MEMORY LANE : Over the Years, Special Moments in USC-UCLA Series Become Legend

USC will be celebrating its centennial year in football next season. UCLA will have to wait until 2019 for such a celebration.

The Trojans got a head start, and even though they have a 31-19-6 advantage in the series that began in 1929, the Bruins are catching up quickly.

In what began as a modest cross-town series between established USC and UCLA, which moved from Vermont Avenue to its Westwood campus in 1929, has grown into one of the most competitive college football rivalries in the country.

For one thing, they are the only major college football powers located in the same city, just 13 miles apart.

For the nit-pickers, that’s reckoning with Houston and Rice, both of which are located in Houston but neither of which generally qualifies as a power.

Because of the proximity of the schools, it isn’t unusual for a family to be divided on big game day--father a USC graduate, mother a UCLA graduate and sons and daughters also divided.

Whatever the outcome, and that includes Saturday’s game at the Coliseum, the series has been an emotional, exciting and sometimes unusual one over the years.

So many memorable moments, so many memorable games.

Let’s review some of them:

1937

USC 19, UCLA 13

To put this game in perspective, it was only the fourth meeting between the schools.

After USC routed UCLA, 76-0, in 1929 and, 52-0, in 1930, the series was discontinued until 1936, when the Bruins closed the gap with a 7-7 tie.

The Trojans, however, were dominating again in 1937. In what had been a ho-hum game, USC was leading in the fourth quarter, 19-0.

Many in the crowd of 75,000 at the Coliseum had already left when UCLA halfback Kenny Washington, a talented sophomore from Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, provided some memorable moments.

For his first trick, he threw a pass 62 yards in the air to halfback Hal Hirshon for a touchdown. Hirshon ranged far behind the USC secondary because the Trojans didn’t believe Washington could possibly throw the ball that far.

It was regarded then as one of the longest completed passes in college football history.

Washington, who became UCLA’s first All-American two years later, wasn’t through.

He teamed with Hirshon again for a 44-yard touchdown play less than a minute later.

A startling upset was in the making when UCLA moved to the USC 15-yard line in the closing minutes. But Washington, as gifted as he was, couldn’t connect with Hirshon for another touchdown.

When the game ended, UCLA Coach Bill Spaulding visited the USC dressing room to congratulate his golfing partner and friend, Howard Jones, the legendary USC coach.

The door was locked, so Spaulding knocked.

“Who’s there?” a voice asked.

“Bill Spaulding,” the coach said.

“What do you want?” the voice inquired again.

“Tell Howard he can come out now,” Spaulding said. “We’ve stopped passing.”

1939

USC 0, UCLA 0

So close, yet so far. That was the bittersweet moment for UCLA, which was still seeking its first victory over USC. Moreover, a Rose Bowl bid was at stake.

A record Coliseum crowd of 103,303 watched USC squander a scoring opportunity in the second quarter when tailback Grenny Lansdell fumbled into the end zone from the UCLA one-yard-line.

In the fourth quarter of this tense struggle, the Bruins moved 78 yards to a first down at the Trojans’ three-yard line.

Surely, this was UCLA’s moment. On first down, Washington slammed into the line but was held to no gain. On second down, fullback Leo Cantor slashed to the two-yard line. On third down, the same play was called, but Cantor lost two yards.

What to do? A field goal seemed to be the best percentage call on fourth down, but a vote was taken in the huddle.

Five players voted to try for a field goal. Five others opted for a touchdown.

Quarterback Ned Matthews cast the tiebreaking vote. He called a pass play.

It was the wrong decision. Washington’s pass intended for end Don MacPherson was knocked down by USC halfback Bobby Robertson.

So USC went on to the Rose Bowl, not UCLA, even though both teams finished the regular season undefeated. The Bruins had more ties marring their conference record than the Trojans--5-0-3 to 5-0-2.

Can you imagine UCLA Coach Terry Donahue or USC Coach Larry Smith allowing the players to call such a crucial play?

Babe Horrell, UCLA’s coach, justified such democratic action when quoted in Ken Rappoport’s book, “The Trojans”:

“I considered sending a man in to call for a kick just before we made a first down at the three. But when my boys made the first down, I changed my mind. After all, these kids were doing pretty well without my help. Anything that Matthews did from then on was good enough for me.”

Bill Ackerman, UCLA’s athletic director at the time, said in a 1973 interview that the 1939 games still frustrated him.

“I saw $90,000 flying out the window,” Ackerman said. “In those days, you didn’t have to divide the money with other conference schools in the Rose Bowl. I’m not about to forget that one.”

1942

UCLA 14, USC 7

This game is memorable only for its historic significance. It was UCLA’s first victory over USC, also enabling the Bruins to represent the Pacific Coast Conference in the Rose Bowl for the first time.

Moreover, a young UCLA quarterback, largely responsible for his team’s two touchdowns, went on to become famous with the Rams and later was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

If you haven’t already guessed, that quarterback was the late Bob Waterfield.

1944

UCLA 13, USC 13

From 1943 through 1945, UCLA and USC met twice each season because of adjusted schedules prompted by World War II travel restrictions.

There have been many unusual moments in the USC-UCLA series but, perhaps, none as bizarre as the finish of the first game between the schools in 1944.

With USC leading, 13-6, Trojan quarterback Jim Hardy punted on the final play of the game. UCLA halfback Johnny Roesch gathered in the ball on his own 20-yard line, then weaved through the entire USC team for a touchdown.

There was even more suspense on Waterfield’s subsequent extra-point try. The ball hit the crossbar, hung for an agonizing moment, then dropped over for the improbable tie.

1952

USC 14, UCLA 12

For the first time in the series, the teams went into the game undefeated and untied. The outcome of the game would determine the Rose Bowl representative.

Now, it was USC’s turn for bizarre, game-breaking plays. In the second quarter, USC was on its 25-yard line when wingback Al Carmichael was apparently stopped on a reverse. Surprisingly, he lateraled to halfback Jim Sears, who ran 75 yards to a touchdown.

A lateral is one thing, but how about a guard intercepting a pass and returning it 72 yards to set up a touchdown.

That’s what happened in the second half with UCLA leading, 12-7, and driving for another score. Tailback Paul Cameron’s low pass was drilled into the stomach of USC guard Elmer Willhoite, who didn’t stop running until he reached the UCLA eight-yard line.

Four plays later, Sears threw a short pass to Carmichael for the winning touchdown.

“I was hit as I released the ball and I thought it had been intercepted,” Sears said.

Not on that day.

1965

UCLA 20, USC 16

Yogi Berra would have liked this one. You know, it’s never over until it’s over.

For 56 minutes, USC outgained and dominated UCLA but led only, 16-6, in another Rose Bowl showdown game.

Then, in the final four minutes, the Bruins rallied in what has come to be known as the Beban Bomb game.

UCLA began its comeback on a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Gary Beban to end Dick Witcher. Beban passed again for a successful two-point conversion.

UCLA Coach Tommy Prothro called for an onside kick, and it worked, the Bruins recovering at the USC 49-yard line. A few plays later, UCLA end Kurt Altenberg found a hole in the USC secondary and caught Beban’s 48-yard bomb for the winning touchdown.

1967

USC 21, UCLA 20

Arguably, this is the showcase game in the series. Everything was at stake. UCLA was ranked No. 1 nationally, USC was No. 2. The Rose Bowl bid was waiting, and so was the Heisman Trophy, with Beban and USC tailback O.J. Simpson the leading candidates.

Now for the play:

With UCLA leading in the fourth quarter, 20-14, USC had third and eight at its own 36-yard line.

USC Coach John McKay instructed quarterback Toby Page to throw, with the option to call an audible to Simpson if the receivers were double-covered.

Page gave the ball to Simpson, who did the rest. He went through the left side, twisted through a crowd of Bruins and then, as McKay says “exploded to the middle of the field and was gone.”

Said McKay in his own book written with Jim Perry: “A good back might have made the eight yards for a first down. O.J. made it to the Rose Bowl. It was the damnedest run I’ve ever seen.”

Beban got the Heisman Trophy, though. Simpson had to wait a year.

1982

UCLA 20, USC 19

There were only three seconds remaining when USC quarterback Scott Tinsley threw a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Boyer.

The Trojans had now drawn close at 20-19. Kick the extra point for a tie, or go for a win with a two-point try?

Traditionally, USC goes for a win in such a situation, and Coach John Robinson was adhering to tradition. Moreover, the Trojans were ineligible to play in the Rose Bowl because of NCAA sanctions, so why not go for broke?

On the previous play, the scoring pass to Boyer, UCLA nose guard Karl Morgan seemed confused.

“I didn’t realize what the score was,” Morgan said. “I thought we were trailing and had to hold them. So, when they scored, I thought we’d lost the game.

“Then, I saw the look in everybody’s eyes and I knew we had one more chance.”

Morgan made it happen. He sacked Tinsley before he could throw a pass, preserving UCLA’s victory.

The Bruins subsequently got the Rose Bowl bid when Washington State beat Washington and Arizona upset Arizona State.

An unsung hero for the Bruins near the end was linebacker Blanchard Montgomery. He made three consecutive tackles on running plays preceding the touchdown pass, popping out his shoulder on the first hit. Yet, while in pain, he remained in the game.