Category:University of Southern California History

History and Highlights
The University of Southern California (also known as USC) participates in the Pacific-10 Conference.

More Trojans have competed in the Olympics than students from any other university in the world.

Trojan men's teams are tops in the nation in NCAA championships with 72 - more than any other university. Including the women's teams, USC has won 83 national team titles.

Team Colors: Cardinal and Gold Fight Songs: Fight On and Conquest Nickname: Trojans Mascot: Traveler VII (official site)

Men's NCAA National Titles

 * Football (11) - 2nd to Alabama and Notre Dame, each with 12.
 * College World Series (12) - Most by any university
 * Gymnasitcs (1)
 * Indoor Track and Field (2)
 * Swmimming & Diving (9)
 * Tennis (16)
 * Track & Field (26)
 * Volleyball (4)
 * Water Polo (3)

Women's NCAA National Titles

 * Basketball (2)
 * Swimming & Diving (1)
 * Tennis (2)
 * Track & Field (1)
 * Volleyball (3)
 * Water Polo (2)
 * Golf (1)

Football
USC has won eleven National Championships, placing the program among the top of all historical programs.

USC also leads all programs in the number of Heisman Trophy winners, with seven, tied only with Notre Dame. Over the last four years, three awardees hail from USC -- Reggie Bush in 2005, Matt Leinart in 2004, and Carson Palmer (now with the Cincinnati Bengals) in 2002.

Ten USC alumni are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, more than any other school (tied with Notre Dame).

Head Coaches

 * "Gloomy" Gus Henderson (dates??)
 * Howard Jones (1925-1940)
 * John McKay (1960-1975)
 * John Robinson (1976-1982, 1993-1997)
 * Ted Tollner (1983-1986)
 * Larry Smith (1987-1992)
 * Paul Hackett (1997-2000)
 * Pete Carroll (2001-present)

Rivalry Games
USC's cross-town rival is UCLA. USC also maintains a rivalry with Notre Dame that predates the one with UCLA. Each year, USC plays these two rivals. The winners of these two games earn temporary rights to respective trophies.

USC versus UCLA
The the winner of the UCLA game gets the Victory Bell. The 295-pound bell, which originally rang atop a Southern Pacific locomotive, was given to the UCLA student body in 1939 as a gift from the school's alumni association. However, during the opening game of UCLA's 1941 season, six members of USC's Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and "borrowed" the bell. For over a year, the bell remained hidden: in the fraternity’s basement, in the Hollywood Hills, and even beneath a haystack.

In 1942, a photograph of the bell was printed in a USC publication, resulting in an uproar at UCLA. UCLA students painted the Tommy Trojan statue at USC and Trojan students retaliating by burning USC initials on UCLA lawns. A truce was called after the USC administration threatened to cancel the upcoming football game between the two. On November 12, 1942, the student body presidents of both schools agreed to a true, and made the bell the trophy for the annual game between UCLA and USC. Thereafter, the winner would keep the bell for the following year. Furthermore, the USC alumni association reimbursed their UCLA counterparts for the cost of the bell.

Unfortunately for USC, 1942 was the first year UCLA won the annual cross-town football game with a score of 14-7.

USC versus Notre Dame
The winner of the Notre Dame is the Jeweled Shillelagh, a gaelic war club passed between the victor in the Notre Dame-USC football match. The Shillelagh is adorned with Trojan heads and Shamrocks correlating to victories by both schools.

Awards and Titles
National Championships
 * 1928
 * 1931
 * 1932
 * 1939
 * 1962
 * 1967
 * 1972
 * 1974 UPI national champion
 * 1978 UPI national champion
 * 2003 AP national champion
 * 2004

Heisman Trophy Winners
 * Mike Garrett (1965)
 * O.J. Simpson (1968)
 * Charles White (1979)
 * Marcus Allen (1981)
 * Carson Palmer (2002)
 * Matt Leinart (2004)
 * Reggie Bush (2005)