The Early Years, 1923–32

True to its word, USC made the Coliseum its football home. On October 6, 1923, the university’s freshman football team played the dedication game there, crushing Santa Ana High 30 to 0. Afterward, during the first varsity football game ever held at the new stadium, the Trojans scored another victory by trouncing Pomona College 23 to 7 before a crowd of nearly 13,000.

For several decades, USC also scheduled its track and field meets at the Coliseum. What’s more, because of the ever-increasing number of guests wishing to attend graduation ceremonies, USC held almost all of its baccalaureate and commencement exercises at the Coliseum from 1924 until 1948.

Even though the “ultra-modern” stadium had been designed to handle enormous crowds, by the late 1920s, it was already in need of expansion and repair. The earth fill having settled, much of the upper portion of the structure — which was built of wood — needed replacement. Likewise, there were no longer enough seats to accommodate the multitudes that thronged to watch the major Trojan football matches. The upcoming 1932 Olympic games, too, provided a powerful impetus for improvement.

Plans were drawn up to renovate walls, stairways, floors and other features, and to add new seats by constructing additional tiers. But progress stalled when conflicts arose among the city, county and state entities charged with maintaining the facility.

With no guarantee that improvements would be made, USC considered scheduling its “big games” for the 1930 football season away from home. Then-USC president Rufus B. von KleinSmid told the Los Angeles Times in June 1929:

We are the largest users of the Coliseum. Its earning power strikes its peak through the University of Southern California football season. …

Each season averages at least two games which overtax the present seating capacity and demonstrate, by the demand for tickets, that an enlargement of the seating capacity is needed as a service to the public. …

The university feels that unless it has assurance of the proposed agreement being executed by the city, thus guaranteeing that construction will go forward as proposed, … the Coliseum would be unusable by the university the following season.

After extended wrangling, a two-phase plan for reconstruction finally moved forward in 1930. By the time the Olympic games came to Los Angeles in 1932, the Coliseum’s wooden upper decks had been fitted with concrete and steel, and its seating capacity had been expanded from 75,000 to more than 100,000.