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

I shudder to give Max Nikias credit for anything but I cannot imagine him canceling USC’s main graduation ceremony. There’s no way he would bow to outside pressure.

I think I’ve been pretty fair to Carol Folt during her tenure and there’s no doubt she supports athletics with her commitment to new facilities and unprecedented salaries for Lincoln Riley and Lindsay Gottlieb.

But some decisions are baffling. For example:

  • Canceling the main-stage graduation
  • Eliminating regional alumni clubs
  • Shutting down Pac-12 expansion talks with Big 12 schools
  • Evicting the ticket office and pharmacy from the Student Union building
  • Kicking the Daily Trojan out of its newsroom that it inhabited for 100 years
  • Selling the Mudd Estate President’s mansion in San Marino
  • Refusing to discuss why Mike Bohn was fired
  • Having aides instruct media not to call her Carol

IN OTHER NEWS

  • I wrote on Monday that USC cornerback Ceyair Wright would meet the coaches this week and decide whether to enter the transfer portal. Wright entered the portal Thursday night.

Arizona is the favorite to land Wright. Arizona State might be another possibility.

  • Lincoln Riley is the first coach in college football history to coach three No. 1 overall picks: Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma (2018), Kyler Murray, Oklahoma (2019) Caleb Williams, USC (2024).

First reaction: Riley never won a College Football Playoff game with these No. 1 picks.

Second reaction: Riley never won a bowl game with these No. 1 picks.

  • USC women’s rowing coach Josh Adam has been placed on administrative leave. The word around campus this week was that Adam was placed on leave following complaints from members of the rowing team.
  • The USC men’s tennis team finished its season with a 7-16 record. Do I need to mention the great tradition of the Trojan tennis program with Stan Smith, Alex Olmedo, Rafael Osuna, Bob Falkenburg, Dennis Ralston, Raul Ramirez, Bob Lutz, etc.?

This is the program that won five NCAA titles under Peter Smith, who was unceremoniously fired in 2019. Going 7-16 is unacceptable.

  • And now for some history:

Today’s focus will be on 1958.

Monte Gonzales

An overlooked athlete at USC is Monte Gonzales, who was MVP of the 1958 basketball team. He was the Trojans’ second-leading scorer for two seasons (1957-58) and all-Pacific Coast Conference his senior season. He graduated from Belmont High School in Los Angeles.

“He did a better job of running the ballclub than any guard I’ve ever had,” USC coach Forrest Twogood at the end of the 1957-58 season.

Gonzales was one of five members of that year’s team who were married and he had a three-month old daughter. Teammate Jerry Pimm (the future Utah/UC Santa Barbara coach) had a 16-month old son.

Monte Gonzales drives against Washington in 1958
  • USC actually had at least one home basketball game start at 9:30 p.m.! And Fred Hessler, best known as UCLA’s announcer, called some games.
  • You know how people always say things were better in the past or even safer. In 1958, the West Coast Detective Agency was hired to keep an all-night watch on the Row at USC to deter vandalism, looting and thefts.

“This is something we needed for years,” the Interfraternity President said. “We simply could not allow these incidents to continue.”

  • Speaking of 1958, here is a social item: “A hearty congratulations to Trojan basketball ace Jimmy Pugh and Theta Margie Thomas. The couple announced their pinning on Monday evening. A future dentist, Jim is currently the leading scorer on the cage squad, averaging 11.9 points per game. Personable and friendly little Margie is the daughter of SC friend and TV outstanding Danny Thomas.”
  • Pugh did become a dentist in El Segundo and Palos Verdes. Margie Thomas became actress Marlo Thomas and the rest is history. She and Pugh used to go to Julie’s restaurant after USC basketball games.
Jim Pugh grabs rebound against UCLA in 1958

RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK

Danny Kaye had a shop at USC? The address is literally where the beach volleyball courts are located today on Figueroa. A Pastrami on rye for 50 cents sounds reasonable.

ALWAYS A USC CONNECTION

Back in January I wrote about a record that might never get broken. On Dec. 14, 1956, Anaheim played Downey for the CIF-Southern Section championship at the Coliseum before 41,383.

The actual crowd was believed to be 50,000-60,000 because there were only eight ticket-takers and at one point a vehicle entrance was opened and started taking cash instead of tickets.

The game featured the “Touchdown Twins,” Anaheim tailback Mickey Flynn and Downey tailback Randy Meadows. Flynn gained 134 yards in 17 carries while Meadows gained 112 yards in 10 carries. They were both named CIF player of the year.

Seven months later, Flynn and Meadows played at the Coliseum again in the Shrine All-Star game before 85,931.

  • But what I didn’t know at the time is that Meadows went to USC . . . briefly. I came across this newspaper item from 1958: “Highly touted prep star Randy Meadows wound up with a .6 (grade-point) average in his first semester at Troy. He supposedly told close friends when he transferred to a JC that he would never return to USC to play football.”
  • Around this time, USC basketball coach Forrest Twogood supposedly stopped recruiting basketball star Bill McGill, who invented the jump hook and played at Jefferson High School in Los Angeles before going to City College of San Francisco. Reports said his grades were an issue for USC but given Twogood’s abysmal record recruiting African-American players, who knows for sure.

McGill went to Utah and led the nation in scoring at 38.8 points per game for the 1961-62 season and was the No. 1 pick of the 1962 NBA Draft. His coach at Utah was Jack Gardner, who was captain of the USC basketball team and led the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring.

Bill McGill
  • Murray Rose is one of the greatest swimmers in USC history with six Olympic medals (four gold, one silver, one bronze) from the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. But the Australian almost didn’t end up at USC.

“I had sent a letter to what I thought was USC (it was actually UCLA) and they gave me the cold shoulder,” Rose said. “I ruled out the Southern California area, not knowing what I was doing.”

Rose was set to go to Stanford but met two USC alumni who showed him the campus and university’s state-of-the-art telecommunications dept. (He became an actor and sports commentator in Australia).

“I came to America to get a background in communications,” he said.

When Rose lived at Marks Hall, he did not eat meat or fish and university workers made meals consisting of vegetables, fruit, unprocessed cereals, honey and dairy products

“My mother was ill once, began eating these natural foods and was well within six months,” Rose said. “We’ve been eating these foods exclusively ever since.”

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

  1. Remarkable research and equally the craven leadership by Folt…..I don’t know how you do it Scott but it is sad the school is now in her hand’s and every ‘crisis’ shows the stark contrast between what once stood as strong leadership and a ‘…off with their heads…’ attitude by Queen Carol.

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    1. Call me a hypocrite but Soviet’s post caught my eye, and come on all you ignorant and dangerous political guys, politics is never black and white

      Liked by 2 people

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  2. Now that I don’t read the Posters anymore except the humorous Tirebiter I am breathing the rarefied air that Wolf enjoys, however I have heard back from a few friends with the Maggots squealing the loudest–

    imaginary Secret Stump-Bitin Tapes

    Bitin- I love that line from the baseball guy Yogi Berra where he says, “When coming to a fork in the road, take it.” Now that shows wisdom

    Stump– Whatever you say, Joe

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  3. I loved George’s line of when the SC basketball team was not doing well under Coach Twogood fans would chant “That’s not too good, Forrest”

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  4. Yes, Wolf, 1958 was a pretty safe year compared to what was to follow; sure, there were what we call RFs on the Row like the time I took off the front door of the Sigma Chi frat house (which I later returned) that was not vandalism but “play”

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  5. Folt needs to be fired.

    Her lack of leadership is astounding.

    Carol, you had a once in a lifetime opportunity to show grace and leadership.

    it was a defining moment and you FAILED.

    I also blame the Country Club BOD.

    USC is a national embarrassment.

    Carol must go.

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  6. You had me there for a minute Wolfie. I thought, “Wow, he is actually saying something good about a head coach.” That is until you revealed you true motive which was to criticize the coach. If nothing else, at least you are consistent sir.

    Liked by 1 person

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    2. Scott is infamous for his subjective criticism and as you mention consistent. His fanboys, the few that are left, continue to praise his approach, which has turned this blog into a ghost town.

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      1. The only mistake Scott made was not deleting your disgusting posts sooner, especially the feces videos. Quit blaming others for what YOU do. You’re actually stupid enough to think people believe your bs.

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      2. It’s obvious my comments flew right over your head, as usual and not surprised. If I have to explain it to you then you probably wouldn’t comprehend.

        Take you own advive- “Quit blaming others for what “YOU” do. You’re actually stupid enough to think people believe your bs.”

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      3. As usual….more lies to make herself feel better about what a loser she is and what SHE’S done to this blog.

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  7. Folt was shitcanned from North Carolina for trying to remove some statue from the campus, a Civil War figure. Their board told her that wasn’t cool and she ” resigned ”.

    USC saw a great opportunity to ruin the school and hired her.

    How USC finds these fuck up’s is beyond belief.

    And USC having shitty tennis teams, golf teams, volleyball teams is pathetic, but it speaks to the cheapness of the athletic department when it comes to hiring coaches for the “minor” sports.

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    1. As much as I hate to disagree with the perennial Ken Hart, we got served up another great fucking Friday piece by Scott….

      #KenNeedsToMatchIt…..

      #…..WriteUsACoupleGraphs,Ken…

      #…SubmissionDeadline:Today

      #[IDisagreeWithPracticallyEverythingHeSays…. But….

      #…….AtLeastGabbyKnowsHowToDevelopAFullThought]

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  9. My guess is that Folt is typical of (female) college presidents today, more concerned with externalities than the good of the institution and the preservation of what makes it a unique and special place.

    Agree with Wolf on some of the questionable stuff she’s done:

    1. She and the other Pac 12 presidents should have made a full court press to save the league. If that meant paying out millions of dollars to buy out Kliavkoff’s contract when it became clear he wasn’t up to the job, so be it. Now all that tradition has been flushed away (although I do think that SC will figure out that the Big 10 is a poor fit and some form of west coast conference will eventually be resurrected).
    2. I still think shutting down the regional alumni groups was a intended to make the older alumni feel unwelcome. After all, too many of them are pale pen*s people.
    3. The circumstances around Mike Bohn’s departure are probably subject to some kind of NDA, so I’m not sure Folt is to blame. Ah, what the hell, let’s blame her anyway.
    4. Use of her first name isn’t allowed? She must be related to Barbara “Don’t Call Me Ma’am, it’s Senator” Boxer.

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  10. Dear Carol, that’s right I said it, Carol! I would like to congratulate you on once again humiliating our great university by showing no intestinal fortitude and cancelling this year’s commencement ceremony for “security reasons” after selecting a supporter of Hamas to give the commencement speech, only to have it blow up in your face once her true self was exposed. Then you bow down to these “professional agitators” that have infiltrated the campus that have supported her. Their sorry asses should have been kicked off campus once and for all when this crap started, just like they did at Florida State University and Vanderbilt. But then again, you’re a true libtard and taking such actions would violate your libtardian code of ethics. 

    The fact of the matter is that you’ve exhibited all the trade marks of an incompetent fool. Exhibit A is your insistence that people not call you Carol, but Dr. Folt. Last time I checked you’re not an M.D. so you and the rest of these “Doctors”, who parade around like a bunch of elitist academians, can stick it up your rear end. Exhibit B is you general lack of the many traditions that USC has. Traditions that are mentioned above that have long been a staple that has made our university the envy of the entire country at one time. For some reason, other than your own sense of self-importance, you’ve been hell bent on systematically destroying these one tradition at a time. Exhibit C is your flat out refusal to listen to the long time alumni that have brought their concerns about all of this to the forefront. Instead of giving these people the credence and respect they deserve, you completely disregarded them and hid in your office. Great job Carol, you sure are earning your $1 Million plus salary.

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  11. Great piece on Monte Gonzales. He and Irene are my pseudo God parents. The four couples living in quadplex off campus (my parents being one of the four) all stayed close and consisted of a waterpolo all American, a track and field all American, a starting point guard and a starting pitcher and their wives who were also students. Each one chose another couple to be God parents of their kids. So that’s how we got here. Do you think you’d ever see that today.

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      1. 3x all american and national champ vaulter. I didn’t quite have the same resume. He was also a 2x alt. on the olympic team and an olympic silver medalist in 1960.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Incredible. So that’s how we got “Vault91.” 

        I always thought vaulting had to be one of the most difficult events- speed, strength, and agility. Can’t imagine doing it. 

        Liked by 1 person

      3. i did it professionally for 14 years after college.Tuff of the body sometimes. Been coaching on an elite level since ’00 even before retirement. Have multiple national champs, trials champs under my belt and even a 3time world champ who is also a olympic silver ’04 and gold’08 athlete in the decathlon. Funtimes. coached volunteer at the old alma mater for 4 years and had 3 walk ons we turned into all-Americans. It’s in the blood. PV is a way of life.

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    1. AGREED, GEORGE! IF I WERE JOHN I’D JUST STAY AWAY FROM PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS —IT’S THE ONLY AREA IN WHICH HE’S NOT THAT SOPHISTICATED…..

      #WE ALL LOVE HIM & HIS OPINIONS ON ANY OTHER SUBJECT….

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      1. HAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA HAHA.  ARE YOU SURE MG. LJ IS PRETTY WELL VERSED IN GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS ISNT HE ?????

        Liked by 1 person

      2. YES, MY DEAR FRIEND….. I AM SURE….

        #….AND, OUT OF AFFECTION FOR JOHN, THAT’S ALL I’LL SAY…..

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  14. I remember not only reading about the SC swim team in the LA Times, incl Murray Rose, I actually got to watch him and the team swim in some meets at the SC pool. We were there for a football games those afternoons, a swim meet was in the morning hours. Great times in the 50″s in all SC sports.

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  15. Wish we had the 50’s now. Anything would beat the current retreatist cowardly turn-your-back-on-tradition “leadership” at USC.

    Open question: can professor “Carol” Folt be impeached and removed from her post? (This would seem to be the best and shortest route to starting to solve some of what ails this beloved institution…)

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    1. of course she can be fired,but I doubt anyone at SC thinks she has done anything wrong…schools have been at the center of so called education of these very students who hate the country…intentionally hiring the professors to teach communism, and hating our constitutional republic

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