Notes on a Scorecard - Nov. 16, 1989

Everything you always wanted to know about UCLA, USC and the 58-game series that will be renewed Saturday in the Coliseum:

You will get no argument that this is the greatest big-time intra-city football rivalry in America. In fact, it is one of only two still intact. The other is the annual mismatch between Houston and Rice. . . .

To the winner goes the Victory Bell. In 1939, some UCLA alums bought an old Southern Pacific locomotive bell and rang it after every Bruin touchdown at every home game. It was stolen by USC students in 1941 and a year later, after its recovery, the student body presidents of the two universities agreed to turn it into a trophy. . . .

USC leads the series, 33-19-6. That’s an awful lot of ties. But, fortunately, there hasn’t been one since 1971. . . .

It was truly the most colorful rivalry in the nation when the Bruins wore their blue jerseys and the Trojans their cardinal every year. But one of those hard-hitting NCAA edicts now makes it mandatory for the visiting team to wear white. . . .

Powerhouses from the Daily Trojan and Daily Bruin will collide Friday at 2:30 at the USC intramural field in the annual Blood Bowl. . . .

Last season, UCLA’s Darryl Henley returned 23 punts for 282 yards. This season, the entire UCLA team has returned 16 punts for 37 yards. . . .

Prominent USC alumni include Neil Armstrong, Art Buchwald, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Lionel Hampton, George Lucas, Tom Selleck, Irving Stone, Michael Tilson Thomas and the late John Wayne. . . .

Terry Donahue is 5-8 as a coach against USC, but was 2-0 as a defensive tackle in 1965-66. . . .

Events on the USC campus this week: Drag-a-Bruin Day, Dunk-a-Bruin Day, Roof-Test-a-Bruin Day and Burn-a-Bruin Day. . . .

UCLA quarterback Gary Beban couldn’t play against USC in 1966 because of a broken leg. His replacement, Norman Dow, had logged 58 minutes the entire season. Dow completed only two of eight passes for 30 yards but ran five yards for a touchdown and set up the winning touchdown with a 26-yard run in the Bruins’ 14-7 upset victory. . . .

Prominent UCLA alumni include Carol Burnett, Glenn Seaborg, Francis Ford Coppola, Rob Reiner, John Williams, Randy Newman, Bruce Russell and William French Smith. . . .

Most famous play in the series remains O.J. Simpson’s 64-yard run in the fourth quarter in 1967 that gave eventual national champion USC a 21-20 victory and a Rose Bowl bid. It was an audible called by quarterback Steve Sogge--”23 blast”--and the hole was opened by tackle Mike Taylor and guard Steve Lehmer. . . . If you want to put on your game face early and avoid the traffic, attend the Trojan-Bruin water polo game at the McDonald’s Swim Complex on the USC campus at 10 a.m. . . . In 1958, members of the Daily Trojan put out a fake Daily Bruin and distributed it in Westwood. UCLA students attempted to dump manure on the Tommy Trojan statue from a helicopter the same year, but misfired and instead hit the rose garden in Exposition Park. . . .

Official initials of the University of Southern California are USC. But the school is known in the East as Southern Cal and as SC by most alumni. . . .

An unsung hero for USC has been Leroy Holt, called by Larry Smith the best fullback he has ever coached. . . .

UCLA, founded in 1919, has an enrollment of 34,650, including 23,100 under-graduates, 11,500 graduate students and 50 teaching-credential students. USC, founded in 1880, has an enrollment of 29,657, including 16,113 undergraduates and 13,544 graduate and professional students. . . .

The series was discontinued from 1931 through ’35 after USC won the first two games, 76-0 and 52-0. The Bruins came back better prepared in 1936, playing the Trojans to a 7-7 tie. . . . Sellouts are common, but as recently as 1964, attendance at the Coliseum was only 62,108. The opener in 1929 drew an estimated 35,000. . . .

Former UCLA coach Dick Vermeil said: “Pro football is big and the rivalry is intense, but it doesn’t match the level that develops through a year’s buildup when the Bruins and Trojans play.” . . .

Pete Arbogast of KNX and Bob Starr of KMPC will be calling their first UCLA-USC game on radio Saturday. And Paul Olden, who will become the UCLA announcer next season, will be practicing from the roof of the press box. . . .

USC was nicknamed the Trojans in 1912 by Owen Bird, then sports editor of The Times. But it was the spirit of the track and field, not football, that caught his attention. . . .

Jaguar Jon Arnett ran back the opening kickoff 97 yards in 1955 for an apparent touch-down, but it was nullified because five Trojans lined up offside. “That was the turning point of the game,” USC Coach Jess Hill observed after losing, 17-7. . . .

Prediction: USC 42, UCLA 14.