FOOTBALL

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

This column will be Gary Patterson free, for better or worse.

The Big Ten and Fox Sports are pushing for a 24-team College Football Playoff. That’s grotesque but if it happens, will Lincoln Riley agree to play Notre Dame again?

  • Class of 2027 defensive end Mekai Brown committed to USC over Ohio State, Mississippi and Notre Dame.
  • USC forward Ezra Ausar has declared for the NBA Draft. He averaged 14.8 points and 6.5 rebounds last season. When does Alijah Arenas decide what to do?
  • Did you know USC beach volleyball has lost to UCLA four times this season? But Jen Cohen has rejuvenated the athletic dept.!
  • If that sounds negative, just know I’m glad UCLA baseball’s 27-game winning streak ended this week. I was getting tired hearing about it.
  • About 150,000 people are expected at USC on Saturday and Sunday for the Festival of Books. Will Max Nikias make an appearance to hawk his book? He doesn’t show up on the official schedule but that doesn’t mean he won’t get the university to shoehorn him in somewhere if he desires.

The Festival of Books is one of his coups after he stole the event from long-time host, UCLA.

  • Lynn Swann was at the Masters in his green jacket last week. Of course.
  • The USC women’s flag football team is competing this weekend at the Fiesta Bowl tournament in Arizona.
  • Do you remember when I ran this photo last August?

It was the TV show, “Rooster” shooting on at the USC administration building and pretending to be a winter scene at the small college where the HBO series is set. The show, which stars Steve Carell, is currently on HBO.

  • And now for some history:
  • How many USC “experts” even know who Artimus Parker was? The 1973 All-American. Parker is definitely underappreciated because he is USC’s all-time interceptions leader with 20.

Think about that. Not Ronnie Lott. Not Mark Carrier. Not Troy Polamalu. Not Dennis Thurman.

Parker was remarkably consistent with six interceptions in 1971; six in 1972 and eight in 1973. And he didn’t get to play four years because freshmen were inelibigle when he played.

  • Here’s a picture that is worth 1,000 words.

I originally decided to run this photo because I thought it was a great picture and I liked the USC helmets. But then I found story after story to be told about it.

First, USC defeated Notre Dame, 28-20, in Jess Hill’s final game as the Trojans’ coach on Dec. 1, 1956.

Fullback C. R. Roberts follows the blocking of Don Hoffman (34), Laird Willott (68) and Bob Voiles (83) against the Irish. Roberts is best remembered for a game earlier in the season when USC went to face Texas and was told its African-American players could not stay at its Austin hotel.

Hill refused to stay and found another hotel for the entire team. Roberts gained 251 yards in 12 carries with 3 TDs in USC’s 44-20 victory over an all-white Texas team. Roberts scored on runs of 73, 50 and 74 yards.

Hill was Mr. USC. He was a running back on USC’s national championship team in 1928, played pro baseball, became USC’s football coach from 1951-56 and athletic director from 1957-72, when USC won 29 national titles.

USC wore jersey numbers on its helmets, one of only three seasons in school history when this happened (1956, 1957, 1963 Rose Bowl).

And in an accidental footnote, I wondered who No. 19 was in this photo. It turned out to be James Conroy, who was Canadian. This raises the question of whether he was the first Canadian player in USC history? Conroy returned to Canada after college and played for the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1960-67 and Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1968. He was an all-star three times.

Other notes: Willott was a senator-at-large in the USC student senate in 1956-57. Voiles won the javelin at the 1957 USA track and field championships and still has one of USC’s top 10 all-time marks with the old implements.

  • USC coach Jeff Cravath and the Trojans enjoy the closing moments of a 32-0 victory over Ohio State in Columbus in 1947. Check out the visors the players wore on the sideline.

WHAT IS A GREAT STAFF?

Offensive lineman Allan Graf (61), quarterback Mike Rae, fullback Sam Cunningham (39) and tailback Anthony Davis (28).

It’s funny how some pundits praise the current USC coaching staff, when outside of Gary Patterson (or maybe Rex Ryan) they have few accomplishments.

Let’s see how they might measure up to the 1972 USC staff: There was Ray George, who was an actual member of the Thundering Herd teams of 1937-39 and one of the greatest linemen in USC history. He played on the 1938 team that upset top-ranked Notre Dame and previously unbeaten and unscored-upon Duke in the 1939 Rose Bowl. He later became the head coach at Texas A&M and beat coaching legends Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma), Red Sanders (UCLA) and Bear Bryant (Kentucky).

Then there was wide receivers coach Wayne Fontes, who was the Detroit Lions head coach from 1988-96. He lead the Lions to the NFC championship game (1991) and he drafted Hall of Fame tailback Barry Sanders over some objections.

Offensive coordinator John Robinson succeeded John McKay at USC, where he won a national title, and also coached the Los Angeles Rams, where he reached two NFC title games.

Willie Brown was a former star player who starred on offense and defense. Craig Fertig became the head coach at Oregon State (1976-79). Dave Levy was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame and can stand next to anyone in coaching acumen. Marv Goux is Mr. USC, the most inspirational assistant coach or coach in school history.

Don Lindsey later became USC’s defensive coordinator under Robinson and worked as an assistant for Bear Bryant, Frank Broyles, Lou Holtz, Bill Curry and Jim Sweeney among others.

Also: The 1972 team went undefeated.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Barbara Bouchet

Jenny Hu

35 thoughts on “If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Columm”

  3. It is surprising that 150,000 book lovers will be at the SC book festival because wherever I go I see people working their cell phones and not reading a book

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    1. KAM: Do you know why the Festival of Books was started at UCLA?

      DON: The morons who ran the UCLA Mardi Gras thought bigger was better, and changed the focus from a small safe local campus event to a city wide event. They over-advertising throughout Los Angeles in the worst parts of town, which attracted gangs rather than maintaining a local, family-oriented atmosphere. Finally after about ten years of influx of thugs things got so bad that on May 19, 1991, over 500 gang members threw bricks, smashed windows and looted 17 stores in Westwood, carrying away items like bicycles, leather jackets, athletic gear, and compact discs. It took riot police 2 hours to quell the r i o t i n g ” teens”.

      Mardi Gras organizers were ordered by the administration to stop operating at night for safety reasons. This shift significantly reduced the event’s revenue and popular appeal and with it’s huge overhead of carnival rides the event ended in the red a few years later.

      The Festival of Books was presented as an alternative campus event after the 1996 Mardi Gras cancellation.

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    1. I disagree 2000%……

      #…wait…make that 3000%

      [If Sybil wants an infantile dialog, I’m here to oblige her]…

      btw,

      Great phucking column, Scott! Fun from top to bottom [just like Barbara Bouchet]…..

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. KAM: One of his best ever, especially the tribute to “T” Parker , one of my favorite Trojans of all time!

        DON: It seemed like the Trojan Dynasty would never end back in the 1970s.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. And she has the nerve to claim other people need to get a new playbook. LOL

    Always accusing others of what SHE is guilty. Childish response, probably including a copy & paste job because she is so incredibly limited between the ears in 3, 2, 1…

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    1. CAN YOU TELL THE BLOG ONE MORE TIME THAT BlDEN HAS DEMENTIA…..20K TIMES WASN’T ENOUGH.

      HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      YOUR OBSESSION WITH REAL GABBY IS BEYOND CREEPY

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      1. KAM: A n t i s e m i t e vile disgusting freak Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & Buddhakarma &LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf & Kathy & Foreskin Thoughts & Frank Young and The Moderator and Marjorie Taylor and Chuck Newton misses her Senile Joe…

        DON: …As much as she misses her Ayatollah!

        Liked by 1 person

  6. HAWAII NOW HAS THE HIGHEST GAS PRICES IN ITS HISTORY.

    …AND THE PREZ JUST SAID GAS PRICES ARE NOT THAT HIGH.

    MlLLlONS REGRET VOTING FOR THIS FRAUD.

    25TH AND IMPEACHMENT ASAP!

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    1. KAM: Cowardly Gabby is always a day late and a dollar short: Dow Jones surges 860 pts as Hormuz reopening lifts stocks to highs. Oil drops sharply as supply fears ease on Iran ceasefire news !

      DON: Cowardly Gabby hardest hit!

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      1. THE STOCK MARKET IS NOT THE ECONOMY……..LESS THAN 20% OF AMERICANS HAVE MONEY IN THE STOCK MARKET……. YOU SOUND LIKE A DUMB—-AZZZ…….ONCE AGAIN.

        BARSTOW?

        THE BLUEWAVE IS COMING…….HAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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      2. Less than 20%! LMAO!!

        At least 50% of the workforce has company sponsored retirement plans, much of which are tied to the stock market!

        What a moron.

        Liked by 2 people

      4. KAM: Cowardly Gabby’s view of the economy is based on what she panhandles on the streets of LA’s Skid Row.

        DON:Apparently her services aren’t commanding top dollar these days.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. SPEAKING OF GROTESQUE………THAT’S WHAT WOMEN THINK WHEN THEY TAKE ONE LOOK AT SCOTT.

    (IS HE STILL WEARING THAT 30 YEAR OLD SOILED SOCCER JERSEY)

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    1. KAM: Speaking of grostesque, we can only imagine how ugly you are, a n t i s e m i t e vile disgusting freak Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & Buddhakarma &LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf & Kathy & Foreskin Thoughts & Frank Young and The Moderator and Marjorie Taylor and Chuck Newton.

      DON: Living in a dumpster of 6th and Grand can’t be good for your complexion you loser.

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  8. another virtuoso Friday effort by the wolfman!!

    i can only sit with mouth agape at the thought of what the wolfman could do with UCLA’s hallowed history!!!

    #NeverSayNever

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    1. Yes, the dems will impeach….only problem? Impeachment is not what you think it is, dumbo. It means nothing & is a colossal waste of time.

      #So…GoAhead

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    2. KAM: Who is 34, a n t i s e m i t e vile disgusting freak Cowardly Gabby aka Charlie Bucket the UCLA Fan aka TebowObama aka The Guy who posts as So Cal’s Wife & Michael Guarino & Buddhakarma &LawyerJohn & Pudly & Plow Horse & steveg49 & DOJ & Scott Wolf & Kathy & Foreskin Thoughts & Frank Young and The Moderator and Marjorie Taylor and Chuck Newton? Dwright D. E i s e n h o w e r? Are you crazed lunatics going to dig him up and i m p e a c h him?

      DON: BWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAHAHAAAAAAAAAa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    3. KAM: Imagine watching the D e e p S t a t e t o r p e d o E r i c S w a l w e l l in less than 7 days, and still thinking there’s a magical career-ending b o m b s h e l l they’ve had on you but not released over the past 11 years.

      DON: Yes they are loons.

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  13. Guess what I found out? Our Supreme Court decided that when marxists in our country say they want “blo*d in the streets” it doesn’t mean what it meant when marxists said it before the Russian or Cuban revol*tions….cuz they meant it….whereas our marxists are being “metaphoric.”

    #NoneAreSoBlindAsThoseWhoRefuseToSee

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    1. KAM:The S e n i l e J o e R e g i m e decided that singing hymns and p r a y i n g in front of a door for an hour or two met the threshold for f e d e r a l S W A T r a i d s and multi-year j a i l sentences and the S u p r e m e C o u rt held their coats.

      DON: E l e c t i o n s really DO matter. Not only did I p a r d o n the peaceful pro-l i f e a c t i v i s t s that were sentenced to j a i l under e v i l S e n i l e J o e , but the D O J has now purged any employee involved.

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