It’s a blast for players of the past
Paul Westphal made a layup. Tex Winter missed a free throw. Wayne Carlander buried a jumper.
After a decades-long wait, the former USC players finally got a chance to score in that new arena they had been promised.
About 100 former Trojans each took a shot Saturday afternoon in the Galen Center during halftime of USC’s 69-63 victory over St. Mary’s.
The ceremony was held at the behest of Trojans Coach Tim Floyd, who said former coach Bob Boyd told him it “needed to happen.” Floyd has made a strong push to reconnect former players with the basketball program, spearheading a newsletter and barbecue for the old-timers.
“We wanted them all to take a shot in the building and have fun with it,” Floyd said.
The shots ranged from air-ball, granny-style free throws to a two-handed dunk by former forward Greg Gaudino, who played for Floyd last season.
The former players heaped praise upon the Galen Center, with Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Sharman saying, “It might be the best [arena] I’ve seen anywhere in the country.”
Sharman said he was offered the USC coaching job in 1964 but went to the professional ranks because the Trojans didn’t have a viable home court.
“They told me in three or four years they would start building a home arena on the campus, and now it’s what, about 40 years later?” Sharman said.
Winter said Sharman’s Trojans jersey would be retired in a ceremony Jan. 13 when USC plays UCLA in the first rivalry game in its new arena.
Go beyond the scoreboard
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