Former USC wide receiver Robert Woods retired this week. I’ve never seen a freshman receiver arrive at USC and learn the play book so quickly or run such precise routes. But it was easy to comprehend if you spoke to Woods and saw how mature he was even as a freshman.

• Jazzy Davidson had to be taken to the locker room near the end of last night’s basketball game at the Galen Center but was OK after apparent cramping in her calf. She had played 34 of a possible 37 minutes at the time of the injury.

Davidson had  24 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks against Wisconsin and scored 14 points in the third quarter.

• The USC swim teams are competing in the Big Ten championships this weekend.
• I spoke to a couple members of the USC Associates booster club this week and they told me they are not renewing their season tickets. Why? They are weary of Lincoln Riley trying to meet the expectations he set when he was hired and they are unhappy the Notre Dame game was taken off the schedule.

• And now for some history:

• The USC ticket office used to gladly release ticket sales information under legendary manager John Morley? In 1973, USC said it had 50,000 season-ticket holders. What do you think that answer would be today?
• What was it like to visit Julie’s restaurant in the 1950’s?

“I remember going to Julie’s (restaurant) in the late 50’s and seeing (former USC assistant coach) Al Davis diagramming plays on cocktail napkins,” a USC student from the 1950’s told me. “And President (Norman) Topping was there every night too.

“You just expected to see people there. On Thursday nights, all the students would go and there’d be a long line to get in.

“This was before John McKay, but he held court there every night too after he got promoted to head coach, sometimes with Topping, summoning coaches or media or athletic dept. employees to his booth if he wanted to talk to them.”

• Imagine being part of the USC community for so long that you could say “ask your Dad” in the ad. The Night Hawk opened in 1927 and old-time Trojans tell me it had the best chili in Los Angeles.

Every time I see the Night Hawk I think of the infamous Nite Owl coffee shop in the movie “L.A. Confidential.”

• A former teammate told me about the time linebacker Mike Henry and some USC teammates visited a Playboy Club in Hollywood.

“The bunnies were only interested in talking to Mike,” the teammate said. “And this was before he even got famous.”

• USC All-American wide receiver Hal Bedsole told me how scared Trojan players were to face Henry, who came back from the NFL to play in a spring game in 1961 at the Coliseum.

Bedsole played quarterback for one play and got crunched by former USC stars Marlin McKeever and Henry.

“About two weeks later, I was hunched over like an old man,” Bedsole said. “I went to see a doctor and they did an X-ray. There were three holes in my stomach and they did surgery that night. It was a pretty good lick.”

John McKay never let the alumni play the current team again after that incident.

One other note on Henry. He and USC star linemen John Ferraro attended Bell High School. USC offered Henry a scholarship after watching Henry play a game at Bell.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Barbara Bouchet

Ornella Muti