Time to Give McKay Best Seat in the Coliseum

The wall is empty now with the exception of the play clock, which could be moved a few feet higher to make room for the bronze plaque of former USC coach John McKay looking down on the football field in the Coliseum. What Trojan quarterback would dare let that clock expire with McKay peering upon him?

It’s not going to be there, though, and it appears you will have to do some searching to find it.

There are plans now to place McKay’s likeness, lost in the Memorial Court of Honor, in the Coliseum peristyle, the unveiling to come Saturday before the Trojans play Kansas State.

It will be a fine tribute, no doubt a warm ceremony, but when the USC players embrace tradition and march through the center arch before each game--as they did Saturday--shouldn’t they be catching that twinkle in McKay’s eyes? You talk about the Coliseum, and all the great events that have been here and they all deserve recognition, but is there any single person who has brought more attention to this athletic venue than McKay?

Howard Jones proved his mettle as a successful football coach at USC, but in a time when the national TV cameras were not focused on the field. Peter Ueberroth put the Olympics back on track and back in the Coliseum. John Robinson packed them in, but if he can’t get an invite to a “Salute to Troy” picnic, I don’t like the chances of USC contributing funds for a plaque in his honor any time soon. He’s also very much alive, although one’s death is not a prerequisite to be honored here.

The three biggest plaques in the Court belong to the guy who got the stadium built (Judge William Bowen), the guy who brought the first Olympic Games here (William May Garland) and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy’s likeness hangs on the wall opposite where McKay belongs, and JFK spent one day of his life here--the day he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination to be president. McKay worked this theater for 16 years, including four national title campaigns, going 71-19-6 here and making the Coliseum a go-to place on football Saturdays in L.A., while also convincing millions of TV viewers that if student body right didn’t run over the opponent, Traveler would.

Let’s be honest here, the only thing this building still has going for it is its history. And the Court honors “those outstanding persons or events that have had a definite impact upon the history, glory and growth of the Coliseum.” With that in mind, who is more deserving of top billing than McKay?

Pope John Paul II is here in the Court, because he was also here for a day. Jesse Owens and Babe Didrickson Zaharias put on dazzling performances, and Billy Graham drew the largest crowd. But McKay was the working stiff, year after year reminding everyone where he did his best work, the Coliseum the benefactor.

A PLAQUE to honor McKay has been in the works for some time--long enough that McKay was made aware of the tribute before his passing this summer--but plans now are to have it on the third pillar from the right--as you look from inside the stadium. It will be hidden from the playing field and inside a walkway--McKay’s likeness looking upon another blank pillar.

McKay without an audience isn’t right.

Now maybe it’s much ado about nothing where McKay’s plaque hangs, and those who knew him best would tell you he would have said the same thing. But for those who treasure tradition--the kind of nod to history and sentimentality that makes the peristyle and Memorial Court of Honor an L.A. landmark, McKay needs to be seeing what’s happening on that field.

Pete Carroll already puts enough stock in tradition and history that he arrived at the Coliseum for his first working assignment and had his players walk through the peristyle and the center arch. And then in another McKay throwback, Carroll called his players together after beating San Jose State and had them pay tribute to the Trojan marching band.

One of the reasons McKay’s likeness will not hang below the game clock opposite JFK’s is because his plaque has already been made and at a cost of more than $12,000 to the Coliseum Commission and USC. To hang it below the clock would necessitate making it the same size as Kennedy’s--like USC’s alumni couldn’t come up with the money for a make-over.

Some others say the spot is being saved for Ueberroth because of his incredible work, while others suggest the spot should be reserved for someone who has contributed to mankind, like Kennedy.

They are all reasonable suggestions, and if this discussion has come at an hour too late to gain the appropriate approvals, then at the very least, room should be made in the center arch for McKay, making his likeness the last thing the Trojans see before they turn their attention to the field of play.

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STOPPED BY Mike Garrett’s luxury suite in the Coliseum (luxury suite in the Coliseum--now that’s funny). Anyway, I caught USC’s athletic director before he could hide under the counter, and asked him about the NCAA putting the Trojans on probation and asked about “the Robinson fiasco.”

He said he didn’t like the way the Robinson question was asked, but turning away, he said, “No comment.”

I repeated the question, this time making it sound as if I didn’t have an opinion about his blatant pettiness, the damage it had done to USC’s reputation as a first-class institution and his own boorish behavior in slinking underground since his slight of Robinson became public.

“I said, ‘No comment,’ and you ask me another question,” he said.

He said, “No comment.” He never said, “No more questions,” although I have an idea what he will say the next time I ask a question.

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CONGRATS TO the Sparks. I was behind you all the way.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Charles: “The other day you wrote UCLA will play Texas in the Rose Bowl for the national championship. Last January you wrote Notre Dame will win the national title in the Rose Bowl. What gives?” And people say things I write aren’t memorable.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com