FOOTBALL

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

Where would we be without breathless spring reports that wide receiver Trent Mosley is really good? Who knew?

  • I’m told one booster provided almost all of the NIL money for USC men’s basketball this year. Did they get their money’s worth?
  • UCLA really wants to draw a crowd to the Galen Center on Saturday for the men’s basketball game. It is offering students two free tickets and providing free shuttle buses from Westwood to the game. So far, about 1,000 students are expected.
  • Former USC QB Aaron Corp is a top candidate to become head coach at Orange Lutheran High School, his alma mater.
  • Why did Skylar Phan, who worked nearly two years at USC as director of recruiting strategy, suddenly go viral the minute she departed for Michigan? Because schools like Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State, etc., have fans who notice everything.

It’s similar to when the Penn State fan bought the ticket to run out on the field before the USC game. These fans are wired in 24/7.

  • An Iron Maiden concert was scheduled at BMO Stadium next to the Coliseum the same day as the USC-Oregon game. This violated a policy that two events may not take place the same day in Exposition Park.

The Iron Maiden concert has been rescheduled for the following day.

  • And now for some history:
  • USC used to hold an annual picture day for fans. Here is the 1979 version with All-American offensive lineman Brad Budde (center).
  • The 1976 USC alumni baseball game featured Fred Lynn, who was the American League MVP and rookie of the year in 1975; Tom Seaver; Dave Kingman; Bill Lee; Steve Busby; Ron Fairly; Jim Barr; Brent Strom; Roy Smalley and Eric Raich.

The manager of the team was Sparky Anderson, who won the World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1975. He was the bat boy for the 1948 USC national championship team and the house he grew up in is now part of the USC campus.

  • Earl Evans was a promising basketball player at USC, averaging 11.5 points his sophomore season. But the 6-8 forward transferred to UNLV for his final two seasons and averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds his senior season.

  • Getting USC students to basketball games was an issue in 1976 and 2026.
  • A young woman hands out free samples of Valcream, a men’s hair product, at the Dodgers’ first game at the Coliseum in 1958 before 78,000. Valcream was endorsed by Dodgers first base man Gil Hodges.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Anouska Hempel

Gayle Hunnicutt

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

  1. At Pauley Pavilion SC attracts crowds in the hundreds. At Galen ucla gets 1000s rooting for them. Of course it is the opposite when it comes to football

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  3. So one SC guy paid for most of the Trojan basketball players. How did that work out?–Well, Rice got hurt, Arenas was hurt most of the year, and Baker was dismissed.

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      2. KAM: Poor George hasn’t been the same since his creative peak in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”.

        DON: Once he became whipped to the Murderous Muslim it was all over.

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  5. So in the 1970s SC had a lot of Trojan players return to the campus whereas a half century later there is only a trickle. What happened? Maybe one factor is people are not as nice today, generally speaking, as the 1970s and players don’t especially want to mix with them.

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  6. How do you evaluate the incoming players with closed practices and yet people do it. One guy who runs a podcast was saying that Elbert Hill had separated himself from the competition and would be the best lockdown corner since Adoree Jackson based on drills. He supposedly has incredible speed and gets in and out of the breaks faster than anyone else. C’mon, let’s wait until they put on the pads and scrimmage. Unfortunately, we won’t see it so people are forced to make things up.

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  7. Scott, thanks for the historical information, and yes USC basketball has always been the stepchild among USC sports. BB was merely the bridge between football and baseball/track and field. Not having an on campus arena until the Galen Center was a real hindrance. UCLA always had an on campus arena even before Pauley Pavillion.

    I would agree that a picture day would be great if it were held the day before Fall practice begins with all the players on campus and they usually take a team photo anyway so the players need to dress out for the team photo. It shouldn’t take away from practice days.

    Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    1. I don’t think the location of the gym was the problem ambitious. The Sports Arena was located next to the campus. I think the problem was the lack of historical success of the program. The great local players would rather play for John Wooden at UCLA. Wooden got every local recruit that he wanted with the exception of Paul Westphal. And when you lose to your rival year after year fans disengage from the program.

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      1. KAM: Historically USC dominated UCLA in mens hoops from UCLA’s inception until the 1950s .

        DON: We went to 2 Final Fours in 1940 and 1954 before UCLA went to their first in 1962.

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      3. You are right PH, there are many reasons why BB has been the stepchild. With only about 15 scholarship players on a team, there is no excuse for USC to not have the same caliber of recruits as UCLA in BB rich Southern California. Just like football, the top schools like Mater Dei, Sierra Canyon, Bosco, etc. turn out DI caliber players every year. A very good friend of mine, a USC grad, was the principal of Fairfax HS when they along with Westchester and others were City HS powers. Life is about relationships. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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      4. On a more positive note, I read that USC is the favorite to land 5 star basketball player Chris Collins out of Saint John Bosco. If Arenas comes back, those two alone could form a competitive team. I think there is a chance Arenas returns because he is only a Freshman and played less than 1/2 a year and that will likely adversely affect his draft stock.

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      5. PH, thanks for the positive note. Surround the two five stars with very coachable three stars and build the team from the freshman class would be outstanding. If Muss can’t cut it, hire Bennet from Saint Mary’s. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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    2. ‘…..UCLA always had an on campus arena even before Pauley Pavillion…; you mean that ‘downstairs cellar court in Kaufmann Hall? I don’t think more than 5k ever fitted into that dark and I do mean dark crevasse below…it’s why they played at the Pan Pacific as USC did beofre the Sports Arena debut in 1960

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  9. There are such things as good practice players. But the true test is how they perform in games. Guess we’ll have to wait until September

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  10. It was hoped that with the construction of Galen Center and practically being on the SC campus that it would encourage more student participation, but that hasn’t been the case. A consistent product year after year is necessary

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    1. KAM: USC was founded in 1880, 11 years before James Naismith invented basketball in 1891.

      DON: And 135 years later we have yet to win a national championship in men’s basketball!

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  11. Don’t remember Valcream. I do remember Brylcreem. In one of the Soprano episodes, Junior says “I got the Feds so far up my azz that I can taste Brylcreem.”

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    1. KAM: The “Kookie” Brylcreem ads from the late 1950s and early 1960s featured actor Edd Byrnes, who played the ultra-cool parking lot attendant Gerald “Kookie” Langston on the TV show 77 Sunset Strip.https://www.facebook.com/groups/1074810956909032/posts/1334929467563845/lol

      DON:The collaboration was so successful that it spurred the 1959 hit song “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” by Edd Byrnes and Connie Stevens. The ad campaign is often credited with helping Brylcreem become the dominant men’s hair product of the era

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  12. Edd Byrnes, there is a largely forgotten actor for you, except by me as I was working in a restaurant in my youth and he was the politist person

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    1. Cool, John. I’m happy to say all the celebrities from my childhood proved to be extremely nice when I ran into them over the years at the civil court house on Spring Street …. Ed Kemmer {Space Patrol], Mary Costa and Bill Shirley [Disney’s Sleeping Beauty] and Robert Vaughn [Man From Uncle]…..

      #[IWouldaKindaHatedItIfTheyWeren’t]….

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  13. Tomorrow night at the Galen won’t be pretty.

    I wonder if Jeff Gillooly is looking for some pocket money. We could all chip in. He doesn’t need to pay a visit to the entire team, just the top 2 or 3 players.

    That might give us a sportin’ chance!

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    1. Naturally I won’t be disappointed if [when] they lose…but I’ll be disappointed if they don’t fight till the last basket…. [which they haven’t been doing]…

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  14. Everyone, thanks for enriching the blog with your comments. The story that I heard about the Sports Arena as the Trojan BB venue was that it was too far from campus and somewhat isolated along Figueroa St. Fraternity/sorority row and the campus was a bit of a hike and unlike the coliseum which had lighted pathways to the campus and large crowds, the Sports Arena hike felt unsafe especially for the coeds. The school administration could have done something to make it feel safer. I didn’t attend many games at the Sports Arena mainly because I was married with two small children, and didn’t have the time to go to many games. There were a lot of commuter students like me in the 1960’s. No excuse now and the Galen Center is a wonderful venue to see the games. Our women’s teams with cheryl Miller did go to three final fours and won two NCAA championships in the 1980’s, but then we lost Linda Sharp and the program went downhill. I assume that the school didn’t want to pay her what she was worth, big mistake. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

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  16. KAM: Unranked Illinois baseball (7-4) enters conference play on a five-game winning streak as it heads back on the road to take on No. 20 USC in a three-game series this weekend in Los Angeles. The series will stream on B1G+

    DON: USC holds a record of 12-0 on the year, which includes series sweeps against Pepperdine, Rice, and Cal Poly. 

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  17. Fire Musselman or if we have to keep him another season making him donate 1/2 of his salary to the NIL so he does not make so many mistakes in recruiting on someone else’s money.

    He is not worth much as a coach– certainly not 5 million so half of it goes to the NIL to benefit recruiting or your fired.

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  18. BACK IN THE LATE FORTIES UCLA PLAYED AT LEAST SOME OF THEIR BASKETBALL GAMES AT THE OLD MENS GYMNASIUM ON CAMPUS. THE PLACE SMELLED JUST LIKE A TOILET THAT HAD BEEN USED MANY TIMES BUT NEVER FLUSHED JUST LIKE THE WHOLE CAMPUS SMELLS TODAY !!!!

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