It’s USC-UCLA Week, but It’s Not Too Early to Get Irish Up

Former UCLA quarterback and current radio commentator David Norrie, and former USC quarterback and current Prime Ticket commentator Craig Fertig were guest speakers at Thursday’s Bond Club luncheon at the Biltmore.

Said Norrie: “Craig remains popular at these kinds of things because I think he was the last USC quarterback to beat Notre Dame.”

Trivia time: What three drivers competed in both the Indianapolis 500 and unlimited hydroplanes?

Take a look: UCLA Coach Terry Donahue, paying tribute to the 1954 national champion Bruin team, many of whose players were on hand Friday to be honored at the 45th UCLA-USC Rotary Club luncheon:

“I asked some of the guys from ’54 if they’d play for me tomorrow, but they all said no, because they couldn’t play with facemasks on. And to look at most of them, they sure did play without facemasks.”

Irish logic: Former Notre Dame basketball player Tommy Hawkins, auctioning off signed footballs at the Rotary luncheon: “We have two footballs here, signed by all the UCLA players. We were supposed to have two signed by all the USC players, but they aren’t here. Apparently, they couldn’t finish.”

Big battle: In the Pacific Northwest, they call the Oregon-Oregon State game the “Civil War.”

The last time it had a bearing on the Rose Bowl was 30 years ago, when the Ducks (7-1-1) traveled to Corvallis to face the Beavers (7-2), with the winner going to Pasadena. Oregon State won, 7-6, when Al East blocked Herm Meister’s extra-point attempt.

The Beavers, coached by Tommy Prothro, went to the Rose Bowl and lost to Michigan, 34-7. It was the last time either Oregon school has played in the game, but the Ducks will go to Pasadena if they win today.

Mr. Optimist: ESPN’s Lee Corso, on Auburn Coach Terry Bowden: “Most coaches think the plane is going to crash. He not only thinks it’ll land but that his baggage will get there too.”

No changes: When Jimmy Sills, Chuck Gurney, Steve Kent and Stan Fox finished 1-2-3-4 at Sacramento in a U.S. Auto Club Silver Crown race last month, it was the first time in 160 races over 24 years that the first four drivers finished in the order they started.

Hot item: The Charlotte Hornets’ newsletter reports that the rights to eight season tickets were recently sold at a bankruptcy auction for more than $160,000. But the buyer still needs to buy the tickets for another $21,648.

Thanks anyway: On the day the Chicago Cubs honored former players on the team’s Walk of Fame, the Wrigley Field message board read, “Congratulations Cap Anson.”

Cap has been dead for 72 years.

Trivia answer: Bill Cantrell, Eddie Sachs and Salt Walther.

Quotebook: Tommy Heinsohn, Hall of Fame basketball player and former Boston Celtic coach, on life in the NBA: “Players today expect coaches to be their chauffeur. Coaches have to drive the way the players tell them to drive, or else. It’s ridiculous.”