USC sent out a video Thursday to boost ticket sales that featured general manager Chad Bowden. Does any other program feature the general manager instead of the head coach?

But that’s not why I’m including this photo. We are in the middle of June and Bowden is in a room with a fireplace going in the background and wearing a sweatshirt. Who goofed? I’ve got to know!

• And now for some history:

• Last week, I wrote about the tragic story of USC pitcher Bruce Gardner, who shot himself at Bovard Field in 1971.

By coincidence, Gardner was part of the College Baseball Hall of Fame 2026 class that was announced Thursday. It was well deserving. Gardner had a 40-5 record at USC from 1958-60 with a 2.72 ERA.

His 40 career victories was a USC record for nearly 40 years. He won a school-record 18 games in 1960 and was named national player of the year. He was even 10-0 on the USC freshmen team.

A couple other things I came across on Gardner this week. During his senior year at USC, he had the lead role in the school musical, “Damn Yankees.” Gardner played Joe Hardy, who sells his soul to the devil to become a great player.

“If an award were given to a senior that would be the most well-rounded person in the University, many
persons have mentioned the name of Bruce Gardner,” wrote USC yearbook editor Frank Gleberman.

When he died, Gardner was teaching four classes at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. Although classes still had two more weeks to go before his death, Gardner made sure to complete grades for his classes.

• USC pitcher Brent Strom (1968-70) will also be inducted. He played on two NCAA championship teams and pitched a three-hitter in the 1970 title game, a 2-1 victory over Ohio. He went nine innings and struck out future Phillies star Mike Schmidt.

Strom won 35 games in his USC career, spent five years in the majors and then became a pitching coach, including for the 2017 Houston Astros.

• Life magazine named USC professor Frank Baxter one of the eight most popular college professors in the United States in 1959.

He is the only USC professor with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work on multiple TV shows and is best known for his role as “Dr. Research” in The Bell System Science Series that shown in schools throughout the country.

Baxter used to sell out Bovard Auditorium with his annual Christmas readings, with students who couldn’t gain admittance listening outside via loud speakers.

He was also featured prominently in the opening of the 1956 movie, “The Mole People” and even delivered commentary with Tom Kelly on an album of highlights of the 1964 USC football season.

• In 1959 during the week of the USC-UCLA football game, USC students published a fake edition of the Daily Bruin newspaper and published thousands of copies. One morning, they apprehended the driver from the print shop who delivered the Daily Bruin to UCLA and took him to a USC fraternity house for “breakfast.” They then drove over to Westwood and replaced all the real Daily Bruin papers with the fake ones, which often fooled the UCLA students.

The stunt garnered a massive spread in Sports Illustrated and coverage in Los Angeles newspapers. It became a tradition (UCLA started publishing a fake Daily Trojan in retaliation). When I was in college, I even drove to UCLA early one morning and we replaced all the real Daily Bruins with the fake ones.

The tradition was suspended in 1990 because the university deemed the fake papers had become too vulgar.

• The Silverwoods store on Hoover Street was a fixture around USC for decades. In 1960, it was decorated to remember college days from the past. Note the chimney and fireplace.

• USC president Norman Topping (right) has some important business to deal with but first he needs to light his cigarette, which always took precedent in those days.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Monica Bellucci

Samantha Jones