The University of Southern California is a private research university in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1880 by Robert Maclay Widney, it is the oldest private research university in California. The university is composed of one liberal arts school, the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and 22 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, enrolling roughly 21,000 undergraduate and 28,500 post-graduate students from all fifty U.S. states and more than 115 countries. It is a member of the Association of American Universities, which it joined in 1969.
Traveler is a horse who is the mascot of the University of Southern California. Traveler appears at all USC home football games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as well as many other outdoor events, including numerous Rose Parades. The current horse is Traveler IX. Although the Traveler web site describes Traveler as "pure white," most of the horses who have served as Traveler are actually gray horses whose hair coats have become completely white. The rider, dressed as an idealized Trojan warrior, is often mistaken for Tommy Trojan, the Trojan portrayed in USC's famous Trojan Shrine statue; however, the rider is unnamed and simply designated as a Trojan warrior with the horse as the official mascot. On November 6, 2013, the costumed version of Tommy and Traveler were introduced for men's and women's basketball games.
The USC Trojan Marching Band, also known as the Spirit of Troy and nicknamed The Greatest Marching Band in the History of the Universe, Ever (TGMBITHOTUE), represents the University of Southern California (USC) at various collegiate sports, broadcast, popular music recording, and national public appearance functions.
The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big Ten Conference.
James Thompson Prothro Jr. was an American football coach and player. He was the head coach at Oregon State University from 1955 to 1964 and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1965 to 1970, compiling a career college football record of 104–55–5 (.649).
The USC Trojans men's basketball program is a college basketball team that competes in the Pac-12 Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, representing the University of Southern California. Following the end of the 2023-2024 academic calendar, Pac-12 schools Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington will be joining the Big 10 conference.
George Tirebiter was the nickname initially given to a dog at the University of Southern California in the 1940s who was the unofficial mascot of the school before becoming the official mascot on October 22, 1947. The nickname was passed on to George Tirebiter's subsequent successors after the original Tirebiter's death in 1950. The original Tirebiter was a nationally known figure and beloved canine of the University of Southern California. He would lead the marching band out at home football games and once even entered in an armored car. Tirebiter was kidnapped, or thought to have been kidnapped, multiple times by the University of Southern California's rival the University of California, Los Angeles, USC student politicians for publicity, and once possibly by a newspaper. The line of Tirebiters lasted through 1961 when the legacy of the Tirebiter mascots was replaced with Traveler, the white Andalusian horse ridden by a Trojan rider at USC home football games and various other university events.
The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy. The program participates in the Pac-12 Conference and has won 136 team national championships, 112 of which are National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships. USC's official colors are cardinal and gold. The Trojans have a cross-town rivalry in several sports with UCLA. However, USC's football rivalry with Notre Dame predates the UCLA rivalry by three years. The Notre Dame rivalry stems mainly from the annual football game played between these two universities and is considered the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football. The Trojans also enjoy a rivalry with the Stanford Cardinal. The USC Trojans are considered one of the most successful college athletic programs of all time.
The USC Helenes, founded in 1921, is one of the University of Southern California's oldest service organizations.
The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles, in college football as members of the Big Ten Conference at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. The Bruins play their home games off campus at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The Victory Bell is the trophy that is awarded to the winner of the UCLA–USC football rivalry game. The game is an American college football rivalry between the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, part of the overall UCLA–USC rivalry.
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC).
The 1967 UCLA vs. USC football game was an American college football game played during the 1967 NCAA University Division football season on November 18, 1967. The UCLA Bruins, 7–0–1 and ranked No. 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the USC Trojans, 8–1 and ranked No. 4, with junior running back O. J. Simpson also as a Heisman candidate. This game is widely regarded as the signature game in the UCLA–USC rivalry as well as one of the 20th-century Games of the Century. The 64-yard run by Simpson for the winning touchdown is regarded as one of the greatest run plays in college football.
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. The organization is officially dedicated to "Brotherhood, Service, & Spirit" and its members have been recognized by USC as the "Official Hosts of the University" and "Guardians of Tradition." The group has been a part of many university traditions and remains active in on- and off-campus events and causes. While not a traditional Greek fraternity, the Trojan Knights have many characteristics similar to fraternities, including their emphasis on brotherhood. The Trojan Knights currently involve themselves in several service events including the USC founded "Swim with Mike," benefiting a scholarship for disabled persons aspiring to attend college, and the annual "Trojan Knights Carnival," a carnival held on Los Angeles's Skid Row benefiting the children of those families.
The 1967 Rose Bowl was the 53rd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 2. The game matched the #7 Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference and the unranked USC Trojans of the AAWU (Pac-8). Purdue won 14−13, after USC scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter and opted to go for a two-point conversion to win the game, rather than kicking an extra point to tie.
The 1966 UCLA Bruins football team was an American football team that represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU/Pac-8) during the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. In their second year under head coach Tommy Prothro, the Bruins compiled a 9–1 record, and were ranked fifth in the final AP Poll.
The Stanford–USC football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans. The two teams will no longer be in the same conference in 2024 and played the last scheduled game of the series on September 9, 2023, with the Trojans winning 56–10. The two teams first played in 1905 and began playing regularly in 1918. Between 1911 and 1913, there were rugby games played between the two schools. In some places, these games are counted as football games. The only six years in which the rivalry was not played since that year were in 1921, 1924, the three years of World War II (1943–1945), and the Covid season in 2020. The teams have frequently vied for the conference championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl. Stanford is USC's oldest current rival.
The 2016 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as part of the South Division of the Pac-12 Conference. They were led by head coach Clay Helton in his first full season after replacing Steve Sarkisian in the sixth game of the 2015 season. They finished the season 10–3, 7–2 in Pac-12 play to finish in second place in the South Division. They were invited to the Rose Bowl where they defeated Big Ten Conference champion Penn State.
Roger Noble Burnham was an American sculptor and teacher. He is best remembered for creating The Trojan (1930), the unofficial mascot of the University of Southern California.
The Hecuba statue, a bronze sculpture located in the central piaza of USC Village at the University of Southern California. The statue honors Hecuba, the queen of Troy who was married to King Priam during the Trojan War. Designed to serve as a female counterpart to the iconic Tommy Trojan statue, the Hecuba statue symbolizes gender equality at USC and represents the diverse community of USC students, faculty, and alumni.
