FOOTBALL

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

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:
Bruce Gardner
  • 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.

Frank Baxter
  • 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

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

  1. KAM: So SC-ucla exchanging fake newspapers was the beginning of ‘fake news’

    DON: Yeah, but that kind was just kid stuff, now it is serious

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  2. The implication was that Bruce Gardner shot himself on the SC campus because of money concerns after relinquishing a $70,000 baseball bonus when he was healthy for a $4000 a year teaching job

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Nobody kills themselves over money. He viewed himself as a baseball player. That was his purpose in life and he lost his purpose and lost hope. Sad that he couldn’t find purpose in teaching high school students. Teaching can be a noble profession. He obviously cared about his job otherwise he would not have taken the time to complete the student grades. This is a gut wrenching story.

      Liked by 4 people

      Reply

      1. Well said Plow – well said – many mock teachers i.e. “….them that can do…them that can’t teach…” with lower grades it truly is the most exhausting job one can imagine and also the most rewarding.

        Liked by 2 people

  4. …. I guess the fun was rounding the last bend when the Daily Trojan staff started publishing stories in the toy version of the Daily Bruin about the “secret relationships” going on between the UCLA Offensive Line —with doctored photos of players having breakfast in bed together…

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  5. An excellent column Scott. I had heard of printing fake newspapers before but hijacking the delivery man takes it to another level.

    We could use a few more professors like Frank Baxter today. I can’t imagine students waiting outside an auditorium for a Christmas story reading today. It was a different time. Clearly, a better one.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  6. There was a Silverwoods clothing store on Lake Avenue in Pasadena back in the seventies. It was across from Bullocks. Neither exist today. But there is a Ross for Less in the former location. Sad that few high end clothing stores exist today with traditional suits. Nordstroms in Glendale and Pasadena no longer sell suits. You have to go to South Coast Plaza.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I was at Silverwood’s in Westwood Village with my fellow Hugh’s Market box boy buddy when–lo and behold — Gary Beban strolled in….

      ….. a few weeks after the phucking 16-20 UCLA victory…

      # Respect&HatredFilledMyYoungHeart

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. My brother worked for CBRE commercial real estate. For a brief time, he had to report to Beban. Wasn’t a great experience. He described Gary as one of the most intense people he ever met. Made him nervous. But otherwise a good man.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Bruins!

        #…TheyDriveEveryoneNuts….

        “They can’t help it…made that way I guess…”

        —-Bruce Cabot, “King Kong”

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Correct, Sane Gabby!

      Not to mention the fact that anyone who was sincere in their desire to celebrate Juneteenth wouldn’t be hiding behind Vance’s name. In doing so, she’s mocking it just as badly as I did. But as usual, too stupid to realize it.

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

      1. Let’s see. A million union soldiers fought in the Civil War. About 350,000 died. Why did they do it? To free Black slaves. And now the desendants of those who fought and/or died are being ask to pay reparations to the descendants of those who they liberated and if they question the fairness of this policy, they will be labelled racists.

        When did June 19th become a holiday. I lived in Washington D.C. for three years in the eighties and never heard of it.

        Liked by 3 people

  9. DON: –So SC’s general manager ‘BowDown’ is getting better publicity than Wiley

    KAM: Usually the head Coach gets hated first, and then comes the general manager

    Like

    Reply

  10. KAM: That was one long, tough Iran negotiations, a “pained process” participants said

    DON: Vance would claim the Iranians acted as if they were holding 4-aces

    Like

    Reply

  11. KAM: In Wolf’s Friday’s Edition he always has pictures of pretty women. What do you think about that?

    DON: — I don’t mind

    Like

    Reply

  12. KAM: It is nice to see the league leading Dodgers still getting excited over an unexpected 9th inning comeback

    DON: –Looking bleak at 5-3 but one of the new guys got the hit to win it and he was showered by teammates.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. DON: With North Carolina making the Finals it makes it worse for SC

    KAM: The team was so close beating them that the Trojans might be saying today of North Carolina, ‘That could have been us’

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. OUR HERO HASN’T RETURNED MY PHONE CALL YET. I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO TALKING TO HIM —AND I HOPE HE CALLS SOON!

      #HE’S MY PAL!!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  16. KAM: How about a cheer– “USA, USA, USA” as they win a 2nd game and are a part of the final 32-teams.

    DON: The team is good and lucky. 2 games in a row the team has reaped 2 unforced goals

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  18. wolfman, remember when we stole George the Biting Pooch, shaving his arse and painted him blue and gold?? news report at the time describe him returned to the Hollywood police station in a drugged but otherwise good condition!! as for the wolfman’s shenanigans, he was granted a dispensation for his actions by the Cadre in the early 2000’s

    #BruinMagnumOpus

    Like

    Reply

  19. Scott, thanks for the Friday trips down memory lane. Dr. Baxter contributed to the acacemic stature of USC from his Shakespeare on TV series. Another well known professer was Dr. Wesley Robb who was a well known religion and philosophy instructor. Dr. Baxter retired shortly after I enrolled at USC, but I did take my one and only philosophy class from Dr. Robb in Mudd Hall. He was engaging and one of the papers that we had to write was about the most influential person in our life. For me it was my widowed Italian grandmother who shared with me her childhood on a farm in Italy and coming alone to the United States and traveling across country to meet her future husband in Los Angeles while speaking no English. I got an A for the paper. USC began as a Methodist university, and religion classes were still very much a part of the curriculum in the early 1960’s. Anyway, Scott, thanks for the memories. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Is [or was] Wesley Robb related to Philosophy Professor Extraordinaire, Kevin Robb?

      I had several classes with Kevin. Greatest stylist I ever watched. An inspiration!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Hi MG. I am not familiar with Kevin Robb, but it is likely that he was related to Dr. Wesley Robb. I believe that Dr. Robb had two daughters. Dr. Hugh Willett, a USC professor, was elected to the LAUSD school board in the 1950’s. USC played a prominent role in the deveopment of Los Angeles with professors participating in many civic and cultural activities beyong the campus. At one time the vast majority of school superintendents and judges in Los Angeles and Orange Counties had a connection to USC and John Ferraro, LA city councilman, was a USC All American football player. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

        Liked by 1 person

      2. John Ferraro became The Enforcer on the L. A. City Council. He once dragged a councilman from the podium when he didn’t like what he was saying about municipal transit. [btw, Ferraro couldn’t stand my Dad, who was Executive Director of the Community Redevelopment Agency, (CRA)—and he wasn’t real fond of me when I was in Special Trials at the City Attorney’s Office and testified at City Council that the CRA had become a joke …with millions in “grant” money disappearing.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. –Too bad SC changed their mascot’s name to Trojans. It would have made quite a headline every year to have the ‘Fighting Methodists vs the Fighting Irish’

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      2. You don’t want to get into an alley fight with an enraged Methodist. When John McKay was coaching at USC and playing the Irish coached by Ara Paraseghian, it was the Catholic coach leading USC and the Protestant coach leading ND. So, all of the Irish prayers by priests and nums for naught. Fight on, Dan, Class of 1962

        Like

Leave a comment