4th amendments.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. And contempt of Congress is also a political issue that is only prosecuted against Trump administration officials but not Rat Face Eric Holder and Hunter Biden.

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  10. Loyola Marymount cutting off some sports due to NIL and transfers.
    We probably won’t see this at Michigan any time soon but how about smaller players, small time colleges that still play football?

    Liked by 1 person

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