Dec 23

By Popular Demand, a Throwback Football Column: My 2003 Orange Bowl Diary

As I put the finishing touches on my preview of Friday night’s Holiday Bowl game between USC and Iowa, I’ve received a number of requests from friends and followers to repost a piece I originally wrote during my duties as a Pac-10 columnist for ThePigskinPost.com in January 2003 about my trip to the Orange Bowl in Miami for the last USC-Iowa meeting.

Suffice it to say, this one’s a bit different than the work I do now for USCFootball.com (and the mentions of Ryan Abraham in the story will give readers a sneak peek at just how far Ryan’s business has come since the early days of college football message boards). I have to thank Iowa’s fans for the inspiration. I didn’t head down to Miami with a plan to write this story … but by New Year’s morning, their bluster and bravado made it a no brainer.

Without further ado, here it is: my 2003 Orange Bowl Diary.

***

Hog … Err, Hawk Tied! The Orange Bowl Experience

Coming to you live and in color from Miami, it’s the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl (and surrounding experiences) pitting the tradition-steeped, big-city, used-to-70 degrees in December USC Trojans of the Pac-10 against the “Gollllllllly, it ain’t 33 degrees here in January!” Iowa Hawkeyes from the Big 10. That’s right, for your reading pleasure, this reporter dipped himself deep into the thick south Florida air to bring you this report of the Orange Bowl experience.

After all, it was the first trip to the “OB” (as the game is affectionately called by locals) for both schools. And for a reporter/fan whose biggest impressions of major bowl games rely almost exclusively on Rose Bowl memories, what an opportunity to see how the boys in the orange coats run the show on the other coast. So, with no further ado, let’s get to it:

Tuesday, Dec. 31

“Welcome to American Airlines flight 280 – non-stop service from Los Angeles to Miami International …”

Does the pilot realize he doesn’t have to ramble for four minutes each time he reminds us we’re going to be flying around that “nasty southeast storm”? I mean, he’s killing me because I can already barely grasp what Marlon Brando’s getting at during our feature film, “The Score” …

Does Brando get a “per-mumble” percentage? …

Old thief DeNiro running a jazz dinner club in Montreal? There aren’t enough drugs in the world to get me to come up with that one, let alone turn it into a reasonably successful and enticing caper …

People in Montreal must not be too smart if they’re easily falling for Ed Norton’s “RainMan” act at the museum …

Nothing like a silver-dollar size piece of ham to tide you over until you get off the plane …

Why do people applaud when a plane lands? Aren’t the pilots just doing their job? Someone should applaud me when I wrap an interview with Leeza Gibbons or Daisy Fuentes for my day job …

What will be the first of many “Go Hawks! USC sucks!” is screamed into my face as I quietly try to relieve myself in the airport bathroom. I thought it was just a freak occurrence. I should have known better …

Dodge Intrepid – surprisingly nice ride, leather seats, roomy. Thank goodness for expense accounts …

That’s right, it’s a work trip – trying to nail down a cover feature on Erik Estrada in a meeting on Friday (Ponch, baby!) …

Surprisingly, the Intrepid’s stock stereo system makes my Trojan Marching Band CD sound epic rolling into South Beach …

A quick stop in the room – unpack, freshen up, note the full selection of cable channels (I mean full cable, not that 30-channel smidgen most hotels offer – sweet!), and roll out to the Clevelander …

It’s New Year’s Eve in South Beach. Need I say more? Shrimp cocktail, one pound of stone crabs, a slice of key lime pie and a bottle of champagne later, I’m ready to drink …

Meet fellow Trojans Andy and Joel at the bar. We’re severely outnumbered (as Trojans will be all week until the scoreboard starts working on Thursday night), but ready to throw back some adult beverages and celebrate the New Year with a few hundred other revelers surrounding the Clevelander’s pool …

You have to kick off the festivities with a Maker’s Mark on ice …

Andy and Joel flag down a pair of Kiwi girls (you know, girls from New Zealand … try to keep up, Jethro) they’d met the night before. Throw in a blonde Purdue grad and her boyfriend, and now the party’s on. Who knew the best-looking Big 10 girl in Miami this week wouldn’t be from Iowa? Ok, ok, grads of other Big 10 schools, put your hands down …

Now, it’s time for the 13th “Go Hawks! USC sucks!” on the night (Let’s just refer to that as “GHUS” for space’s sake the rest of the column). I’d ask them to act like they’ve been there before, but I know most of them haven’t (and, no, the Alamo Bowl or your local Piggly Wiggly doesn’t count) …

Midnight, fireworks, “Auld Lang Syne,” and “Let’s Go Hawks” …

Wednesday, Jan. 1

There’s no stopping this party. It’s pouring rain and about 400 people are whooping it up as if it were a clear, dry night …

“GHUS” no. 22 finally causes me to crack to Andy, “Methinks there might be a lot of disappointed large folks dressed in yellow about 48 hours from now.” …

Thank goodness for the time change – 4 a.m. feels like 1 a.m. and we’re still going strong …

We meet the reputed “long snapper” from the early-mid 1990s Trojan teams. I mean, he’s a big guy and he’s got a USC football ring? Even if he wasn’t a player, wouldn’t you go around giving that impression too? Heck, O.J. gives people the idea he actually graduated from USC …

Finally, it’s crash time. 5:15 a.m., but first the cab driver decides he needs to tell me and the couple who are sharing the cab about his big plans to split stock tomorrow. Dude, if you’re a financial player, what are you doing driving a cab around SoBe five hours into the New Year? …

I must have some sort of mental alarm clock. At 11:05 a.m., I wake up and turn on the TV to find the Rose Parade getting underway. It’s weird watching the Rose Parade from 3,000 miles away, especially when you’ve seen the last four in person …

What’s with the float with the kid on the toilet thinking he’s a spaceman? Was Hunter Thompson consulted on this …

The only thing now rivaling the number of screaming Hawks bellowing “GHUS” in my face is the number of Rose Parade floats centered around the centennial of the Wright Bros.’ first flight. Now, there’s a flight that should have been applauded at its termination point …

It’s 1:30 in the afternoon, and there are four football games on. Should I crawl out of bed yet? I didn’t think so …

So, ok, by 2 p.m., the guilt sets in and I’m off to Hollywood Beach, Fla., for the “Patch Beach Bash” official Orange Bowl beach party …

What is it with the Orange Bowl and its jersey patch? They sell them everywhere, you get a discount to certain OB events if you buy one, but really, what’s the big deal? I mean, it’s a freaking jersey patch – a Rose Bowl patch, now there’s something impressive (and you can’t get your hands on one either). Of course, I had my OB patch with me all week …

20 miles of Florida Hwy. A1A later, I’m in Hollywood Beach and it’s pouring again. It’s also clear that no matter how seedy the worst parts of Hollywood, Calif., are, they’ve got nothing on the beachfront sections of Hollywood Beach, Fla. I do feel safe here because the Iowa fans look like bigger and more obvious targets …

I get to the Beach Bash just in time to catch the USC band’s performance in the downpour for 20 Trojans and about 500 Iowans. I flee during the Iowa band’s reasonably solid performance, if only to avoid the upcoming appearances by SHeDAISY and Juanes (don’t ask me – I haven’t the foggiest) …

Before I got to Pro Player Stadium, I thought the PA announcer at the Beach Bash was bad. At one point, he referred to the “University of Iowa Buckeyes.” I’m not from the Midwest, so I’m not sure who that’s more of an affront to at this point (though, after two more days in Miami, I’m thinking it’s Ohio State) …

Brainpower alert: USC fans have the “SoCal Spellout” cheer (that’s right, fans spell out all 18 letters in “Southern California” in a rhythmic cheer). Iowa fans have an Iowa spellout of sorts. It goes, “I … O … WA!” That’s right, “Iowa” is a three-letter word, and the newest letter in the alphabet is “WA” …

Back to Miami for the USC rally at the downtown JW Marriott. Scheduled drinking start: 5 p.m. Scheduled band appearance: 7:30 p.m. …

I run into Ryan, the creator and moderator of USCFootball.com, in the ballroom lobby outside the bar showing the Rose Bowl …

Trojan fans are packed into the bar and about 99 percent are rooting strongly for Washington State. Unfortunately, Mike Price’s team looks like Price is already in Tuscaloosa …

Into the ballroom with about 4,000 other Trojans. The spirit level is higher than I’ve ever seen at one of these pep rallies. As the band files in, the crowd is shoulder-to-shoulder and chest-to-back and roaring …

Midway through the rally, Dr. Art Bartner, longtime director of the band, tells the crowd, “This is the best USC pep rally we’ve ever had.” …

I’m ready for the game to start right now …

Instead, it’s back to SoBe, which is overrun with more Iowa fans than the preceding night thanks to a 20,000-strong rally held at the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center. I have to say, at this point, aside from the not-a-few jerks who have been in my face, I’m truly impressed with the Iowa support …

“GHUS” nos. 33-35 on the trip occur all at the same time, when three Hawkeye/Abercrombie & Fitch Big & Tall poster boys scream at me as I attempt to eat my dinner. It’s followed by the first “you can’t spell ‘suck’ without USC” blast. How novel … My retort? “Guess what, pal? After the game, I get to go back to California. You have to go back to Iowa.” …

This Sugar Bowl game is, uh, poor at best. Florida State is playing their 22nd-string QB (and starting wideout), but Georgia can’t put them away. Still, do I ever wish I were there instead. USC-Georgia would have been a great game on the field. Georgia fans on the Internet have been nothing but great. And the scenery in the stands and on Bourbon Street thanks to a Trojan-Bulldog pairing? Whoa …

Time for an early night. I want to be fully prepared for tomorrow, and I know I won’t be sleeping in too long in the morning. Back to the hotel at 1 a.m. for a little cable viewing and some shuteye…

Thursday, Jan. 2

Tailgating in Miami, Jan. 2, 2003.

Up and ready to go by 12:30 p.m. Game ticket, check. Carson Palmer jersey, check. SC Orange Bowl hat, check. Camera, check. OB patch around my neck, check …

Ah, Jerry’s Famous Deli. Breakfast at 1 p.m. Feels like home …

Rolling up I-95 to Pro Player Stadium by 2:15 p.m. TMB CD in full effect …

The clerk at the Winn Dixie supermarket on Ives Dairy Road (3 miles from Pro Player) says to me as I pay for my Rolling Rock, “Wow, everybody comes in here is goin’ to the Super Bowl!” I choose not to correct her since I don’t think it would matter. Whew, not the sharpest knife in the drawer …

Into the stadium lot, and we’re surrounded by Hawkeyes. Angry Hawkeyes. I’m not sure why they’re so mad, really. Our two teams haven’t played in 26 years and I have no animosity toward Iowa fans other than what I’ve built up in the preceding 36 hours – thanks to these same angry Hawkeyes walking around Miami …

Fortunately, there are about 4-5 Trojan cars around mine and we group together about 15 of us for our own tailgate party …

Angry Hawkeyes pelt a van full of ’SC fans trying to park with beer and apparent insults. Shouldn’t these people be happy? After all, it’s 77 degrees and their team, which was 1-10 three seasons ago, is playing in the Orange Bowl …

Here comes the Ford F350 with the full backyard barbeque grill bracketed tight in the bed to park across from us. And its license plate is from … California?! Sweet …

It’s got three couples in their early 50s. The men drove from Cali starting the previous Friday. The women flew in on New Year’s Eve. And they’ve got the full tailgate setup – tables, chairs, CD player blaring the Stones, alcohol, snacks, honeybaked ham. Not to mention the 4 lb. slab of tri-tip that’s been marinating in a cooler all the way across the country …

Now that’s tailgating …

A group of Trojans just a couple years younger than me – Scott, Jeff, Andreas and Colleen – are offering me beers and BBQ. Plus, Jeff’s an SC grad, with Iowa State parents, who lives in Des Moines. I think I’ve found the one Trojan in the stadium for whom this game is the most important. “I need to be able to go home,” Jeff tells me – more than once …

Dusk begins to settle over the stadium and a few beers and a couple hours of commingling have made Iowa fans a little friendlier. Now, you can even discuss the game with them, as long as you don’t say anything specific about the advantages USC may or may not hold …

That doesn’t mean “GHUS” nos. 55-65 don’t occur on the walk into the stadium …

My seats end up being in the end zone, just above the Trojan band. Two rows above Jeff and his pals. And just one row above and a seat over from Ryan of USCFootball.com, who is feeling the pregame liquids and fired up …

Of course, I’m not exactly Mr. Sobriety at this point …

I pick up a message on my cell phone from my dad right before kickoff. It says, “Uh, I just wanted to remind you in case you weren’t aware … YOU’RE AT THE F***ING ORANGE BOWL GAME!” Nice …

17 seconds into the game, Iowa fan is certain of victory. The 100-yard kickoff return by C.J. Jones is an Orange Bowl record. 7-0 Hawks …

Palmer to Kareem Kelly for 65 yards. Fargas in the end zone moments later. Order restored. 7-7 …

How does Iowa line up offside three times in one quarter? …

Matt Grootegoed sacks Brad Banks, the key play in holding Iowa to a FG. 10-7 Hawks …

The PA announcer needs to chill with his, “There’s a … flaaaaaaaaaag … on the plaaaaaay” line. What a loser …

Did someone forget to tell the PA sound guys in the press box that this is a college football game, not an NFL game, and you don’t need lame dance contests while blaring “YMCA” over the stadium speakers? That’s what the marching bands are for, Dolphin Boy …

The Trojan offense looks very conservative inside the red zone. What would have been touchdowns in previous games turn into a missed FG and a made FG. 10-10 …

Think Norm Chow is setting up the Iowa defense for the second half? Me too …

Banks misses his receiver on a likely TD pass from the one-yard line and, two Hawk penalties later, USC blocks a Nate Kaeding FG attempt at the halftime gun. Momentum-turner? …

The Orange Bowl Halftime Show – nothing spectacular. A bunch of no-name music “stars” lip-synching. Woo-freakin-hoo. Let’s play football …

The second half starts. The Iowa defense looks gassed. Palmer to Mike Williams. 17-10 …

Iowa’s second-half highlight? Downing a punt at the USC one-yard line. Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, 99 yards and seven plays later, it’s 24-10 …

With USCFootball.com founder Ryan Abraham at the 2003 Orange Bowl.

Ryan has no voice, but that doesn’t keep him from rolling out “covered wagons” and other assorted smack at the drunk and becoming-more-depressed Iowa fans behind us. I guess he’d heard enough Iowa fans running their mouths all week, too …

31-10 as USC slams the ball down the Iowa defense’s throat again, and our section starts the “We’re not physical!” chant at the remaining Iowa fans. Thanks, Fred Barr …

It’s party time in the stands as the 17,000-strong group of USC fans are again nearly alone in a stadium. Trojan fans have grown used to being abandoned by opposition fans in recent weeks (Stanford, UCLA, Notre Dame, now Iowa) …

38-10 and Jeff’s feeling good about his trip back to Des Moines …

Finally, mercifully, Iowa scores against USC’s second- and third-stringers …

Unfortunately, it was 59 minutes and nine seconds of game time and a 38-3 USC run before the Hawks got in the end zone again …

38-17. “Conquest.” Palmer and Pete Carroll tossing oranges from the bowl and MVP trophies out to the team. Carroll then taking the bandstand with the Trojan sword and leading one last version of “Conquest.” What a feeling …

It’s much quieter now in the stadium halls and parking lot. The few Iowa fans that are left out here seem to have run out of their big words sometime around 9:45 p.m. Something must have changed their mood …

Only in Miami: On the drive back to SoBe, I see this billboard on a building on the side of the I-95: “MR. BIDET. For a healthy, clean tush. 981-1111.” I bet Iowa fans could use one of those right about now …

Back in SoBe and I run into New Year’s Eve Andy and Joel again, this time with their pal Gus. It’s time for a 2 a.m. dinner! How about the 18 oz. strip steak at Finnegan’s Way along with a Guinness? Now, that hits the spot …

The 30 Trojan fans in the place blast a “SoCal Spellout” when the highlights come on ESPN. This leaves the five Iowa fans at the bar even quieter than they were …

The walk back to the hotel for some sleep before my morning interview (work trip, remember) and flight home yields this overheard conversation snippet from a pair of young Iowans huddled close in a light rain:

  • Female: “I’d never seen the ocean until yesterday!”
  • Male: (in an astonished, this-must-be-a-cosmic-union voice): “Neither had I.”

I guess the trip wasn’t a total loss, then, right? …

This mystifying exchange is followed rapidly by one of the local female hospitality engineers running across Collins Ave. in the rain screaming at me, “You comin’ home with me, baby!” Repeatedly. Uh, no, actually, I’m going back to my hotel alone, toothless Ruth. You can keep screaming that and trying to pat my backside all you want, but if there weren’t enough drugs for me to envision DeNiro running a jazz club in Montreal, there certainly aren’t enough, even in Miami, for me to go home with you …

Ah, Miami.

Aug 28

Countdown to College Football: A 2002 Column About Howard Jones

With kickoff of the 2012 college football season just about 48 hours a way, here’s the third and final reach back into my archives of special columns I wrote for the now defunct PigskinPost.com website during the early part of the last decade. (PigskinPost was swallowed up into the larger — and still existent — CollegeFootballNews.com after the 2003 season).

As a bookend to the story I posted last week about one legendary USC head coach — John McKay — here’s a piece I wrote on another legendary USC headman, Howard Jones. This column was also a part of PigskinPost’s countdown of the Top 50 college head coaches of all time, with Jones ranking No. 23. Here’s to a great 2012 campaign!

(Originally published March 2002 on PigskinPost.com)

Howard Jones: The Headman Who Created the ‘Thundering Herd’ and Wrote the Opening Chapter of USC’s National Football Tradition

Howard Harding Jones, a.k.a. “The Headman,” arrived on the University of Southern California campus before the 1925 season. But, many believe he was the second choice … to someone whose name a few of you may know.

According to long-time Los Angeles Times’ writer Mal Florence’s book, “The Trojan Heritage,” when USC began looking for someone to replace Elmer C. “Gloomy Gus” Henderson, whose record of 45-7 produced the school’s best winning percentage for any coach in its history, the Trojans’ search started with a certain coach for a certain private Catholic university in Indiana — a guy by the name of Knute Rockne.

1920s-era USC graduate manager Gwynn Wilson (whose name graces the school’s student union to this day), remembers in Florence’s tome, “Rockne came to USC for a football seminar, and we saw a lot of him. We didn’t have a coach, and we talked to Rock about the job. He agreed to come, subject to getting a release from Notre Dame. Mrs. Rockne had fallen in love with Southern California. We had hopes but (Notre Dame) talked him into staying. Maybe it was better that the Rock stayed there, and we got Jones.”

Perhaps Wilson was right. Although USC had come to some regional prominence under Henderson, Jones’ arrival in Los Angeles signaled the beginnings of the famed Trojan character and winning tradition.

Al Wesson, USC sports publicist from 1928-42, told Florence in “The Trojan Heritage,” “Jones was really a character-builder. He did what he thought was right, but he didn’t preach to anyone. The players respected him, but he had very little contact with them except on the field.”

Howard Jones won the first four of USC’s 11 national championships.

Showing his hard nature, and to get the players’ attention, Jones was known to take an offensive line stance in practice to demonstrate his blocking scheme — and then literally pancake the unsuspecting defensive lineman expecting him to walk through the play. But, at the same time, Jones would not swear — on the field, in the locker room, anywhere — and never touched a drop of liquor.

Nick Pappas, who played quarterback for Jones in the 1930s before becoming a USC alumni support fixture, told Florence, “He could stand on the sideline, and he knew what everybody did — or should have done — on every play. When he walked on to the practice field, the atmosphere changed immediately. You might be horsing around but, when he arrived, everybody went right to work without a word being said.”

Before Jones, USC football had won zero national titles and featured no All-Americans. In 16 seasons, Jones coached 19 All-Americans (including African-American lineman Brice Taylor, USC’s first AA), won eight Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) crowns, went 5-0 in the Rose Bowl, had three undefeated teams (1928, 1932, 1939) and won four national titles (1928, 1931, 1932, 1939). He notched an overall record of 121-36-13 at Troy.

Under the Headman, USC played power football out of the classic single-wing formation. Jones’ Trojans became known as the Thundering Herd for their powerful running attack. In this system, Jones developed the prototype for the modern tailback. But in his system, the position was called quarterback. The QB carried the ball 80-90 percent of the time, and also passed, punted and played safety on defense. Among the names that went down in USC lore at the position during the Jones era include: Morton Kaer, Morley Drury, Russ Saunders, Gus Shaver, Orv Mohler, Cotton Warburton and Ambrose Schindler.

While power running was the Trojans’ calling card, Jones did add some spice to the offense at just the right times, like the wingback reverse and a surprise passing attack the Trojans played to perfection in a 47-14 trouncing of Pittsburgh in the 1930 Rose Bowl. Amazingly, with the famed power rushing attack, Jones’ only 1,000-yard rusher was Drury, who gained 1,163 yards in 1927. But all of Jones’ star backs averaged about five yards per carry with many fewer attempts than modern running backs.

Jones came to ’SC after a 4-5 season at Duke, some say on the recommendation of Rockne. But Jones had a stellar resume of his own when he arrived at University Park. Jones was an All-American player at Yale, who then led Syracuse, at age 23, to a 6-3-1 record in 1908 — his first season as a head coach. Jones then split time coaching at Yale and Ohio State, leading an undefeated Yale squad in 1909, until taking the head job at Iowa from 1916-23. He notched two undefeated seasons at Iowa (1921, 1922). And his 42-17 overall record there included an historic 10-7 win against Rockne’s Irish in 1921, ending a 21-game Notre Dame unbeaten streak. But that was just the first of his successful encounters with the Irish.

According to “The Trojan Heritage,” one of the reasons Henderson reportedly had been fired by USC was an inability to beat California. Henderson lost his last four straight to the Golden Bears, while Cal and Stanford administrators questioned Troy’s academic and athletic requirements, due mainly to the Trojans’ rapid ascent after the school joined the PCC in 1922.

Jones didn’t have similar problems against Cal, ripping the Bears 27-0 in his second season and losing only once to Cal in the next seven seasons. The Trojans’ 74-0 victory at the Coliseum in 1930 (a game to which I proudly own a ticket stub) caused Cal to charge USC with “professionalism,” because they claimed the Trojans paid their athletes. The charges were never substantiated beyond mere sour-grape accusations.

Stanford, with Coach Glenn “Pop” Warner, was a tougher assignment for Jones. Jones lost twice and tied once against the Indians before finally prevailing in the Trojans’ 1928 national championship season, 10-0, against a Stanford team that outweighed Troy by 10 pounds per man.

Jones, upon the advice of assistant Cliff Herd (who scouted the Indians all season), created a defense called the “quick mix,” which attacked Stanford’s linemen at the line of scrimmage. This allowed hard-hitting secondary tacklers to get a clear shot at the ball carriers in the Indians’ vaunted reverse attack — a revolutionary scheme in a time where most teams waited for the ball carrier to come to their defensive players at the line of scrimmage. The crashing style of defense forced five Stanford fumbles, of which the Trojans recovered three. Warner never beat Jones again before he left Stanford after the 1932 season.

Also during Jones reign, the USC-Notre Dame rivalry began in 1926. 1928 marked USC’s first win against the Irish, a 27-14 thrashing after Rockne’s Irish teams had beaten Jones’ Trojans by one point in each of the prior two meetings. Rockne beat Jones twice more before he perished in a March 1931 plane crash. But what began with Rockne and Jones has lived on as college football’s most tradition-filled rivalry, even in the dark times of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The 1927 USC-Notre Dame game at Soldier Field in Chicago drew 120,000 fans, still the largest crowd ever to watch a college football game. Two years later, nearly 113,000 filled Soldier Field again.

USC’s come-from-behind win at Notre Dame Stadium in 1931 was one of the greatest moments in L.A. sports history.

USC upset Notre Dame in 1931, 16-14, at South Bend, the first of three straight Trojan wins over the Irish — and, many say, USC’s most important victory in its long football history. After the Trojans’ fourth quarter rally from a 14-0 deficit, USC’s train returned to Union Station in Los Angeles, where the Trojan team was celebrated by more than 300,000 Angelenos in a downtown tickertape parade.

USC had a 27-game unbeaten streak from 1931-33. The 1932 Trojans, among the greatest college football teams of all time, were 10-0 and allowed just 13 points to their opponents. Proving that disgruntled alumni are not a modern phenomenon, Jones had those who wanted him cut loose during a four-year downturn from 1934-37 (a combined record of 17-19-6).

But Jones’ 1938 squad bounced back to 9-2, defeating previously undefeated, untied and unscored-upon Duke, 7-3, in the 1939 Rose Bowl on a fourth-quarter TD pass from fourth-string QB Doyle Nave to end “Antelope” Al Krueger. Then, in 1939, Jones’ Trojans went 8-0-2, capping the season with a 14-0 win over another previously unscored-upon opponent, Tennessee, in the 1940 Rose Bowl.

Jones was also a true believer in sportsmanship. One of the most famous Jones stories related in “The Trojan Heritage” surrounds the 1930 USC-Stanford game. Indians’ star halfback Phil Moffat was considered the key to a Stanford win, but when he went out with a twisted knee on the first play of the game, Jones rushed to the Stanford locker room. There, he asked Moffat if he knew which Trojan had hit him. Moffat, surprised by Jones’ appearance, said yes. Jones then asked him if he’d been hit fairly. After a stunned Moffat didn’t answer, Jones asked him again if he’d been hit fairly, then told the Indian halfback that if his leg was deliberately hit and twisted by the player, that the tackler would never again play for USC. “Moffat said that he had been tackled fairly. Jones said, ‘We don’t want to win any other way on that field.’”

The Trojans’ final national title of the Jones Era was earned in the 1940 Rose Bowl against Tennessee.

Jones died of a heart attack in July 1941 at age 55. USC wouldn’t win another national title for 21 years.

A fitting close to Florence’s chapter on Jones came from the man responsible for hiring the Headman at USC. Many years after Jones’ death, former USC athletic director Willis O. Hunter said, “I’d have to say that all of us hitched our wagon to a star, and Howard Jones was that star. He made all of USC’s later success possible.”

A special thanks in the crafting of this article goes to Mal Florence’s “The Trojan Heritage: A Pictorial History of USC Football.” Published in 1980 by JCP Corp. of Virginia.