DocJock
Joined: 2/03/05 Posts: 15,584
|
|
Posted Wed, Mar 09 11:27 am
|
|
In response to Not today they wouldn't... (SagoBob)
|
|
Stanford sponsored UCLA's entry into the old conference which in my time was the 8 team Pacific Coast Conference, aka PCC. But it was more self serving than out of any love for us. Stanford was aware of the way southern California was expanding, and they reasoned if USC continued to monopolize the local talent, Stanford, would cease to be competitive with them. Their hope was that UCLA would siphon off some of that talent, which we did.
But then as now, USC was their own worst enemy. A very deep prejudical streak ran through the Admissions Office of the university. As recently as mid 20th. century, a friend felt compelled to change his jewish/German sirname to a more anglo sounding one in order to gain admission. I told him that you could get twice the education for 1/20th the fee at UCLA, but he was a second generation California and USC was the old, established uuniversity. A one time supervisor, as fine a fellow as you'd ever care to meet except for one blind spot, laughed when he recalled a float at a USC homecoming, depicting white students in blackface in a jungle landscape, with the sign over a shack reading, "UCLA Recruiting Station".
As I noted in my previous post, 31 years elapsed between Brice Taylor and the time USC extended an offer to another African American player. UCLA never drew the color line, and we might have been alone in integrating our athletic teams in the entire country. When Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson he told him, "This will be the first time you will be playing alongside and against whites. It will be a new experience and call for consummate restraint". Whereupon Jackie Robinson told him, "I went to UCLA so it that respect it won't be anything new".
If USC had been smart enough to recognize what a treasure trove of athletic talent resided in their own backyard, there is no doubt in my mind they would have become the dominant power in all of college football for 3 decades, the 1930's through the 1950's. But when were brains ever their strong suit? However, to their credit, they have been working hard trying to make amends for past sins.
The Stanford/UCLA lovefest, if you can call it that, began to unravel after we administered that 72-0 shellacking in 1954. I was there, personally acquainted with some of the notables involved, including a close friendship with the Daily Bruin sportswriter who had the football beat and travelled with the team.
Perhaps in my next installment, I'll write what led to the breakup of the conference and its aftermath. |
|
