FOOTBALL

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

Lincoln Riley said cornerback Alex Graham, kicker Caden Chittenden and wide receiver Prince Strachan are out for the game. Tailback Bryan Jackson is doubtful.

This Saturday’s USC game is the annual high school band day. Among the schools participating are Narbonne, Bishop Montgomery, South El Monte, Santa Barbara, San Jacinto, Dana Hills, Hueneme, George Washington Prep, El Segundo, Palos Verdes, San Fernando, Burbank, Yorba Linda, Bassett, Sierra Vista, Glendora, Gardena, Belmont, Desert Mirage, Workman and Golden Valley.

  • With USC facing Clay Helton, a reader reminded me of the time in 2019 when I had lunch with legendary sports columnist/radio host Doug Krikorian in Long Beach.

Early on, Doug asked, “How did Clay Helton get hired at USC anyway?”

I had noticed a USC booster sitting at the table next to us but didn’t let that deter the conversation. Besides, he was sitting with a woman who had her back to us.

We continued talking about Helton because Doug was not a fan and kept ripping the coach. I didn’t notice the woman got up but as she returned to the table, I did notice her: It was Helton’s wife, Angela.

I told Krikorian so he would stop talking about Helton and a couple minutes later, she hastily departed. I found out later from a mutual friend that she told the booster she could not stay there after hearing Doug’s comments.

  • And now for some history:

With the NFL season underway, here is some USC Monday Night Football trivia.

Who threw the first TD pass on Monday Night Football? That would be former USC QB Bill Nelsen of the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 25, 1970.

Nelsen was also the first winning QB on Monday Night Football, as the Browns defeated Joe Namath and the N.Y. Jets, 31-21.

Bill Nelsen
  • I’ve told the story before of when Bear Bryant attended a football coaches’ clinic at Pepperdine (when it was in Los Angeles) and passed out during his speech. The USC coaching staff was then forced to give a presentation on a spur of the moment.

But here’s more detail from one of the USC coaches who attended the event: John McKay, who wasn’t at the clinic, met the coaches at the hospital to check on Bryant. The doctor treating Bryant said, “Where’s he been the past week?”

McKay answered, “With me in the desert.”

“He’s suffering from alcohol poisoning,” the doctor replied.

  • Just a little more on former USC halfback Ron Heller, who died earlier this week at age 85.

When he was a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, he and a friend were arrested for stealing a car. The judge gave him a choice: Enter the military or go to jail. He chose the military.

When he returned home, he played football at Santa Monica College, where a USC alum saw him play and alerted the Trojan coaches.

When USC played UCLA in 1963, Marv Goux motivated the team by writing on the chalk board, “Heller, UCLA says you are a (expletive).” USC won the game, 26-6.

While he was at USC, he got fan mail from female admirers. USC assistant Dave Levy hid the letters from Heller until his college career was over.

“I did not want you to get distracted,” Levy said.

Ron Heller (far right) in the 1969 Western, “More Dead Than Alive.”
  • Here’s the craziest High School Band day: On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 30, 1955 before USC played Oregon State that afternoon at the Coliseum.

There were 26 high school bands who showed up that morning to rehearse at Bovard Field for their halftime performance with the USC marching band. There were about 3,000 band members plus another 2,000 spectators at the rehearsal.

USC band director Tommy Walker directed the high school bands atop a 22-foot tower scaffolding that the football coaches used for practices. The scaffold had two platforms and there were at least a dozen people on it.

Just before noon, the tower swayed, then it shuddered and collapsed to the ground. There were 15 people in a huge mass who either fell off the tower or were underneath it. Some were unconscious. Others cried for help. One witness compared the scene to a bomb going off.

Band members inspect the observation tower that collapsed and caused 15 injuries.

The tower was overloaded, which caused a tire at the base to break off its axel.

Walker suffered cuts, bruises and was visibly bleeding. But after hitting the ground, he dragged himself to his feet and somehow mounted another platform to keep the bands performing. There were so many bands playing that many were marching and didn’t see the accident.

Walker made a quick trip to the Student Health Center, got released and performed his part at halftime of the Band Day show at the Coliseum.

USC band director Tommy Walker breaks down to athletic director Willis O. Hunter
  • Overall, 15 were injured and five were still in the hospital a few days later. Ambulances arrived within 10 minutes of the accident. Band directors from Puente High School (in La Puente), Oxnard High School and San Marino High School were among the injured.

Many were taken to Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, the first hospital to provide emergency care and paramedics in Los Angeles. It sat on property that is now part of L.A. Live. Robert F. Kennedy was initially taken to the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital after being shot in 1968. After doctors maintained a good heartbeat, Kennedy was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for surgery.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

If you ever saw “The Battle of the Bulge” you won’t forget this scene.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Ann Turkel

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

    1. 100%! Yea for Scott! Great edition of this column too! [But we should maybe remember: when a Notre Dame scaffold breaks down in the heavy winds it kills a student….. and the school just moves on as if nothing happened]….

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    1. Ann was married to King Arthur [Richard Harrison] …and…. as for those poor German troops ….never let yourselves get led into battle by a guy who [very unsuccessfully] tried to kill James Bond and later got eaten by a Great White Shark [Robert Shaw]….

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      2. Shaw got to be THE villain in two Sean Connery films: From Russia with Love and Robin & Marian….

        #OfCourseHeGetsKilledBothTimes

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      2. Wait a second, Plow! Pat never said he wanted to run orphan charities ‘the right way.’

        #Don’tPutWordsInHisMouth

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  5. Most wives won’t put up with someone verbally badgering their husband, it makes them look bad for having picked him

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    1. Wow — this ‘badgering’ thing must really be on your mind, John…

      #….Don’tWorry….I’mHereToDefendYou….

      #…AgainstCensors…AndAllOtherEvils…

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  6. Heller had good looks so it is natural coeds would be interested in him. That was mean to keep female fans’ letters from him

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  7. Great column today, and really fun read.

    One correction on Ron Heller: He didn’t steal a car. Just prior to his 18th birthday, a group of his friends who recently graduated from Hamilton High and he broke a jewelry store window in the Fairfax neighborhood and took a few watches, and then promptly got caught.

    The rest is accurate: The judge gave him the choice of a couple of years in the bizbo or a couple of years in the Army. The Army didn’t sound too bad at that point.

    Heller entered the Army at 6’2″ 160 pounds, and was sent to Korea after boot camp and shipping out for Korea from Fort Lewis. His first assignment in the Army was as a communications lineman, where he had to climb poles and string cable. It got him in great shape, and he also made a select Army football team that got to travel to Japan and other places to play other Army league teams. Heller excelled at his halfback position, and started to fill out his frame and bulk up. He was made a personal assistant and food server for a three-star general, and then became said general’s chauffeur.

    After being discharged, Heller walked into former USC QB and Santa Monica City College head coach Jim Powers’ office unannounced, and Powers looked up and said “Who are you?” Heller replied, “I’m your new starting halfback, Coach”, as Powers just stared at him with a bewildered look on his face. Santa Monica went 8-1 in 1961, losing only to undefeated Bakersfield, and then McKay came calling, along with UCLA and Syracuse. Heller almost opted for Syracuse, as it had developed some great halfbacks in prior years, but Heller was an Angeleno and had sold programs at the Coliseum since he was 13 years old. He loved the Trojans, and elected to stay home and fulfill his dream of playing for USC.

    In the Summer prior to the 1962 season, the crisis in Berlin fired up, and Heller was still an Army reservist. He was crushed when he was recalled by the Army during that Summer, and he was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi. He read about his future teammates from Biloxi as he was stuck languishing there, but was fortunate to be released from service just prior to the Duke game that season, which I believe was the second game of the 1962 season.

    Heller saw his first action in the third game, at #6 Iowa. USC had narrowly lost to Iowa at the Coliseum one year before, when McKay elected to go for two points at the end of the contest and Iowa stopped the Trojans and prevailed 35-34.

    In the second quarter of the 1962 game at Iowa, USC safety Loran Hunt recovered a Hawkeye fumble at the Iowa 24 yard line, and Heller carried for one yard in his first carry as a Trojan. On the following play, Heller – a slasher or cutback runner – went off tackle, cut back and juked the Iowa safety at the three yard line (turning him around) and went 19 years for a touchdown. That was all the scoring for the day, as USC prevailed 7 – 0. A group of students and fans showed up to greet the players when they returned, after beating the #6 team in the country, and at that time, the fans and the team began to believe that USC could really build on their 3-0 start to the season and be something special, as they went on to win John McKay his first national championship in that undefeated 1962 season.

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    1. Kam: Where were you on this date in ’72?

      DON: That date rings few memory bells, even for Americans who were able to watch television or follow the news in the fall of 1972. Some may dimly recall that on that day eight Murderous Muslim Palestinian terrorists from the Murderous Muslim Black September group infiltrated the Summer Olympics in Munich, murdering two members of Israel’s national athletic team and taking nine others hostage and eventually murdering them too. I still remember ABC Olympic host Jim McKay telling us all about it.

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      1. I wasn’t crazy about the way McKay delivered the news, though, Gabby…..

        #HeReallyDidn’tSeemToGetTheMagnitudeOfTheTragedy

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  10. KAM: So a judge gave SC’s Heller a choice of going army or going to jail

    DON: Kind of Draconian. The judge probably did that because Heller is a white boy. That’s a joke by the way

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    1. KAM:

      🚨

      BREAKING: The Department of Education just revealed the Senile Joe Biden admin WEAPONIZED the department against Christians People need to be JAILED over this.

      DON: Senile Joe Biden imposed record-breaking fines against Christian universities, and targeted school boards who listened to religious objections from parents.

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  11. I don’t know whether it was due to injuries or not….but… Helton didn’t use some of his best players against Fresno State…..

    #WeNeedToExpectTheUnexpected

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  12. Bear Bryant and John McKay liked to throw back a few. Seems that was the case for many a football coach in that era. Perhaps none more so then Red Sanders at UCLA. Despite the vice, those guys could coach.

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      1. he mg i have an idea if that gabby is coming to our monkey pod party let’s take him over to that jaws break on a big pumping swell and rent him a surfboard and send him out why we sit on the beach sipping brews and puffing some Maui wowie

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      3. …btw…there is now something called Pineapple Haze….

        #….ItOnlyLastsFor,Like,9or10Hours…..

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      4. KAM: “A particularly damning February 2024 memo from Biden’s White House Counsel’s office noted that while Senile Joe Biden had previously asked to discuss pardon candidates personally, the process had shifted to the point where “the Vice President’s approval was sufficient to obtain his approval.”

        The Constitution grants the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States” exclusively to the president—yet Senile Joe Biden was outsourcing this authority to Kamala Harris, who had no constitutional right to exercise it.”

        DON: According to the Pew Research Center, Senile Joe Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency during his tenure—more than any president in history. And based on internal memos, Kamala may have been the one driving that process.

        Do you remember when Biden tried to dismiss the autopen scandal back in June? He said, “I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.” But these documents from his own White House now contradict that claim. That’s not a misunderstanding—it’s a cover-up. Cowardly Gabby and Tranny Bruin hardest hit!

        Liked by 1 person

  13. KAM:

    🚨

    BREAKING: The US federal government has cut a stunning 97,000 JOBS since President Trump took office in January 2025.

    DON: Drain the Swamp!

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  14. KAM: The losing Kansas City coach said the Chiefs did not play with emotion, whatever that means

    DON: Hard to quantify emotion, but you better play with some kind of emotion to even step on a football field or get run over.

    KAM: And I suppose it was a bigger deal for the Chargers playing the great Chiefs

    DON: I think having equal-quality players facing off against each other, it comes down to who has a bit more fire in him

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  15. DON: Helton’s team today has a runner named OJ, but that is where the resemblance ends

    KAM: And a quarterback who goes by ‘JC as in JC French the 4th

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  16. DON: Proposed Helton pre-game pep talk– ‘Well men, you all know what this game means to me. I coached at that school for 12 years and there is nothing I’d like more than to beat them today. Is there anybody here who is with me!

    You got what it takes. You can play with these guys. Let’s go out there and show them

    KAM: Concise, to the point

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      1. …having said that …this is a very solid Georgia Southern team…Helton has a very good coaching staff ….and I think we can take for granted they’ll all be out for blood today…

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  17. And so the Wolf Censor leaves in the Helton pep talk today whereas he strickened it yesterday.

    I know Wolf and an associate don’t ever respond, but why the censorship? Remember the good old days, Scott, when you let everything in? I used to brag on you for being that way.

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      2. That is the OLD Michael…. the new Michael is a straight shooter….

        #….”WhomEveryoneLoves”

        —-Quote from the deluded Russian placed on the front line

        in “War & Peace”

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    1. I could teach you so much, John…..

      …when complimented just pretend you’re Errol Flynn in the last scene of Robin Hood being told by Richard the Lion Hearted that you’ve saved England….

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  20. KAM: There are people who hate me just because I’m a Democrat. But I don’t hate them back. It’s a one-sided ‘relationship’

    DON: You talking about ‘enemies?’ “I got a few but too few to mention”

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    1. Thank God there’s no hatred on the other side of the aisle…

      #[Seriously,AllDemsAreNOTLikeJohn….

      #InFact…..PretendI’vePlacedALongListHere]

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      3. KAM: George is as independent as Angela Davis.

        DON: That has to be Cowardly Sparrow Gabby’s dumbest post ever,

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  21. KAM: I’m imagining Riley’s thinking– “Who set this game up anyway? I lose it and I’m effectively finished

    DON: Let me complete the thought– ‘But that isn’t going to happen so calm down

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    1. The reason Riley isn’t calm: He knows he can’t even let the “unthinkable” come CLOSE to happening ….

      #HeHasToBeatTheSpread…

      #…And….

      #ThatAin’tGonnaBeEasy

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  22. KAM: Do you ever think of yourself as a hybrid, that you are composed of Republican and Democrat leanings

    DON: Not lately

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