Issue: Summer 2003

Mailbag

Cardinal and Gold

I read with pride and fear, triumph and trembling, the lusty account of USC’s mighty resurgence as a pigskin marvel, trouncing UCLA and Notre Dame, humbling Hawkeyes at the Bowl of Orange (“The Return of the Trojans,” Spring 2003, p. 14). As an alumnus, one naturally enjoys the gilt by association and even modestly swaggers as the Cardinal and Gold again knows the sweet thrill of glory.

Yet even as we crow, we should know there are still grave perils in sporting domination. Let us beware lest our alma mater, amid the rah-rahs, is sniffily classed among the ha-has intellectually. Is it not true that game-winning team schools continue to be dismissed as bastions of beef and derided as homes for old and new ideas?

Outstanding success at athletics can be seriously injurious to the reputation of universities as havens for brilliance. Gridiron, diamond, court victories for decades established USC as a towering exemplar of sports prowess, not scholarly leadership. In those years of conquest, mention USC to others, and often they wanted to check your muscles while reeling off USC star names Tom Seaver, Mel Patton, Mike Garrett, Bill Sharman, Tirebiter.

Then came years of USC athletic humility, compared anyway with decades of eminence. And during that interim of respectable losing, the old school’s image altered dramatically. USC amazingly began to stand forth as a mental powerhouse. Yet in fact, hadn’t it always, at least since you and I were there, been a rich mother lode of braininess, too often unrecognized behind the pom-poms? For a while, stumble after stumble in football and other “ball” enterprises actually put USC on a par with the Ivies, making our most proud institution virtually the equal of Harvard, Brown, Columbia as grand-scale losers. Concomitantly USC was increasingly notable as a heavyweight think tank.

Now kindly refrain from getting me wrong. I exult in USC’s recent return to football sovereignty and trust other USC teams will soon as well rise to their rightful national supremacy levels. (I have to say that since I know alumni who might conspire with bullies and contract with hitmen to teach me a lesson if I spake otherwise.) My hope is after convincing seasons of valiant losses, USC is now firmly ensconced as an enclave of nonpareil feats embodying scholastic sagacity and punditry way beyond challenge. A natural corollary of that hope is our Cardinal and Gold teams can henceforth charge relentlessly, beat their socks off; be numero uno; and meanwhile the university will continue to be admired as the bright haven of creative and confident genius that it always, of course, was.

Roy Meador ’51
Ann Arbor, MI


Surprising not to have seen an article on Randy Johnson and Barry Zito each winning the 2002 Cy Young Award in the National and American leagues, respectively. I doubt any two pitchers who attended the same school ever won the award in the same year.
Jeffrey R. Thomson MA ’78, PhD ’84
Los Angeles, CA

Your obituary on Haskell “Inky” Wotkyns states that he was a football All-American “for two years.” According to the USC football media guide, he was a three-year letterman, but he was an All-American NO years. (Nor was he All-Conference.)

Joe F. Jares ’59
Los Angeles, CA


In reading your note from the Spring 2003 Trojan Family Magazine, I was pleased to note that USC has won 96 national championships (Editor’s Note, p. 4). Since I am always interested in bragging rights among my friends and that sounded like a pretty high number I looked on the NCAA’s Web site to see if USC holds the record.

The NCAA site lists USC’s total championships at 79, good enough for third place. Unfortunately the two schools ahead of USC are UCLA with 87 and Stanford with 85. Could you clear up the discrepancy? I would love to think that USC does in fact have more than those two schools.

Justin Lukach MBA ’02
New york, NY


It’s clear that athletic fans are among the sharpest-eyed of our readers. The following clarifications were provided by Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone. In regard to Randy Johnson and Barry Zito, reader Thomson is correct, this was the first time pitchers from the same school won the award in the same year. Joe Jares is also right about “Inky” Wotkyns not being listed as an All-American in the USC football media guide; the guide, however, only lists first-team All-Americans. The discrepancy between our stated “96 national championships” and the NCAA Web site takes a little explanation. USC’s 96 championships include all the men’s (71) and women’s (8) titles listed on the NCAA site, plus our eight football wire service championships (the NCAA does not award a national championship in football at the Division 1-A level). In addition, we count USC’s six AIAW titles in women’s tennis and women’s volleyball (the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women awarded women’s championships before the NCAA started doing so in the early 1980s); plus two USTA women’s tennis crowns (the United States Tennis Association also was pre-NCAA) and the NCWWP women’s water polo title (awarded by the National Collegiate Women’s Water Polo group, also pre-NCAA). In the NCAA, USC is indeed third in combined men’s and women’s titles behind UCLA and Stanford; however, for bragging rights, USC’s 71 men’s NCAA team championships is a national record.


Dedicated Doctor

I read the Spring “People Watch” (p. 25) with great interest. Not only does Dr. Alexandra Levine commit time to patients, research and medical students, she also teaches classes at the USC School of Pharmacy. I recall in my second year of pharmacy school, we sat down to hear our first lecture on immunology by Dr. Levine. Of course the topic was of interest to all of us, but what was most exciting was that she brought Rosie Greer to class with her! He sat politely in the back of the lecture hall, trying to blend in with the students, who couldn’t help but whisper back and forth that Rosie Greer was sitting in our class! After about five minutes of shuffling, rustling and whispering, she finally asked him to stand up and say hello so she could move on with her lecture. Since that class I have heard Dr. Levine speak on numerous issues surrounding HIV/AIDS (my field of work) and have read many of her papers. In fact I just assigned the students who are working with me for the next six weeks one of her recently published manuscripts on malignancies. I applaud Dr. Levine and USC Trojan Family Magazine for profiling a woman who has given so much to so many of us, not just during our years in school, but after graduation as well.

Deanna Merrill MBA ’93
castle rock, co


Profile

Thank you for your wonderful article on our daughter, Julie Inman, in “Alumni News” (“Encouragement for the Courageous,” Spring 2003, p. 65). As her proud parents, we can’t believe how hard she has worked for 50 years to become “whole again” (her exact words). So many of the USC Family have been behind her, giving their support, love and cheering on.... Now she can “Reward Courage.”

Patti Inman ’62
Irvine, Ca


Mailbag Mavens

In the Spring 2003 issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine, Tom Ferrier wrote to gripe about the “post-modern artwork” in the magazine (Mailbag, p. 7). Whether or not the Winter 2002 cover could actually be considered “post-modern artwork” is perhaps a debate best left to art historians and curators. In contrast, however, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to extend my compliments on the consistently high quality of design, art and photography in the magazine from issue to issue. As a fellow graphic designer at a state university, responsible for design of our own alumni magazine, USC Trojan Family Magazine has been a source of creative inspiration and excellence to aspire to. We like the “post-modern” artwork! Keep up the great work.

Michael J. Frazier
highland heights, ky

Charlie Monnin Jr. wrote in “Mailbag” (Spring 2003) that he seldom saw Trojans of the 1940s mentioned in “Class Notes.” Well, I see very very few of the 1920s and 1930s. So, as a B.A. graduate of 1934 and M.A., 1936, I am speaking up. I was a freshman in September 1927 and enjoyed Morley Drury and mates in the Coliseum, and many excellent professors such as Drs. Harley, Raubenheimer, Hunt, Bogardus, Touton, Coy and others. Now, at age 94, I live in a retirement apartment in Albuquerque, and enjoy my family and the reading of books I should have read while at ’SC. I would love to hear from any friends of those years.

David Otis Kelley ’34, MA ’36
Albuquerque, NM

We are always happy to forward letters to alumni. Anyone wishing to correspond with reader Kelley may send a letter to us (in a sealed, stamped envelope) and we’ll forward it on.


More ‘Beastly Barbs’

Granted, I was taken in by “chiropterian” (Last Word, Autumn 2002). I did not let Google choke on it, as I am still “low tech.” I did submit a legitimate Beastly Barb for #9: like a goat. “Caprine” is certainly correct, but so is the Latin derivative, “hircine.” Anyone who answered “hircine” should have also been given credit. Thanks.
PS: Even my spell-checker recognizes “hircine,” but not “caprine.”

Frank J. Nice MPA ’89, DPA ’94
Brookeville, MD


Thank you so much for the Borders gift certificate card. I’m thrilled to have won. “Beastly Barbs” was a fun and challenging puzzle. I even knew some of it without looking it up!

Keep up the good work on an always-interesting magazine.

David Sogg MM ’82
Pittsburgh, PA


Perusing the recent USC Trojan Family Magazine (Spring 2003), and the brief discussion on page 7 of “The Last Word” from the previous issue, I felt fingernails scraping on the blackboard in the description of selecting the winners of that particularly challenging “Last Word.”

If there were, in fact, 10 Trojans with all answers correct, and if only five could win the prizes, then their (very good) chances of winning were one out of two (i.e., five out of 10), or a probability of 0.5. Statistically, that is most certainly not “2-to-1 odds.” Two-to-1 odds are, in fact, two chances of winning vs. one chance of losing, or a probability of 0.66667. Their odds weren’t 2-to-1, but 1-to-1 odds, or, in other words, “even odds” in Las Vegas or at Santa Anita Racetrack.

Ah, yes – my statistics professor, Wally Blischke in the USC Marshall School of Business, would be proud of me.

(Don’t take it personally – my kids remind me that I even proofread traffic signs.)

Bill Simon III MS ’69, MS ’74
State College, PA


Notice Board

Attention USC alumni: Were you a political science major? Did you participate in a political internship while at USC? The Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics is looking to connect with former students who were involved with the institute’s activities and internship program. We are hoping to set up an Unruh Network to connect alumni to each other, and a mentoring program for undergraduate and graduate students.

Please send us your contact information (e-mail or mailing address) at <unruhins @usc.edu> or 213-740-8964, and let us know what you’ve been doing since leaving USC!

Wendy Lopata MPA ’02
Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics
campus