FOOTBALL

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

USC faces UCLA in men’s tennis today in the NCAA Tournament at 2 p.m. in Westwood. USC is 2-0 against UCLA this season but the Bruins are on a 10-game winning streak.

  • The Big 12 gave commissioner Brett Yormark a three-year contract extension. What’s George Kliavkoff doing?
  • Carol Folt’s contract does not expire until June 30 but for all intents and purposes, her job ends next week with USC’s graduation ceremonies. Folt has still never addressed the reasons behind the resignation of Mike Bohn.
  • And now for some history:
  • Marcus Allen carried the ball 46 times against Cal during this 1981 game. USC had only two tailbacks who got more than 46 carries for the entire season in 2024.
  • You know I love USC basketball uniforms from the 1970’s/early 1980’s. Here is John Lambert shooting against UCLA’s Ralph Drollinger in 1975.

WE’RE TROJANS BABY!

  • This is one of my favorite USC post-game pictures. Defensive lineman Otha Bradley celebrating after a game in 1974. Bradley is a Trojan. I am a Trojan. Are you a Trojan? Lincoln Riley is not a Trojan.

Bradley went to high school in Louisiana and then played two seasons at Los Angeles City College before transferring to USC.

A DIFFERENT WORLD

USC student Pat Johnson was named “Helen of Troy” in 1951. Two years earlier, on the day before the final judging, she fell asleep under a sun lamp and suffered second-degree burns on her face.

“I don’t even believe it,” she said after winning. “I don’t know what to think.”

  • The star power around USC during Homecoming festivities in 1951 was nearly unprecedented.

Danny Thomas and Dorothy Dandridge were the headliners at a student variety show at the Shrine Auditorium.

Dorothy Dandridge circa 1951

Baseball manager Leo Durocher was grand marshal of the Homecoming parade with his wife, actress Laraine Day, by his side.

Leo Durocher and Laraine Day at USC Homecoming parade

Among the judges of the student skits at the variety show were actor and USC graduate Ward Bond and actress Lurene Tuttle, who became the mother-in-law of famed composer John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars).

Among the judges for “Helen of Troy” were actors Marshall Thompson (Daktari) and Les Tremayne (The War of the Worlds) while Tuttle was mistress of ceremonies.

A mid-day rally for the football team Friday was hosted by the honorary mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, and featured singer Patricia Wymore, who was the wife of actor Errol Flynn.

The Homecoming parade Thursday night drew an estimated 80,000 to the Miracle Mile and was televised by Channel 5. The actual game between No. 6 USC and No. 7 Stanford drew 96,130.

Even the game was star-studded. Bob Mathias, who was only 17 when he won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1948 Olympics, tried football three years later and broke a 96-yard TD run for Stanford against USC in 1951.

Bob Mathias vs. USC in 1951
  • During 11 days in December, 1951, USC men’s basketball played non-conference games at Oklahoma State (twice), at Kansas and “neutral court” games with North Carolina and Duke in Raleigh, N.C.

Oklahoma State was ranked No. 13; Kansas was ranked No. 7 and Duke was the defending national champion and finished the season ranked No. 12. Only North Carolina was unranked.

The Trojans split two games with Oklahoma State, lost to Kansas and North Carolina but upset Duke, 87-69.

Wonder what the Muss Bus thinks of this schedule. No doubt he respects it more than Andy “Thanks” Enfield.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

French actress Catherine Deneuve (left) and her sister, Françoise Dorléac. They starred together in the vibrant 1967 musical “The Young Girls of Rochefort.” Dorléac made only one more film because she died in a car accident on June 26,1967. She was 25.

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Here is Marilyn Monroe in just her sixth film (Love Happy, 1949), which starred Groucho Marx. Monroe wasn’t even billed on the movie’s poster.

  • Three years ago, I ran a delightful video of singer Helen Shapiro doing a number in London with the Beatles in 1963 before they got really big. You can watch it here. Paul McCartney was in another studio judging a lip-sync contest for a different segment so he was missing.

Anyways, here is Shapiro, at the age of 16, showing off her vocal talents on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962. The Beatles would not appear on the Sullivan show until 1964.

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

  2. Hi Scott. You worked for the Daily News back when I was pitching in HS/College. I love the past history part of your Friday Columns. Was wondering if at any point in the future you could find any info/pics/data on my great uncle. Dan Zimmerman. He played Football and Baseball at SC back in 1949-1952 I believe. Thanks again!!

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  3. Another great Friday column, complete with the history only Scott knows, along with his penchant for French actresses. Good start to the weekend!

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      1. Gabriella doesn’t have to imagine. He was in a poker tournament with them in Vegas…..

        #JoeRoganWasTheirDriver

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      2. Viva Las Vegas…..

        [Oh Crap, Fu*k me….I’m totally setting myself up for a Gabriella attack ….but….Speaking of Vegas…or maybe it was Blue Hawaii…..I just remembered one of Elvis’ co-stars —Gi Gi Verone—- was a victim/witness in my case against the “The First Exclusive Women’s Club”….the Wilshire Club…what a babe she was]….

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      4. Sorry I saw this so late in the day, Plow —I have no computer skills whatsoever —all my computer work was done by interns —when they went, my ability to do anything went —But—-Google Gigi Verone …click on Images & check her out in her leopard leotards — pretty fricking special….

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Keep up the good work, karma.

      [By the way….on a much less pleasant note…. I thought Francoise Dorleac was a brilliant actress — it was heartbreaking to hear she was trying to get out of her burning car in the accident that took her life….no way for anybody, much less her, to go]……

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  5. Carol Folt’s reign ends with the graduation ceremonies. Any celebrations planned? For what event? How about a “meet and greet” with commencement speaker Jane Fonda dressed in Barbarella attire.

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    1. On the right track, Plow —but let’s make it even more special —-bring back Mike Bohn in the Barbarella outfit —–Fonda, Nancy Pelosi, Karen Bass and Carol can come naked…..

      #WonderWhyWeLostAllOurFemaleContributors?

      #LookNoFurtherThanMe&Karma

      #[SparrowLeftDisappointed&DisgustedAgain]

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      1. MG: Don’t know about Bohn but Fonda and Pelosi, in their eighties, may be able to pull it off. Folt and Bass couldn’t pull it off in their twenties so they just became angry, childless, power hungry, bureaucrats.

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  6. I WAS AT THE 1951 STANFORD GAME. STILL MAD. MATHIAS RUN WAS A KICKOFF RETURN LATE IN THE GAME THAT TIED THE SCORE AT TWENTY APIECE. A TIE WOULD SEND THE INDIANS TO THE ROSE BOWL MOST LIKELY. WE FUMBLED AND THEY SCORED AGAIN FOR A 27-20 VICTORY. TERRIBLE GAME.

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    1. GEORGE IS BACK —– MY LIFE IS WORTH LIVING AGAIN!

      SOME SPECIAL LITTLE BOY’S BIRTHDAY IS NEXT MONTH — CAKE, ICE CREAM, NAKED WOMEN FROM EVERY CONTINENT!

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