From TributeToTroy

It would not be precise to say that USC football was in limbo in the 40s and 50s. The Trojans went to the Rose Bowl five times during that time span and such players as Ralph Heywood, John Ferraro, Paul Cleary, Frank Gifford, Jim Sears, Jon Arnett and Marlin McKeever were honored as All-Americans.

There were also some fairly strong teams in this era—Jeff Cravath’s war babies in the mid-40s and also his 1947 team, Jess Hill’s once-beaten 1952 team and Don Clark’s 1959 club.

But the Trojans had established high standards under Howard Jones and fans of the school in the 40s and 50s thought in terms of national championships and took conference titles for granted.

Measured against the Thundering Herd days when overall only a loss or two in a season was tolerated, the 40s and 50s were a disappointing period for Trojan buffs. Sort of a waiting period. The Trojans didn’t win a national championship in this span and Notre Dame took charge of its series with USC.

Succeeding Jones was Justin M. (Sam) Barry, who had been a valued assistant for Jones. Barry had close ties with Jones. He became basketball and baseball coach at Iowa on Jones’ recommendation. Later, Jones brought Barry to USC to serve in the same capacity in addition to his assistant football coaching duties. Barry turned out winning baseball and basketball teams at USC and he was responsible for a major rules changes in the mid-30s—the abolition of the center jump.

Barry was under pressure in succeeding the legendary Jones and won only two of nine games with one tie in 1941.

When the dismal season ended, Barry was called into military service and President Rufus B. von KleinSmid and athletic director Bill Hunter began looking for an interim coach. The choice was Newell (Jeff) Cravath, a former Jones assistant and a defensive center for the Trojans from 1924 through 1926.

Cravath was coaching at the University of San Francisco in 1941 and his Dons had the highest scoring team on the West Coast. He had previously coached at Denver and in the junior college ranks.

He broke with the past and provided USC with a new offensive look in 1942. Howard Jones’ single wing, with the quarterback carrying the ball almost every play, was put in mothbalIs. The “T” formation, popularized by Stanford’s Rose Bowl team in 1940, was in vogue and the Trojans were now in the “T”—with four backs, not one, handling the ball.

But USC had only moderate success in 1942, winning five and losing five with one tie.

By 1943 the country’s war effort was in full gear and, because of travel restrictions, teams generally played teams in their own area. But USC football flourished during World War II because Cravath was able to recruit on his own campus. Navy and Marine training programs were set up at the school and some athletes who had played at other schools were transferred to USC. Moreover, the PCC voted to waive the peacetime regulation barring freshmen from varsity competition.

Cravath had an outstanding record during the war years, 23-6-2.

His 1944 team was undefeated with two ties. USC made three straight appearances in the Rose Bowl. In 1943 USC played Washington at Pasadena in the only matchup of West Coast teams in Rose Bowl history. Jim Hardy threw three touchdown passes to tie Russ Saunders’ record as USC won easily, 29-0.

USC had an even better team in 1944. With Hardy leading the way with his play-calling and passing, Troy concluded an unbeaten season by defeating Tennessee, 25-0, in the 1945 Rose Bowl. Jim Callanan scored the quickest touchdown in Rose Bowl history when he blocked a Tennessee punt and took it in with only 90 seconds elapsed in the game.

Because of service commitments, Hardy, All-American tackle John Ferraro, Gordon Gray and other stars from the 1944 team weren’t available in 1945. So USC sent one of its worst teams to the 1946 Rose Bowl. The Trojans had a 7-3 regular season record, but they weren’t a strong team. Alabama ended USC’s string of eight Rose Bowl victories by winning, 34-14.

The war ended in 1945, and 1946 was the start of an unusual era in American college football. Servicemen who played for schools before the war, trainees who played during the war and incoming freshmen all were competing for positions now.

USC had a disappointing 6-4 record in 1946, but in 1947 the Trojans took charge of the PCC again. But the Trojans had peaked too soon. They struggled even while winning, including a 6-0 victory over UCLA that clinched the Rose Bowl bid. Then, Notre Dame, destroyed USC, 38-7, before 104,953 fans—the largest crowd ever to see a game at the Coliseum, before or since.

The Trojans were humiliated again as mighty Michigan dealt USC then its worst defeat in the school’s history, 49-0, in the 1948 Rose Bowl game.

USC had respectable records of 6-3-1 in 1948, including an upset 14-14 tie with unbeaten Notre Dame, and 5-3-1 in 1949. When the Trojans slipped to 2-5-2 in 1950, one of the worst records in the school’s history, Cravath was asked to resign. It was his only losing season and his overall record was a creditable 54-28-8 (.644).

USC didn’t have to look far for its new coach: he was right on campus.

Jesse T. Hill had become USC’s track coach when Dean Cromwell retired in 1949. Hill had been one of the school’s best all-around athletes.

He played fullback for Howard Jones in 1928-29. He lettered three years, 1927-1929, on the track team as a broad jumper and was the first Trojan ever to better 25 feet in the event. He didn’t report for baseball until his senior year at USC, but he was the league’s leading hitter with a .389 average. He played major league baseball for the Yankees, Senators and Athletics and he retired with a 10-year batting average (majors and triple-A) of .306.

Like Gloomy Gus Henderson, Hill never achieved the acclaim as football coach that he deserved. He coached from 1951 through 1956 until he was promoted to athletic director and he had a 45-17-1 record, including two Rose Bowl appearances, a 7-0 win over Wisconsin in 1953 and a 20-7 loss to Ohio State in 1955. The win over Wisconsin was the first by a PCC team since the 1947 pact with the Big Ten.

It was under Hill’s regime that USC coverted to a multiple offense, single wing and “T,” to take advantage of the talents of Frank Giftord, who was a reserve “T” quarterback and defensive back under Cravath in 1949 and 1950.

Old Trojans still say it’s a shame that Gifford was limited to only one season, his senior year in 1951, as a tailback. Otherwise, the versatile athlete who went on to become an All-Pro with the New York Giants and then gain greater fame as a television sportscaster would be mentioned in the same breath with O.J. Simpson and other famous USC tailbacks. As it was, Gifford had an outstanding 1951 season, compiling 1,144 yards in total offense, 841 by rushing.

The Trojans finished with a 7-3 record in 1951, and in 1952 Notre Dame spoiled what was otherwise a perfect USC season (10-1) by winning, 9-0. USC finished the year by beating Wisconsin in the 1953 Rose Bowl.

Hill had records of 6-3-1 in 1953, 8-4 in 1954, 6-4 in 1955 and 8-2 in 1956 before he replaced the retiring Bill Hunter as athletic director.

There were some outstanding USC players in the early 50s, including Gifford, Pat Cannamela, Lindon Crow, Elmer Wilhoite, Jim Sears, an offensive threat who made All-American in 1952 as a defensive back, Al Carmichael, Bob Van Doren, Leon Clarke, Lou Welsh, George Timberlake, Aramis Dandoy, C.R. Roberts, Marv Goux—and Jon Arnett.

Arnett was one of the most exciting runners ever to play for USC. He was USC’s leading rusher in 1954 and 1955 with 601 and 672 yards on a total of only 237 carries. Arnett played only half a season in 1956 as a senior because of PCC penalties levied against athletes from USC, UCLA, California and Washington for taking payments in excess of what the conference allowed for living expenses.

Other players who were juniors in 1956 lost their eligibility for the 1957 season. C.R. Roberts, an explosive fullback, who rushed for a then-school record of 251 yards against Texas in 1956, was one of the players affected.

The scandals not only scarred the players but led to the dissolution of the Pacific Coast Conference in 1959. A new league, the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU), was formed with USC, UCLA, California, Washington and later Stanford as the member schools.

It wouldn’t be until 1964 that all of the Northwest schools would become reunited with the Big Five in the Pacific-8, which is now the Pac-l0.

It was hardly a time for a new coach to take over at USC. But Don Clark, captain of the 1947 Trojans, a star lineman with the San Francisco 49ers and an assistant under Hill, was persuaded to take the job despite the fact that the PCC had put severe restrictions on USC’s recruiting the previous two years. It is understandable why the Trojans had their worst record, 1-9, in the school’s history in 1957.

Clark tried to generate enthusiasm with a new “go-go-go” hurryup offense. When he was able to recruit again—getting players like the McKeever twins, Mike and Marlin—the Trojans made a comeback. They were 4-5-1 in 1958 and 8-2 in 1959, losing to UCLA and Notre Dame in the last two games.

Then Clark walked away from the job. He went out as a winner and applied the same success formula to the family business—Prudential Overall Supply.

So USC was without a coach on the threshold of the 60s. The most ardent Trojan fan couldn’t imagine that the next coach would elevate the school to the national prominence that had not been attained since the days of Howard Jones.

TROJAN TIMELINE

• Early Years (1888-1924)
• Thundering Herd (1925-1940)
• Forties & Fifties (1941-1959)
• Glory Years, Part I (1960-1975)
• Glory Years, Part II (1976-1982)
• Wilderness Years (1983-2001)
• Return to Glory (2002-present)

(Much of the material on the page is adapted from Mal Florence's 1980 book about USC’s football history, “The Trojan Heritage.”)