FOOTBALL

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

Washington State swept Arizona this season after it defeated the Wildcats at McKale Center last night and is currently in first place in the Pac-12. How is USC doing?

The Cougars were picked 10th in the Pac-12 media poll. USC was picked second.

  • Five-star QB Julian Lewis, who is committed to USC, will visit Alabama on March 8; Georgia on March 14; Auburn on March 16; Colorado on March 22 and USC on March 30.
  • I’ve noticed the Fight On! pale ale has been missing from the shelves of some grocery stores. Is it simply out of stock? Are stores not carrying it anymore? Or did Lincoln Riley and Andy Enfield kill sales?
  • And now for some history:
  • Here’s another story of a USC athlete who turned into a successful actor. Larry Pennell, who attended Hollywood High School, played baseball at USC in 1947. Pennell then signed with the Boston Braves and in his first season in the minors, hit .338 with 18 homers and 147 RBI.
  • He did not play between 1950-53 because of his service during the Korean War, when he worked in counterintelligence. In 1954, Pennell’s contract was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers but he decided to pursue acting.

Pennell’s big break came in 1961, when he landed the lead role in the TV series Ripcord, where Pennell protrayed a skydiver. The show ran for 76 episodes.

He was probably best known, however, as the character Dash Riprock on The Beverly Hillbillies. Riprock was a film star who courted Elly May Clampett.

Larry Pennell and Donna Douglas on The Beverly Hillbillies

Pennell’s acting career spanned 56 years and 116 roles, including three times where he portrayed Clark Gable. Below, he is with Jimmy Stewart in the 1959 film, “The FBI Story.”

  • When USC scored 20 straight points to upset Notre Dame, 20-17, in 1964, Father Theodore Hesburgh (the school president) congratulated John McKay in the USC locker room.

As Hesburgh shook McKay’s hand, he said, “John, that wasn’t a very nice thing for a Catholic to do.” McKay responded, “Father it serves you right for hiring a Presbyterian coach (Ara Parseghian).

  • Two plays before Rod Sherman’s famous game-winning catch, Fred Hill thought he caught a 21-yard TD pass from Craig Fertig but a referee ruled him out of bounds. If Hill had been ruled in bounds (or maybe if replays existed then), Hill might be the hero today.
  • Fertig was always a character. After his last game, McKay called him into his office and wanted to know why he stole his football jersey. “I was simply retiring it,” Fertig responded.
  • Linebacker Michael “Tex” Williams (54), defensive guard Dan Owens (90) and linebacker Junior Seau (55) at the 1990 Rose Bowl against Michigan.
  • QB Rob Hertel signals to the crowd that USC is City Champs after a dramatic 29-27 victory over UCLA at the Coliseum. This was back in the good, old days when the seniors would address the crowd after the final home game. USC won the game on a 38-yard FG by Frank Jordan with 2 seconds left.
  • Here is Hertel throwing a pass in the UCLA game. No. 84 is UCLA three-time All-American Jerry Robinson.
  • Here is 17-year-old Cliff Robinson playing his first game for USC in 1977 vs. Idaho State. Robinson had 16 points and nine rebounds in his debut and then the next night had 19 points and 11 rebounds vs. Texas. No. 45 is forward Purvis Miller.
  • After USC beat Michigan in the 1990 Rose Bow, the bookstore sold T-shirts that said, “Bo Didn’t Know Diddley.” It was a reference to Michigan coach Bo Schembechler and probably not in the best taste since it was Schembechler’s last game as Michigan coach.

TWO SIGNIFICANT TROJANS

  • Vada Watson Somerville was a USC graduate in 1911 who became the first African-American woman and the second African-American person to graduate from the USC School of Dentistry (1918) and was the first African-American woman certified to practice dentistry in California. Sommerville was a high-profile civil rights activist in Los Angeles and involved in several civic and community organizations.

A residential floor at USC’s Flour Tower was named Somerville Place after Vada and her husband, John. Their portraits are also on display at the USC dental school.

  • Herman Hill (left) was the first African-American basketball player in USC history (1929-30). He is pictured with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell (second from left) and actor/director Orson Welles (far right).

Hill became a journalist and in 1949 led a movement that resulted in the Rams signing their first African-American players, UCLA stars Kenny Washington and Woody Strode.

He later became a publicist for Martin Luther King, Joe Louis and Nat King Cole. In 1981, Hill received the Outstanding Alumni Award from USC. He was also a high jumper on USC’s national championship track team in 1931.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

It’s Tom Jones and Cher in 1969 singing “The Beat Goes On.”

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

      3. grabbbyy
        FEBRUARY 21, 2024 AT 8:54 PM
        You are despised by the blog. You live in a world of illusion in your dumpster on 6th and Grand Avenue.

        Like

        Gabby
        FEBRUARY 21, 2024 AT 8:57 PM
        Despised is worn as a badge of honor…….go take your meds…..freak……..next up is some horse shit….you have been warned

        Like

        grabbbyy
        FEBRUARY 21, 2024 AT 9:04 PM
        That’s the first honest post you have ever made her . Congratulations! You really want us to despise you.

        Like

    3. It’s de-lovely that Scott excised the Board Cancer Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young.

      ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2uiP0-VF78

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      Reply

      1. So Cal, I think if we’re hitting ok Troy will make a game of it-
        These aren’t the days of Alcindor, Walton and Wicks when there was NO HOPE of winnng (except for Bob Boyd’s 1970 Lew stall)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. True. But it’s what you do with the talent you have and Cronin is doing better than Enfield with LESS talent.

        I haven’t watched one game of ours where the TV commentators aren’t baffled at where we are, considering our roster.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Board Coward, Zero Football IQ Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka Cowardly Gabby/TebowObama/Frank Young, why all the sock puppets and obscene posts? I know, to make up for your absolute lack of knowledge of sports. You avoided contact sports as a young lass. You only know opera, Broadway show tunes and fashion.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young, tell us again that Curtis Conway never returned on kickoff for USC.

        ” Gabby
        AUGUST 30, 2023 AT 3:07 AM
        Fake gabby: USC Fan would know that teams intentionally kicked away from Trojan star kick returner and WR Curtis Conway.

        you stupid senile troll…..a kick returner returns kickoffs, and a punt returner returns punts…..Conway never returned a kickoff in his entire USC career.

        https://www.on3.com/teams/usc-trojans/news/o-nso-the-usc-mount-rushmore-series-the-kickoff-returners/

        Like

  3. Cliff Robinson and Purvis Miller made sure SC was a rebounding team
    and what a team that was!

    Yes, USC’s Craig Fertig could turn a phrase even better than Coach McKay but on the field as a coach he once yelled at me the first day of practice after making a catch and then stopping-
    “You got to run it out after you catch the ball– we lost a game last year because a guy didn’t run it out!”

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. Some on this blog have called the showing of videos of animal’s defecating by a certain someone is the sign of mental illness.
    I would prefer to call it “Just being plain mean for no good cause”
    And to what end my friend?
    I simply maneuver around your defecation-pieces and stroll on

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. LOL! No. He said you were better at the bullshit than we are.

        He’s stated quite explicitly that he agrees with most of what I write. He’s laughed at YOU for buying the Left’s garbage. He’s only complimented you on being able to argue their points with virtually no real ammunition, (i.e. in light of their failures).

        Quit lying to yourself!

        Liked by 2 people

      1. Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young knows nothing about football or any other sport. According to her we can’t compare sports stars of the 1990s like Michael Jordan to todays stars like Lebron and Steph.

        Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young makes as much sense as Senile Joe’s Katrina ignoring Maui.

        Like

    3. The showing of videos of animals defecating by a certain someone named Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young is the sign of mental illness and being plain mean for no good cause.

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      Reply

  6. But I am not “putting up’ with the nonsense that goes on here,
    especially the continuing exchanges of insults which some take to heart, so I skip over the male ego-laced stuff and talk about sports

    Like

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    1. I was kicked off the OTHER (allen) Blog over 2-years ago ‘Home,’
      he would censor some of my comments and unless you brown-nosed up to the guy he would exile you.
      I found my “wings” on Wolf’s blog where I can insult him at my pleasure with no risk of retort, and he even allows animal dung pix

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      Reply

      1. I tried!!!!!!…… you’re one of the few who I respect on this blog and I appreciate the times you have stuck up for me.

        Like

    1. It has come down to this, hasn’t it, and with the introduction
      of NIL money it was inevitable
      “The overly aggressive pursuit of money and its consequences”

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  8. Alright ‘Home,’ there is a lot of political talk here, much of which I don’t agree with, but basically I leave it alone and go on my merry blog way

    The same goes for the insults. I catch some insults but quickly move on

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      2. Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young lied about USC’s all time great kick returner Curtis Conway and actually claimed he never returned ONE kickoff in his USC career. Her arrogance, dishonesty and sociopathic antics can only be matched by Senile Joe and Hunter Biden.

        Like

  9. I almost typed “Inside Wolf’ instead of “Inside USC,’
    and I got to wondering what we would find ‘inside’ Wolf-
    Not the blood and guts but his brain– I bet he doesn’t
    have the “brain disease” so many football players have.
    Scott no doubt shied away from contact sports

    Like

    Reply

      1. Probably true, the really good jocks go into high paying broadcast jobs not puny-paid sportswriter jobs that are left to the amateurs

        Liked by 1 person

      1. So Scott DOES read his blog’s Posters’ remarks
        In that case I take back every constructive thing I’ve said about you

        Like

  11. And for the first time Scott deleted a passage which read-
    (I’ll leave out the censored part)–
    Home, I was kicked off the OTHER (allen) blog and censored whereas
    I can insult Scott to my heart’s content with no risk of a retort

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    Reply

  12. Just read some positive news regarding the SC basketball team–
    D.J. Rodman is SC’s best rebounder (“The apple doesn’t fall far from the apple tree”) said that this team (at full guard strength) was one of the favorites to win the Pac-12 Tournament at the beginning of the season and “We still have the same team.” I don’t see why that can’t happen.

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      1. SC is much better than a second tier Pac-12 team and I believe they will show it from this point on starting with a possible sucla win

        Like

      3. Ten years ago, if someone had told you a feeble old man with dementia, who’s fallen on his face a half dozen times would be our 46th President, you’d have thought they were nuts!!

        So why can’t the 11th place team win the tournament?!

        Liked by 2 people

  13. It’s always very telling, when she is posting her favorite fetish videos. She is sick and not all there. Hilarious when she tries to make excuses or blame others. In total denial about her mental illness.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    2. Grabby — Thank you for the Biden tape. Hilarious. [He’s probably gonna need a really long nap after that one hundredth of a second’s exertion —but, to him, it was worth it —he thinks he showed the whole world how young and fit he is]!
      #Every”OldMan”IKnowCouldKnockHisAssOutIn30Seconds…
      #[…And,BelieveMe,They’dAllLikeTo]….

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    2. Gabby
      DECEMBER 29, 2023 AT 11:33 PM

      Frank Young
      DECEMBER 29, 2023 AT 11:03 PM

      You are so obvious, you psychotic .You only appear when Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young appears, you support her leftist kook agenda in lockstep and you completely ignore her disgusting vulgar obscene posts. Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young fills the blog with impersonators and made up posters … just like you!

      Guilty as charged like the Senile Joe Crime Family

      Like

      Reply

  16. GrabbbyyGabby
    2h ago
    We remember when you used steveg’s name as a sock puppet to mislead a cancer patient, Cal 75. Shame on you, you ghoul.

    Like
    GabbyGabbygrabbbyy
    1h ago

    USC Morning Buzz: Riley Needs To Answer This
    USC will release its spring roster in the next few weeks. So is Lincoln Riley going to provide an update on corn…

    I sure did….loved every minute of it….CAL75 is another limp-dick troll

    Like

    Reply

  17. So now it is “Pick on Old Mens’ Day,’ around here, also known as ageism-
    Through “positive eyes” I see an excellent speaker in Trump,
    A funny, deflective, “Aw Shucks” folksy Biden with his guffaws
    Inspired to see a 97-year old male still trying to dance
    And the ‘One Man Band’ playing a favorite, “Yes sir,, that’s my baby”

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      1. I prefer to believe there was fraud than believe we have THAT many people who were stupid enough to vote for that!

        So funny, the people who are acting as if that is a recent development. Anyone with any sense noticed it WELL BEFORE the last election.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Senility like everything else is a matter of degree. I am not a fan of either Bitin’ or Stump but Bitin’s guffaws have an element of charm and Stump is a pretty good talker except when in Court

        Like

      4. Element of charm if he’s a relative or lives on your street. But as the Leader of the Free World, it’s incredibly dangerous and has already cost over a million lives in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands in other parts of the world.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. You already admitted you are afraid to fight anyone here, you Coward.

        You admitted you lied!

        Here’s our coward admitting all:

        Gabby (original)
        JULY 8, 2023 AT 3:06 AM
        no one is going to fight someone over comments made in a blog…..plow is an old man just popping off…and you fucking know it…

        Like

      8. Biden is ahead in polling…. Haha slo Cal and grabbbyy…. The majority are saying “Anyone but trump”…. I agree 100%…. Haley is sticking around knowing trump is on a fragile footing with numerous trials pending.

        Trump for prison 2024

        Like

      10. Don’t forget about telling the MSM how to report on his impeachment inquiry, banning the media from the border, the DOJ having financial institutions conduct an illegal search of banking records for anyone who was merely IN DC on Jan 6!

        He has done so much more than Trump ever did to be considered a dictator. But the idiots who voted for this close their eyes.

        Like

    1. Hopefully Scott will get Word Press to permanently ban the Board Cancer Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young.

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      1. I am still here pussy boy…. Wipe the drool and get a diaper refresh you reek like pile of shit….

        Like

      2. Your whole existence is one big lie:

        Gabby
        FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 7:09 PM
        you’re the only limp-dick who gives a shit what I said 8 months back … ….. I FUCKING LIED…..I FUCKING LIED…….AND NO ONE GIVES A FUCK BUT A FREAK LIKE YOU…..

        GO FUCK YOURSELF WHILE A DECIDE WHAT HORSE SHIT VIDEO TO POST

        Like

        grabbbyy
        FEBRUARY 22, 2024 AT 8:23 PM
        Are you lying now or were you lying then? Or both? That’s what happens when you are a liar like Senile Joe. No one believes anything you say.

        Like

      4. But you said:

        Gabby (original)
        JULY 8, 2023 AT 3:06 AM
        no one is going to fight someone over comments made in a blog…..plow is an old man just popping off…and you fucking know it…

        Were you lying then or are you lying now, Cowardly Gabby aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf and Frank Young ?

        Like

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