FOOTBALL

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

USC plays its first game at the new Dedeaux Field tonight at 6 vs. Pepperdine. Admission to all home games this season is free.

  • USC’s Homecoming will be Oct. 3 vs. Washington.
  • USC has promoted AJ Howard to outside linebackers coach. He was assistant linebackers coach last season. It’s the second internal promotion this week.
  • The USC women’s golf team is ranked No. 2 in the nation.
  • There will be a screening tonight at 7 at the Crenshaw High School auditorium of the documentary “Unraveling George” on former USC coach George Raveling. Nike is sponsoring the event.
  • Here’s a Big Ten-produced 24-team College Football Playoff bracket. USC vs. Arizona in the first round. What a great game!
  • And now for some history:
  • This week, I finally found an image of a USC football game that I have wanted to see for a long time.

When USC won the national championship in 1962, it almost unexpectedly lost the title on Nov. 17, when 4-4 Navy came to the Coliseum, fresh off a 34-6 loss to Syracuse the week before.

The Trojans were ranked No. 2 in the nation but played their worst game of the season. Navy had a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter but star fullback Pat Donnelly, who was also an All-American in lacrosse, fumbled at the 1-foot line to preserve the victory for USC.

What made this game special was that it featured quarterback Roger Staubach, one year before he won the Heisman Trophy. He put on a one-man show in the game, passing and rushing for 219 yards (about two-thirds of Navy’s offense).

“That Navy quarterback looked like Red Grange charging around the field,” USC coach John McKay said. “Our pursuit was great but our tackling was poor. You can bet we’ll be having some tackling this week.”

With all this, I’ve never found a photo of Staubach facing the Trojans. Until now.

Here is Staubach with future USC All-American Bill Fisk (left) and all-conference nose guard Pete Lubisich on defense.

It’s a great photo from a memorable moment in Coliseum history.

  • And in this photo below, USC tailback Willie Brown scores on a 56-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Brown gained 143 yards in eight carries.

Brown barely touched the ball in the first half. Why? “I don’t know,” McKay said. “I had to remind the boys at halftime that he was on the team and if I did anything today, I’m glad I did that.”

  • Actress Lona Andre in a 1934 photo. Note the USC pennant in the upper left corner.
  • With baseball season starting, it’s always a good time to remember who ALMOST came to USC in the 1960’s.
  • Bobby Valentine and Bill Buckner were friends and supposed to go to USC but the Dodgers signed both. Valentine was selected No. 5 in the first round in 1968 and Buckner was picked in the second round. They actually attended classes at USC.
  • Ken Brett was considered by some to be a better prospect (as an outfielder) than his brother, George, and was headed to USC before he signed with the Boston Red Sox as the No. 4 overall pick in the 1966 Major League Baseball draft. The Red Sox made Brett a pitcher instead.
  • George Brett was close to going to USC but signed with the Kansas City Royals for $75,000 after being taken in the second round. Brett was a late signee, which made USC think it might get him
  • Tim Foli was also headed to USC but became the No. 1 overall pick in the 1968 baseball draft.
  • Darrell Evans, who hit 414 home runs in the major leagues, had a locker with his name plate at USC but didn’t have the grades to enter school. So he went to Pasadena City College for a year to get his grades up. Evans played on the PCC basketball team, coached by Jerry Tarkanian. PCC won the state championship and then Evans led the baseball team to the state title. None of that helped his grades, however, and he never went to USC.
  • This map shows that Los Angeles once had the biggest trolley system in the world, connecting 400 main streets.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Gunilla Linbland

Alexandra Bastedo

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

  1. Another Friday masterpiece, well done Mr. Wolf!

    Interesting in that McKay didn’t even know the name of Roger Staubach when USC played Navy, saying “that Navy QB was running like Red Grange”.

    Football was so different then…

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  3. Pacific Electric was actually less about public transportation than it was a way to promote real estate development in southern California. The thinking was that people would take the Red Cars to what are today called the exurbs, like what they saw, and buy real estate. Carrying passengers was rarely a money maker for PE, where they made money was on freight, post office contracts, and selling their surplus electricity to southern California municipalities.

    Likewise, 100+ years ago the Otis and Chandler families used the L.A. Times to promote development of their real estate holdings in the San Fernando Valley. They partnered with others including Moses Sherman, and there are streets in the valley named after all three. So no, Sherman Way is not named after Peabody’s boy Sherman, nor is Roscoe Blvd. named for Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles.

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