When USC canceled today’s main graduation ceremony two weeks ago, I said Carol Folt was afraid of getting booed.

Well, Thursday’s events certainly bolstered that theory. USC held the Student Recognition Ceremony at Bovard Auditorium. Folt always opens the ceremony with her opening remarks.

But she was nowhere to be found at Bovard. Keep in mind this event has the Creme de la creme of USC’s senior class, students who earned honors from their majors, etc.

The class valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, was introduced and received rousing applause and a standing ovation. Folt wanted no part of the students in that auditorium.

• And I didn’t see or hear anything about her making an appearance at the Coliseum on Thursday night for the graduation “celebration.” Marcus Allen, Matt Barkley, Eric Musselman, Will Ferrell and Jimmy Kimmel were among those who delivered video messages. Janet Evans attended in person and spoke.
• And now for some history:

• LeVar Burton was a 19-year-old junior at USC majoring in Drama on March 9, 1977 when a crowd of 4,000 turned out in Alumni Park to welcome him and other cast members of the TV mini-series “Roots,” which was a blockbuster hit. The “Tribute to Roots” also featured author Alex Haley and members of the cast.

Haley said an assistant casting director spotted Burton in a USC production of “Oklahoma” and recommended him for the role of Kunta Kinte.

“It says a lot about an institution when it attracts and trains students like LeVar,” Haley said.

Burton and Haley were presented with USC’s Award of Honor, which was the highest honor given by the university.

• USC basketball coach Bob Boyd was offered the Lakers’ coaching job in 1969. When he turned it down, Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke threw him out of his house.

• The 1976-77 academic year at USC featured performances by Al Stewart, Oingo Boingo and George Carlin. The Stewart concert was considered a success as it sold out Bovard with 1,170 tickets sold.

• Some USC road games used to be shown in Bovard Auditorium, like this game against Cal in 1977.

• I’ve written before about the big charity dance USC used to have called, “The Chase” at Riviera Country Club. Whoever sold the most bids to the dance could choose who would be the date for a Hollywood starlet dubbed the Chase Queen.

In 1950, former USC student turned actress Mari Blanchard was the queen. In 1954, it was Rita Moreno. In 1955, it was Anita Ekberg, a former Miss Sweden and her date was a USC professor.

That prompted this famous line in the school paper: “Coeds are wondering when ECON instructor Norman Adams will stop talking about his date for the (dance) last weekend, Hollywood Starlet-About-Town Anita Ekberg. Every class has heard about the date in lurid detail.”

In 1953, the queen was Arlene Dahl, who had already been in 13 movies and twice been on the cover of Life magazine. This had to be a coup for the dance committee.

• One of the entertainers at the dance was singer April Stevens, who had two top 10 hits before her appearance.

• While some USC students were at the dance that Saturday night, at the same time Parry O’Brien was setting a world record in the shot put at the prestigious West Coast Relays in Fresno. O’Brien became the first person to shatter 59 feet with a toss of 59-feet, 3/4 inches.

It meant O’Brien held the world, Olympic, NCAA and AAU records at the same time. Remarkably, three USC athletes held track-and-field world records at that time: O’Brien in the shot put; Mel Patton in the 100-and-220-yard dashes and Dick Attlesey in the 120-yard and 110-meter high hurdles.

O’Brien became the 45th Trojan to equal-or-better a world record between 1913-53. USC track and field won nine straight NCAA titles from 1935-43 and has won 26 overall. History matters.

RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK

• I’ve written about Carl’s Restaurant before but this ad is from 1977. It was where Figueroa and Flower Streets met, just south of Exposition Blvd. Carl’s ceased doing business in 1979. The site then became a Margarita Jones.

Here’s a picture from 1941. The restaurant featured car hops.

SIBLING U.

In 1977, USC athletic teams were full of siblings.

Rob and Rick Hertel were teammates the baseball team (their father, Bob, played for the USC baseball team in the 1950’s and their mother also went to USC). Tom and Joel Andrews ran for the USC track team (they also had 11 other brothers and sisters). Joe and Mike Bottom were on the swim team; Scott and Dave Simpson were on the golf team; Miriam and Mark Smith were on the swim teams; Buzz and Margie Strode were on the tennis teams.

The track team also featured Anna and Jennifer Biller while the swim team had Todd and Jeff Breyman.

Not every Hertel went to USC at that time. Ron was a baseball player at UC Santa Barbara and Randy played quarterback at Rice.

“Other schools didn’t recruit (Rick) or my other brothers as much as myself because they figured my brothers would go wherever I went,” Rob said. “That was wrong and those schools were really stupid not to give them as many opportunities by thinking that

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

• Former President Gerald Ford, USC athletic Dick Perry and football coach John Robinson at Heritage Hall in 1977 for a reception as Ford met USC coaches and athletes.

Ford was a visiting professor at USC that semester, which meant he spent three days on campus and got shuttled around to various classes/events. Ford had time to kick off his visit with a round of golf with USC president John Hubbard.

• Since USC keeps botching Willis O. Hunter’s name, here’s a picture of Hunter (far right) with USC football coach Jess Hill at the famed Stork Club in New York.
• USC had defeated Army at Yankee Stadium that day as Frank Gifford led the Trojans to a 28-6 victory and then held a post-game reception with the New York Trojan Alumni Club at the Stork Club.

I can never run this picture without mentioning the irony of the straight-laced Hill being at the Stork Club.

Socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope Diamond, once lost the gem under a Stork Club table during an evening visit to the club. Ernest Hemingway cashed his $100,000 check for the film rights of For Whom the Bell Tolls at the Stork Club to settle his bill.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

I’ve actually posted this video before but it’s good enough for a encore performance especially after I found out Al Stewart performed at USC a year after this 1976 TV appearance on the BBC.