Tinkham Among 21 Selected for USC Hall of Fame

The late Harley Tinkham, a longtime Times sportswriter, will be enshrined in the USC Athletic Hall of Fame along with 20 others, including Mark McGwire, Jerry Buss, Anthony Davis, Anthony Munoz, Bob Chandler, Craig Stadler, Jim Hardy and Cynthia Cooper.

Tinkham is one of eight being honored posthumously in the fourth year of hall of fame inductions.

Tinkham, who started the Times’ popular Morning Briefing column, was a high jumper and decathlete on USC’s 1943 track team, which won the NCAA championship. At the 1943 Coliseum Relays, Tinkham shared first place in the high jump.

He was a sportswriter for more than 40 years, working at the Los Angeles Mirror and Herald-Examiner before joining the Times.

He died in 1990 at age 67.

The honorees will be officially enshrined in May.

*

USC is lobbying hard for a Holiday Bowl bid after beating Notre Dame--although for the Trojans to go, UCLA and Arizona must both reach bowl championship series games.

If that happens, the Holiday Bowl will be choosing between an 8-3 Oregon team that lost its last game and an 8-4 USC team that won its last over a ranked team for a likely matchup against Nebraska.

A Holiday Bowl representative sat in on USC’s postgame press conference, listening to Chad Morton, Rashard Cook and Coach Paul Hackett talking about how much they want to play in San Diego.

“USC has a little bigger marquee value to national TV than Oregon,” Holiday Bowl official Pete Litrenta said.

“Oregon, being farther away, and very interested in coming, would send a lot of people and they’d be there four or five days.

“It’s not just selling tickets. SC-Nebraska would sell tickets, but it’s also how many people are just driving to the game.”

Holiday Bowl officials will meet Monday to discuss the situation. USC’s other options are the Sun Bowl in El Paso and the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu.

*

A decision on whether longtime independent Notre Dame will join the Big Ten conference is coming soon.

“Our trustees meet in February, and it would be logical to work toward that time frame,” Notre Dame athletic director Michael Wadsworth said before Saturday night’s game.

Wadsworth said the school and the conference have had a “candid exchange of information.”

Notre Dame has long cherished its independence as a football program, but competing in a major conference would offer the Irish guaranteed access to the BCS.

The top six conference champions receive automatic berths to BCS games. Under its present deal with the BCS, Notre Dame only receives an automatic bid if it finishes ranked No. 6 or higher in the BCS standings.

“This will not be be a decision based on economics,” Wadsworth said. “There is no economic advantage to our membership. This is a decision for Notre Dame that will be a long-lasting one.”

Notre Dame is currently a member of the Big East in all other sports except football. Should Notre Dame decide to join the Big Ten in football, all Irish sports would make the switch.

*

Before USC scored with 8:22 left in the third quarter, Saturday’s game had the potential to become the first scoreless tie in college football since 1983, when Oregon and Oregon State finished scoreless in regulation.

Of course, under new rules, had USC and Notre Dame finished 0-0, the matter would have been settled in overtime.

*

Linebacker David Gibson, hampered by a bruised thigh, did not play. Mark Cusano took his place.

Times staff writers Chris Dufresne and Robyn Norwood contributed to this story.