A Trojan tail

A local stray dog who became USC's most adored mascot in the '40s is a legend today

By JENNIFER KELLEHER
Staff Writer

tray dogs probably don't aspire for much. Just a few nice morsels of food from the trash and a dry corner to sleep, and they'd get by. That's probably all George Tirebiter expected when a Trojan Knight rescued the sickly stray dog in 1946 from a beach in Santa Monica and brought him to USC.

Little did George or the Trojan Knight know that this luckless dog would leap from mutt to mascot over the course of the year.

George Tirebiter was a common sight on campus in the late Ś40s. And this dog soon became famous for chasing bikes and cars along Trousdale Parkway, formerly called University Avenue, a street that was open to traffic at the time.

He liked to bite on tires, hence the surname Tirebiter. He was friendly and full of energy, said Al Vistaunet, who was a 9-year-old boy living on Portland Street when the Knights found Tirebiter. Vistaunet's parents rented out rooms in their house to USC students, including the Knights, one of whom found George.

Tirebiter stayed with the Vistaunet family for almost two years before taking off with the graduating Knights, Vistaunet recalled. What ever happened to him after that remains a legend.

"My mom, being a dog lover, nursed him back to health," Vistaunet said from his home in Lake Forest, Calif. He is now a retired engineering manager for Hughes Aircraft who graduated from USC in 1961 with a degree in industrial design.

Vistaunet's mom made a sweater for Tirebiter that became a trademark. He was also known for following the Knights to class and running onto the field at football games.

Tirebiter even has a book written about him. George B. Reichart is the author of "Bite On," a fictional children's book about Tirebiter. He writers about a time when Frank Gifford, a former football player who is now a sports caster, was bitten by Tirebiter II.

Reichart decided to write about Tirebiter to give children and grandchildren of USC alumni a way to teach them something interesting about USC.

"Bite On" is a tongue-in-cheek story that incorporates a lot of common references to the word Śdog,'" Reichart said. "I worked the story around thatŠit's crazy but that's how it got started."

Reichart and Vistaunet agree that Tirebiter is a legend. "You wouldn't think a stray dog on campus would become a legend," Reichart said.

What made him memorable was that he was a symbol of school spirit. "He was one of those things that caught on," Vistaunet said. "He seemed to bring everyone together."

Tirebiter was so much a part of student life that his safety became a concern. Vistaunet remembers a time when Tirebiter was kidnapped: "I remember the guys coming around screaming, ŚTirebiter's been kidnapped!'"

Vistaunet said his memory is vague since he was so young, but apparently, there was a ransom note for Tirebiter while he was missing.

He recalled that the note was traced to Westwood, the neighborhood of UCLA, USC's rival school.

"(The Knights) played detective and got (Tirebiter) back," Vistaunet said.

When Tirebiter was brought back to Trojan turf he was covered in honey and feathers, Vistaunet said remembering having to hold down the dog while washing him.

"Drivers used to hit the curb trying to keep from running Tirebiter over," Reichart said.

But some still aren't familiar with Tirebiter's legacy or that there were actually three more Tirebiters following the original one Vistaunet knew as a child.

Other stray dogs replaced Tirebiter, bearing the name and similar sweaters. The second one was known to chase too many cars and eventually got run over. Two other stray dogs succeeded him.

Whether or not a stray dog should become part of the school spirit, those who knew him as the dog that lived happily ever after at USC will always remember Tirebiter. "He was a licker," Vistaunet said. "He liked to lick."

This is two in a four-part Football Fanfare series.

Copyright 1998 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 135, No. 23 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998), beginning on page 1 and ending on page 6.