Can you believe Tommy Trojan turns 95 years old today? Do you think Lincoln Riley has ever walked past him? Here is sculptor Roger Noble Burnham creating his masterpiece. This picture is from May, 1939, nine years after the “Trojan Statue” made its debut. It was passed along from reader Rick Brown, and shows his father and grandparents, who were there to enroll his uncle at USC. A calm … Continue reading The USC Friday Column Supplement

What do Wesley Yates, Desmond Claude, Josh Cohen, Saint Thomas and most of the rest of the USC basketball team have in common with Lincoln Riley? They are not Trojans. Traditionally, a Trojan would be someone who attended USC or developed an emotional bond with the university through their work with USC. Pete Carroll and Art Bartner fit into the latter category. But in this era of … Continue reading Are Lincoln Riley and USC Players True Trojans?

Tradition is obviously in short supply at USC as I mentioned yesterday that it hasn’t inducted a Hall of Fame class since 2018. Then today, the athletic dept. barely mustered a three-paragraph obituary on Gus Williams. You can read it here. Thankfully, Williams got inducted into the USC Hall of Fame in 2009 and had his number retired in 2016. But three paragraphs? It’s a … Continue reading What Happened To Tradition?

In my annual Christmas tradition, here is my all-time favorite USC picture.Hollywood screen legend Greta Garbo was sent to USC in 1926 to pose for some publicity photos with the track team. On February 15th, 1926, C. E. Carle got a call from MGM Studios. They wanted to Garbo pose with the USC track team. Carle was the director of sports publicity at the University of Southern … Continue reading Merry Christmas!