Tag: USC Trojans

Former USC coach Steve Sarkisian recovering from heart surgery

Former USC Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian underwent heart surgery after a routine physical at Alabama revealed some concerns.

Former USC Trojans head coach Steve Sarkisian, now an offensive coordinator at Alabama, underwent successful heart surgery last week.

During Sarkisian’s annual executive physical, it was determined he needed an immediate procedure to correct a congenital cardiovascular anomaly.

“Coach Sarkisian underwent a successful procedure this past Thursday (July 2) in Birmingham,” a statement from Alabama’s athletic department read. “He is back home in Tuscaloosa and is expected to make a full recovery.”

Sarkisian initially joined the Trojans in 2001 as an offensive assistant under coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Sarkisian was also an assistant from 2005-2008, and he eventually landed as the head coach at the University of Washington, where he operated from 2009-2013.

Sarkisian finally took over as the head coach for the Trojans during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, going 9-4 in 2014 and winning the Holiday Bowl. He went 3-2 to start the 2015 campaign before he was asked to take a leave of absence following an incident of being drunk at work. The leave of absence eventually turned into termination, and coach Clay Helton took over on an interim basis, a role he has kept ever since.

Sarkisian has bounced around at Alabama and the Atlanta Falcons since then, and is now settled in as Alabama’s offensive coordinator.

Although his final stint at USC is not remembered very fondly, we extend best wishes to coach Sarkisian as he recovers from heart surgery.

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Legendary USC Olympians: Parry O’Brien

Parry could certainly thrust a shot put.

Only seven USC Olympians are members of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. One of them is Parry O’Brien, whose influence on the discipline of shot-putting is enormous. That is the precise reason why he owns such a rare and elevated place among Trojans in the history of American Olympic competition.

The craft of shot-putting demands a very precise technique. The act requires well-developed, rapid, compact, efficient movements which generate torque in the body and an overall level of well-directed force which enable the shot put to travel as far as possible without injuring the person who threw it. Shot-putting can’t be done haphazardly, or it could wrench any number of body parts out of alignment, causing prolonged pain and discomfort. Doing it right isn’t just a way to win an Olympic gold medal; it’s a way to remain healthy.

Parry O’Brien developed the “O’Brien Glide,” a revolutionary way to throw the shot put. The proof of his technique’s genius is found in the fact that O’Brien became the first man to throw a shot put 60 feet in live competition. As a bonus, O’Brien did so at a meet in the Los Angeles Coliseum, the perfect place for a USC man to set a world record.

Some athletes have flourished in national or at-large meets but withered under the Olympic spotlight. Not O’Brien. He carried his form from modest, low-publicity competitions to the Olympics. He qualified for and participated in four different games.

Parry O’Brien set an Olympic record when he won the gold medal at the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland. He then defended his Olympic title four years later in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956. No one had defended a shot put gold medal at the Summer Olympics since Ralph Rose of the United States pulled off the dynamic double in 1904 (St. Louis) and 1908 (London).

O’Brien didn’t get a triple gold in 1960 in Rome, but he still finished on the medal podium, earning silver and becoming a rare Olympian who medaled in three separate Olympic Games. O’Brien was the flag-bearer for the 1964 U.S. Olympic contingent in Tokyo. He finished fourth, which was simultaneously disappointing and yet still a special achievement, a reminder that over a decade since his first Olympic breakthrough, O’Brien was still one of the four best shot-putters on the planet.

Parry O’Brien taught a generation of shot-putters how to practice their craft better… but not before a long reign of excellence at the Olympic Games and in other competitions for more than a decade. When considering USC’s greatest track and field performers of all time, O’Brien has to be part of the discussion.

Fred Kelly’s golden Olympic moment for USC

The USC gold rush started here

You always remember your first time. USC won its first College World Series in 1948. It made its first Final Four in 1940. It won its first college football national championship in 1928. It won its first Rose Bowl on January 1, 1923, against Penn State.

It won its first Olympic gold medal in the summer of 1912.

Fred Kelly owns that eternal place in USC and Olympic history.

If it was remarkable (and it is) that an Australian teenager named Michelle Ford continued USC’s remarkable Olympic streak of consecutive gold medals — albeit in a roundabout way — at the 1980 Olympics despite the absence of an American team on hand to compete, we have to also give due respect and attention to the person who began that incredible streak.

USC has been an Olympic powerhouse for more than 100 years. The Trojans’ gold medal factory at every summer Olympiad since 1912 in Stockholm had to start somewhere. It had to have a trail-blazing figure. Fred Kelly became that man.

Kelly was a Southern California kid through and through. A native of Beaumont and a product of Orange High School, Kelly attended USC and pursued the Olympics at a point in time when the event was a mere 16 years old. The 1912 Stockholm Olympics were merely the fifth modern Summer Games ever held. The Winter Olympics were 12 years away from being born, and no one knew at the time that these 1912 Olympics would be the last until 1920 due to World War I, which was just around the corner.

One legend was formed at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics: Jim Thorpe, on par with Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jordan as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century, won both the pentathlon AND decathlon in their Olympic debuts. The enormity and resonance of Thorpe’s achievement remain intact 108 years after the fact… but don’t let that obscure or overshadow what Fred Kelly started for USC.

Kelly and American Olympic teammate James Wendell created a slight degree of separation late in the 110-meter hurdles final. It is often the case that in a sprint race, the runner who displays the combination of timing and instinct needed to lean forward at the very end — creating forward-moving body momentum without prematurely sacrificing speed — wins the race. Sprinters know they can’t think about leaning into the tape too early; if they do that, another runner will rush by them. The timing has to be exquisite.

Kelly mastered the final forward lean and nipped Wendell by one tenth of a second.

That was USC’s first Olympic gold medal, 108 years ago.

In 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 (in Tokyo, the site of the rescheduled 2021 games), 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 — every Summer Olympics since then — a Summer Olympian who attended USC at some point in time (not always at the time the Olympics were held) has won a gold medal.

Fred Kelly had no idea what he had started, or what his achievement would inspire in future Trojans… and that lack of knowing is what makes the moment so sweetly poignant and richly treasured, over a century later.

One wonders how long USC will continue one of the most majestic streaks in all of sports.

USC All-American linebacker Damon Bame passed away

Damon Bame was an All-American who played guard and linebacker for the USC Trojans in 1962 and 1963.

Former USC Trojan Damon Bame, a two-time All-American and member of the 1962 national championship squad, has passed away from heart disease.

He was 77 years old.

Bame joined the Trojans as a transfer from Glendale Junior College in 1962. He lettered as both a guard on offense and a linebacker on defense over the next two seasons.

Bame was named an All-American in both seasons at USC, while also garnering All-Conference awards and being named USC’s linemen of the year award in both years.

Bame was instrumental in USC’s 11-0 season in 1962, which ended with a Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. He had four interceptions that season, and was part of a defense that allowed just 92 total points all season, an average of 8.4 points per game.

Bame ended up becoming an assistant football coach, working at San Jose State, Long Beach State and New Mexico while also working a stint in the World Football League with the Hawaii team.

He ended up serving as a high school head football coach for a few years as well before working in the recycling industry before retirement.

Our condolences go out to Bame and his family.

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New plan creates concerns about USC Alumni Association

New reportage from USC

There are a number of reasons why universities take action against on or off-campus groups. In the case of my fraternity (Kappa Alpha order at Cal-State Bakersfield), we became a huge liability for both the campus and our fraternity. The school revoked our chapter and let everyone go voluntarily to alumni status instead of being kicked out and having all the money it had already spent go to waste. It all comes down to liability. What does the school really want to be liable for in the modern age of college campuses? The answer, we’ve seen, is not very much. 

USC recently disbanded every regional alumni club in favor of more centralized alumni groups in major cities. The decision occurred in a Zoom call on June 23.

There will be regional groups, but the clubs have been replaced by regional advisory groups in major cities. They will be nothing like the previous models. The move was unilaterally decided upon by USC and didn’t include any discussion with the respective groups and alumni members.

The move didn’t seem to be overly popular with the alumni, however. The petition linked in the previous sentence already has over 3,200 signatures. Right now, the regional alumni groups have more questions than answers. They’re hoping USC will be able to provide those answers as they press the school for a better explanation. In order to understand how this will affect USC and its alumni, Trojans Wire reached out to several alumni and asked for their thoughts on the matter. 

The first individual asked to remain anonymous due to his position as a former board member of a regional alumni group. He felt USC was doing a disservice to the community by getting rid of those groups. He felt the need to remain anonymous because a perceived culture of fear created by the USC Alumni Association (USCAA) has resulted in people not wanting their names being publicly associated with sharp criticisms. 

“One of the biggest strengths of our regional alumni groups is being there for the Trojan family no matter where you go—whether you’re moving to a new city or visiting out-of-state for a football game, there’s a community there ready to welcome you right away.” the individual said. “Disbanding these communities is a major disservice to the Trojan alumni network. I’ve received many messages from fellow Trojans saying they enjoy these events that our regional groups organize and got the opportunity to meet other Trojans they wouldn’t have met otherwise. I also want to clarify that under the school’s proposed new system, there will still be some type of regional structure… but they did not really clearly explain it.”

As to why this happened, it seems to have come down to liability, but apparently this disbandment plan has been in the works for over two years. So it seems very unlikely that this was a response to any current events or political problems the university is dealing with. The school waited until the last possible moment on a weekday to drop the news. The groups felt — in the words of the individual — that this was a “bomb on them.” 

The individual continued:

“Their argument is the smaller communities can still throw events if they want… they just won’t have the school’s support in the same way as before. That’s another point we wanted to drive home is the way they announced the changes. They dropped a bomb on us. We weren’t consulted at all about this change.”

On Monday, the alumni sent USC President Carol Folt a letter signed by more than 70 alumni leaders. The letter called for transparent alumni leadership. At the heart of the letter were the key issues discussed in this report. One such quote was bolded within the email. 

“We believe that the USC Alumni Association did not carefully consider the perspective, morale, and positive contributions to the Trojan Family of those who participate in regional alumni groups,” wrote the signatories. “They also grossly underestimated the breadth and intensity of alumni opposition to dissolving the regional alumni groups. Our regional alumni club board members and chapter leaders are among the most active, passionate supporters of USC, who work diligently to fulfill the mission of providing ‘lifelong and worldwide’ connections that the USC Alumni Association pledges to its members. It saddens us that our efforts have been disregarded.”

It’s possible this decision to consolidate alumni groups under a central banner is a direct result of the myriad lawsuits USC is facing. This could be an attempt to limit liability and prevent adverse situations from emerging in the future. This is a feeling shared by James Baker, a graduate of the Marshall MBA program in 2004.

“The cutting off of alumni and transparency from the Board / Administration to the broader alum base is a very common strategy for colleges and universities ‘under attack’ by the media,” Baker said. 

All of this just brings up more questions than answers. Right now, the alumni groups are seeking a sit-down meeting with those in charge so they can express their concerns. The alumni groups have created a small list of things they’re hoping USC will act on and consider throughout this process. They understand it’s a give and take, and they’re willing to give. They feel that right now, they’re being taken from and not being given anything in return. 

Here is the alumni groups’ general action list for USC:

  1. Adopt an additive, rather than destructive, approach. 
  2. Provide support for local alumni initiatives
  3. Establish an official feedback mechanism

Trojans Wire will be releasing several follow-up reports on this story as it unfolds, and as information is released. It’s a confusing time for the alumni groups. We aim to cut through the confusion wherever possible. The people involved with these groups love and cherish USC; they only want what is best for the school. However, they also want to see the years they’ve given to USC mean something. They don’t want to be taken advantage of simply because they’re hundreds of miles away. 

Michelle Ford’s place in USC — and Olympic — history

The remarkable odyssey of Michelle Ford

To be honest and transparent about the matter, this has to be disclosed up front, in order to provide total clarity: When Michelle Ford won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, she was not representing USC. That much has to be acknowledged. Yet, when Ford chose to attend USC (over Stanford) in 1981 at the age of 19, after an abrupt head coaching change at UCLA scuttled her initial plan to become a Bruin, history had been made… and sustained.

It was true: When Ford stepped on the USC campus and took her first class as a Trojan, one of the most remarkable streaks in Olympic — and sports — history had been maintained. This is true even though Ford wasn’t carrying the banner for USC in Moscow.

The streak Ford continued: Since 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden, at least one athlete who attended USC has won a gold medal in every subsequent Summer Olympic gathering. There was no Olympic extravaganza in 1916 because of World War I, and none in either 1940 or 1944 because of World War II. In all the Summer Olympics which have been staged over the past 108 years — with Tokyo coming up next year after a one-year delay due to the coronavirus — at least one person who has attended USC has won Summer Olympic gold.

No, not every USC attendee won gold while studying at the university, but someone who attended the school has, at another point in time, won a gold medal in an iteration of the Summer Games.

Michelle Ford is the author of the supremely improbable story which enabled this streak to stay alive.

Obviously, the fact that the streak was sustained not when the medal was won in 1980, but when Ford attended USC one year later, stands out in its own right. Yet, the story of Ford’s 1980 Olympic gold in the Soviet Union — at age 18 — is impressive and, moreover, a profile in courage.

Wait a minute: COURAGE? That sounds like an exaggeration or embellishment. We generally shouldn’t refer to athletic feats as acts of courage.

Well, that is true… but Ford really was courageous.

USC was in danger of failing to continue its gold medal streak at the 1980 Summer Olympics because the United States boycotted those games. The many American athletes from USC who had hoped to stand on a medal podium were denied the opportunity.

Australia was torn about its decision relative to the 1980 Summer Olympics. Athletes were under pressure to not attend and instead join the boycott. Ford insisted on competing, but received death threats when she did.

A teenager who had competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics at age 14, Ford wanted to reach the next level in 1980, and nothing was going to get in her way. She was tough and resolute, and the pursuit of greatness mattered very deeply to her.

She picked up a bronze medal in the 200 butterfly in Moscow, which ensured that her trip to the Soviet Union would not be a complete waste. Yet, a gold medal confers championship glory and sporting immortality on an Olympian. When Ford won the women’s 800-meter freestyle, Australia had its first gold medal of the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Ford was the only woman to win gold — or any other medal — for Australia in 1980. She was one of three Australians to win multiple medals in Moscow, alongside swimmers Mark Kerry and Peter Evans. She was the only non-Soviet Bloc female swimmer to win an individual gold medal in 1980.

In recognition of her achievement, Ford was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1982. She is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1994.

No Americans? No problem. Michelle Ford enabled one of the all-time-great streaks in USC sports — and Summer Olympic — history to continue in the early 1980s, in both Moscow and Los Angeles.

USC at Wimbledon: Alex Olmedo mastered the moment in 1959

Everything came together for Alex Olmedo in 1959

Alex Olmedo, who was born in Peru, moved to California when he was young. USC tennis coach George Toley recruited him, and Olmedo promptly rewarded his coach with NCAA singles and doubles championships in both 1956 and 1958. Olmedo conquered the world of American collegiate tennis. Could he then transfer that excellence to Wimbledon at a point in time when The Championships were still played by amateurs?

The Open Era of professional tennis was still nearly a decade away in 1959. Professionals were not allowed to play Wimbledon and the other major tournaments. (There were pro versions of some of the majors, but they weren’t the main attraction.) Though amateurs couldn’t cash in directly on Wimbledon, the tournament remained the crown jewel of tennis back then, just as it is today. Crucially, winning Wimbledon as an amateur allowed for the possibility that a young tennis player could make a few bucks as a professional barnstormer who traveled the globe and played in high-school gymnasiums, college arenas, and other makeshift venues. Winning Wimbledon carried meaning and value in 1959… just in a different way compared to what we have seen in more recent decades.

Alex Olmedo, carrying the banner for USC tennis, played the tournament of a lifetime. He made history for himself, his school, and Peru, his native country. No man born in Peru or — for that matter — South America has won Wimbledon in the past 61 years.

Olmedo torched the 1959 Wimbledon field. He was never taken to five sets in any match. He never trailed in sets in any match; he was twice tied at one set apiece, but won those two matches in four sets.

Olmedo — in the process of winning six matches to face the great Rod Laver in the 1959 Wimbledon final — won four of those six matches while losing no more than nine games. Roy Emerson, who won 12 major championships before his career was over, managed just eight games against Olmedo in the semifinals. Olmedo cruised, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, an 18-8 thrashing.

Olmedo’s closest match the whole tournament was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over India’s Ramanathan Krishnan in the third round. Olmedo won 22 games to Krishnan’s 19. Overall, Olmedo won 116 games and lost only 66 in his six-match romp to the final. That’s an average of 19.3 games won per match, and only 11 games lost per match. If you’re winning eight more games per match than your opponents, your per-set margin is close to three games. This means a typical set is 6-3, a routine and comfortable margin of victory.

Now, about that 1959 Wimbledon final against Laver, arguably the greatest tennis player ever: While it is true that Laver had not yet reached his height – -the Australian lefty won the first of two Grand Slams in 1962 — Olmedo still dispatched him with noticeable ruthlessness. The Peruvian needed just 71 minutes to dismiss Laver comfortably: 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Alex Olmedo also won the 1959 Australian Open championship. He was a dominant force in 1959 amateur tennis, and the strength of that one towering season carried Olmedo into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1987.

Legendary USC Olympians: Charley Paddock

A life which soared in its early years

Olympians can legitimately say they are the best athletes in the world. That point alone makes them special athletes in a larger context. This isn’t provincial, territorial, or narrow; this is the greatest global gathering in sports. We will have to wait one more year for Tokyo to celebrate the Summer Olympics, but while we try to display patience in the face of a pandemic, we can spend the summer of 2020 recalling great USC Olympians from the past.

Charley Paddock certainly rates among them.

Paddock is one of just seven USC Trojan Olympians to be named to the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. If Olympic athletes are profoundly special, Paddock can legitimately be viewed as particularly special — not so much for his actual Olympic achievements as the context in which he forged them.

For a lot of human beings, fighting in a war is an experience one never recovers from. This is not a reflection or revelation of deficient character; it is merely a reality that the scarring, jarring nature of war often brings about psychological traumas. A person isn’t less of a person because he or she suffers traumas; it is simply a fact of life that not every human being can easily live with the knowledge of having killed other human beings, or having seen other human beings die.

No respectable spiritual, ethical, or moral teacher would assail a person’s values or attack their character for suffering from mental health problems caused by the traumas of military combat. The “suck it up, be a man” notion of past centuries was prevalent in its time, but today — in a modern context — the medical and holistic sciences have advanced to the point where the devastating mental health effects of war are widely recognized and understood. Failing to cope with war is not a personal moral failure; it is an indicator and reminder of the vicious brutality of war itself, an illustration of why — as Pope John Paul II said — war is “always a defeat for humanity.”

Failing to handle the effects of war — if manifested in personal mental health problems — is not something for which human beings deserve criticism. When we consider how individual people handle war, we should focus less on criticizing the soldier who can’t cope, and more on admiring the people who come out of war whole and intact, and manage to build good, positive lives.

Charley Paddock did that at USC after serving with the United States Marines as a lieutenant in World War I.

For most of us, serving in a World War would require — maybe even deserve — many years of quiet respite and recovery after the end of combat. When World War I ended in late 1918, Charley Paddock could have spent a long time to process everything he had seen and endured. It would have been a perfectly natural, reasonable thing to do.

Instead, Charley Paddock became an Olympic champion in track and field sprint racing.

Paddock’s survival of war gave him wings at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The USC student flew to the gold medal in the 100-meter race — the most glamorous event in track and field, even today — and the 4 X 100-meter relay. He also earned a silver medal in the 200-meter race, a feat he replicated in the 1924 Summer Games in Paris.

Fight in a World War. Win Olympic gold medals roughly a year and a half later. How many men can make that claim?

Charley Paddock truly lived an extraordinary life in his early years. This USC student fought on in many more ways than one.

Emil Breitkreutz: a USC pioneer in more ways than one

A remarkable figure who owns two eternal places in USC history

Decades before Howard Jones first made USC football a national power, and decades before Sam Barry became the most transformative and influential figure USC athletics has ever known, a USC pioneer made history on two different fronts.

Emil Breitkreutz didn’t win national championships or make Final Fours. He didn’t win three gold medals — or even one — at an edition of the Olympic Games. He didn’t revolutionize sports or send a thunderbolt which rippled through the pages of history in a headline-grabbing way. He wasn’t an iconic athlete the way Jim Thorpe was. He wasn’t a transcendent coach the way Knute Rockne was.

Emil Breitkreutz’s achievements in and around competitive sports were significant, yes… but they weren’t overwhelming. They are important and resonant, but they don’t knock people out of chairs or cause jaws to drop in astonishment.

Why devote a story to Emil Breitkreutz, then?

At USC, he was the first to not only venture something great in a realm of sports, but the first to actually achieve something great… and in two different ways.

As we contemplate a month of July in which the 2020 Summer Olympics were supposed to begin in Tokyo — but will have to wait a year until the summer of 2021 — it is worth sharing the simple story of Breitkreutz, a double pioneer in the annals of USC sports history.

Breitkreutz was the first USC athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

Before graduating in 1906, Breitkreutz — born in 1883 — competed in the 2004 Summer Games in St. Louis. That alone was impressive and notable. Even better, Breitkreutz managed to land on the medal podium as a bronze medalist in the 800-meter track and field race. Breitkreutz has an eternal place in USC lore as the first Trojan to medal at the Olympics. It might be “just” a bronze to some, but Breitkreutz will forever be known as the man who started it all for USC at the Olympic Games. Every Trojan medalist and gold medalist who has followed in the subsequent 116 years has built on what Breitkreutz started.

“Wow,” you might be saying, “that’s quite a legacy for anyone to have.”

The amazing thing about Emil Breitkreutz is that it isn’t his only significant legacy at USC.

Breitkreutz was USC’s very first basketball coach, in 1906.

Yes. You could look it up.

The program began in December of 1906. The first intercollegiate game was an 18-15 win over Occidental College on January 16, 1907.

Breitkreutz was 6-5 in his one season at the helm of USC hoops. The season is significant less for its win-loss record, and more for the simple fact that it happened.

Emil Breitkreutz is one of the foremost pioneers in the life of USC athletics. He didn’t rewrite the record book; he opened the book and handed future generations a pen in which they could write their names.

America is the product of a pioneer spirit. Few people in USC history modeled that mindset better than Emil Breitkreutz.

Former USC and Chargers lineman Max Tuerk dies at 26

A former star lineman for USC who was drafted by the Chargers in 2016, Max Tuerk, has died at age 26.

Tragedy struck the USC football family Sunday when former Trojan Max Tuerk died at the age of 26.

No cause of death has been revealed.

Tuerk started for USC at left tackle during his freshman season. He was a freshman All-American in 2012. Tuerk became an All-American center for the Trojans. That led to him becoming a third-round pick of the Chargers in 2016, selected 66th overall.

Tuerk never appeared for the Chargers. He did not play a single snap for the Chargers in his rookie season and was suspended for the first four games of the 2017 campaign for violating the NFL’s policy on PEDs.

He was signed by the Arizona Cardinals off of the Chargers’ practice squad in 2017 and played one game before being cut.


 Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports