50 Fun Facts About USC

In what year was the University of Southern California founded?

It opened with 53 students and 10 faculty, and its first graduating class in 1884 was three people, with a woman as valedictorian.

Which judge led the effort to found USC, securing land and donations from early Los Angeles figures?

Widney Alumni House, built in 1880, is still the oldest university building in Southern California.

USC was originally operated in affiliation with which church?

Until 1912 the athletes were even known as the Fighting Methodists or Wesleyans, names the university never approved.

How many students were enrolled when USC opened its doors?

There were 10 faculty; today enrollment is more than 47,000.

What are USC's official colours?

Blue and gold belong to crosstown rival UCLA, whose fans have repeatedly painted Tommy Trojan in those colours.

Which Los Angeles Times sportswriter gave USC its Trojans nickname in 1912?

President George F. Bovard approved the name officially; Braven Dyer was the Times writer who later predicted the UCLA game would become a spectacle.

What is the official name of the bronze statue nicknamed Tommy?

It was unveiled during the university's 50th Jubilee in 1930 and lists five ideal Trojan attributes on its base: Faithful, Scholarly, Skillful, Courageous and Ambitious.

Sculptor Roger Noble Burnham used which people as visual references for Tommy Trojan?

Russ Saunders, Ernie Pinckert, Henry Becker, Larry Stevens and John Ward all posed; the statue was unveiled in 1930.

What kind of animal is Traveler, USC's official mascot?

Traveler I first galloped into the Coliseum in 1961; the current mascot is Traveler IX.

When Traveler debuted in 1961, rider Richard Saukko wore a Trojan costume borrowed from which film?

The costume Charlton Heston had worn proved too heavy, so Saukko made his own leather outfit for 1962, and that design is still used.

Against which opponent did Traveler make his first appearance at the Coliseum in 1961?

It was the football home opener; the horse had been bought in 1957 already named, after proving unreliable as a movie horse.

USC's fight song "Fight On" was composed in 1922 by Milo Sweet, who was a student of what?

He wrote it with Glen Grant for a student spirit competition; the two-fingered "V" salute now goes with it.

The Trojan Marching Band's victory march "Conquest" was written by Alfred Newman for which 1947 film?

The band adopted it a few years after the film; it is played after every USC touchdown and win.

In 1979 the USC Trojan Marching Band recorded the title track of which Fleetwood Mac album?

The band later appeared on The Dance in 1997 and has backed Radiohead, Beyoncé and Michael Jackson.

Which director led the Spirit of Troy marching band for over 50 years, until 2020?

He took over in 1970 and shaped "Hollywood's Band"; Herb Alpert is a famous alumnus of the trumpet section.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was built as a memorial to veterans of which war?

It was completed in 1923 and rededicated in 1968 to all US war veterans; USC beat Pomona 23-7 in the first game there.

Including 2028, how many Summer Olympics have been awarded to the LA Memorial Coliseum?

It hosted in 1932, when it was expanded to more than 101,000 seats, and again in 1984.

Which historic NFL game was played at the Coliseum in January 1967?

It was then called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game; the stadium also hosted Super Bowl VII.

USC first fielded a football team in 1888, beating which opponent 16-0 in its first game?

The program now claims 11 national championships and has sent more than 580 players to the NFL draft.

How many Heisman Trophy winners has USC produced, the most of any university?

Five tailbacks and three quarterbacks have won it, from Mike Garrett in 1965 to Caleb Williams in 2022.

Under coach Howard Jones (1925-1940), USC's dominant teams earned which nickname?

That era brought the program's first four national titles; the Wild Bunch was a 1969 defensive line.

Which coach led USC to four national championships between 1962 and 1974?

His teams also produced Heisman winners Mike Garrett and O.J. Simpson before he left for the NFL's expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Who was the first USC quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy, in 2002?

He carried every voting region; Leinart followed two years later and Caleb Williams in 2022.

In 1981, which Trojan became only the second player in NCAA history to rush for over 2,000 yards in a season?

He finished with 2,342 yards and is the only player to win the Heisman, a national title, a Super Bowl, NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP.

Which USC running back forfeited his 2005 Heisman Trophy in 2010, only to have it reinstated in 2024?

The NCAA had ruled he was ineligible for accepting improper benefits; the "Bush Push" against Notre Dame is his other claim to fame.

Which coach revived USC football from 2001 to 2009 before leaving to coach the Seattle Seahawks?

He won seven straight conference titles and later became only the third coach to win a college national title and a Super Bowl.

Lincoln Riley was hired as USC's head coach in November 2021 after five years at which school?

Quarterback Caleb Williams followed him west and won the 2022 Heisman with school-record passing numbers.

Which NFL team took USC's Caleb Williams with the first overall pick of the 2024 draft?

He had set USC single-season records for passing yards and touchdowns while winning the 2022 Heisman.

USC and Notre Dame play each year for what trophy?

The Irish club is made of oak or blackthorn from Ireland, and a jewelled ornament is added for each win; the series began in 1926.

The USC-Notre Dame series is said to have begun in 1926 after a talk between whose wives?

Rockne resisted the travel until Mrs Rockne spoke to him; USC joined the Irish schedule on December 4, 1926.

The winner of the USC-UCLA football game takes home a bell that originally came from what?

The schools shared the Coliseum as a home stadium until 1982, and their all-sports rivalry is scored as the Crosstown Cup.

A 1989 USC prank released hundreds of what into UCLA's main library during finals?

Rivalry week at USC, "Troy Week", now includes an all-night vigil to guard Tommy Trojan from Bruin paint.

Which conference did USC join in 2024 after leaving the Pac-12?

UCLA, Oregon and Washington made the same move, ending the Pac-12 as a power conference.

USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux won a record five consecutive College World Series titles in which years?

He won 11 national titles in all, coached Tom Seaver, Mark McGwire and Randy Johnson, and was named Coach of the Century.

How many baseball national championships has USC won, far more than any other school?

No other program has more than six; USC has also won 26 titles in track and field and 21 in tennis.

After the Tokyo 2020 Games, how many Olympic medals had USC athletes won in total?

That included 153 golds; if USC were a country it would rank among the top medal-winning nations.

USC's men's basketball team plays at which on-campus arena, opened in 2006?

Banker Louis Galen and his wife Helene gave $10 million right after USC's quarterback won the 2002 Heisman; the first sellout was against UCLA in 2007.

George Lucas's 2006 gift of $175 million went to expand which part of USC?

It was then the largest single donation in USC history; the film school, founded in 1929, is the oldest in the country.

In what year did USC start the film instruction that grew into its famous film school?

Early instructors and guest lecturers included Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford; the school took its current name in 2006.

Which of these Apollo moonwalkers is a USC alumnus?

He earned a master's in aerospace engineering; former NASA chief Charles Bolden is another Trojan.

Which USC faculty member won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Chemistry?

He founded the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute; Arieh Warshel won the same prize in 2013.

Doheny Memorial Library was funded in 1932 by oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny in memory of whom?

Ned Doheny had been shot dead in 1929; the $1.1 million library has statues of Shakespeare and Dante at its entrance.

The USC Shoah Foundation holds 55,000-plus Holocaust testimonies. Which filmmaker founded it in 1994?

He set it up a year after Schindler's List; it moved to USC in 2006 and now also records survivors of other genocides.

In 1970 USC's Keck School formed the first US academic department in which medical specialty?

It is the oldest medical school in Southern California and the second oldest in the state after UCSF.

Which USC president oversaw 19 campus buildings over 25 years, including Doheny Library?

The 1921 Bovard Administration Building is named for his predecessor; Steven Sample became president in 1990.

USC Village, opened in 2017, includes a Target and which grocery store?

It replaced a shopping centre demolished in 2014 and houses 2,700 students.

Chaffey College in Ontario, California, was founded in 1883 as what kind of USC branch campus?

It was the Chaffey College of Agriculture of the University of Southern California; today it is an independent community college.

USC students with family ties to the university are known by what nickname?

About 20% of admitted students are SCions, while 14% are the first in their family to attend college.

The Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, established in 2012, was USC's first new school in how many years?

The gift came from philanthropist Glorya Kaufman; the School of Architecture, from 1916, was the first in Southern California.

The Daily Trojan has been USC's student newspaper since what year?

The same year the university officially adopted the Trojans name.