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Since we don't have a dog in the fight for the NCAA MEN'S tournament, let's talk USC Basketball History!
USC began playing basketball in 1907, sixteen years after Dr Naismith invented the game, ten years after the first college game, six years before Stanford, same year as Cal, and twelve years before UCLA was founded. The Year 1 record was 6-5, highlighted by a couple of wins vs Pomona, but a 34 to 9 thumping by Huntington Beach High School. For the first 14 years USC hoops could be characterized as a club sport, playing mostly local colleges, high schools and YMCA teams. There were seven coaches in that time, four years without a coach, and the criteria seems to be that you knew something about another sport, or taught P.E., or were picked by the other players on the team. Legendary track coach Dean Cromwell coached a year (0-2) and SC's first real football coach, Elmer "Gloomy Gus" Henderson, coached two years, going 18-6.
A couple of developments in the early 20's propelled SC hoops into major college basketball. First was joining the six year old Pacific Coast Conference consisting of the two Bay area, Oregon and Washington schools in 1921. This did not go particularly well as USC went 7 and 25 in the first five years of PCC play. In 1925, however, USC hired its first Athletic Director, Willis O. Hunter, who would hold the position for 32 years. He was a high school football coach who then was hired by Henderson to be an assistant in 1919. He was given the AD job primarily because Henderson, who won the first Rose Bowl at the current stadium and put SC football on the map, was forced out at SC due to complaints and a boycott from Cal, accusing him of cheating. SC decided they needed someone to run Athletics and hired Hunter, who pursued Knute Rockne to replace Henderson, but when he turned it down he hired Rockne's recommendation, Howard Jones, in 1925.
This is the point where the issue of basketball facilities comes in. In 1924 and 1925 you have the opening of the Shrine and the Olympic. The Shrine was right across the street, and would become USC's "home court", along with the Pan Pacific Auditorium later on, until the opening of the Sports Arena in 1958. To state the obvious the Shrine is a theater, so really pretty awful for a basketball game. The Pan Pacific was better, but also 7+ miles from Campus. The "Madison Square Garden of the West", The Grand Olympic Auditorium, opened a mile and a half from campus, and SC played there occasionally over the years. However, regardless of the merits for it being SC's home court it was a boxing arena, so scheduling was always a problem. Sadly one of the most lasting negative influences on the BB program was that in 1933 the Physical Education building opened in the center of campus with the North Gym, on the second floor, holding only 1,000 fans if packed, as opposed to even UCLA's first facility, the Men's Gym, which opened the same year with capacity of 2,500. Why the powers that be at that time chose to basically ignore the BB program and not build a gym at least the size of UCLA's remains a mystery. Regardless of the size, it is easy to see what the difference in the fortunes for SC basketball would have been if in Year 5 of his tenure Sam Barry would have been able to walk into an on-campus home court vs a theater next door. This missed opportunity will have a huge impact on the fortunes of SC basketball up until the first game at the Galen Center tips off seventy year later.
Back to play on the floor, Les Turner was the BB coach when Wilson took over, but did not win a PCC game for two years. So in 1927 Wilson hired Leo Calland to be he head coach. Calland had played football for Henderson in high school, and followed him to SC. He was team captain and most inspirational player on that first RB team, and was named player of the game in the Trojans' 14–3 victory over Penn State. He also lettered in basketball at USC. After graduating from USC in 1923, Calland became an assistant coach there, leading the Trojan freshman squads in football, basketball, and baseball. He left in 1925 to lead Whittier College for two seasons in multiple sports. Wilson needed a basketball coach in 1927 so Calland became the first basketball coach at SC hired by an Athletic Director, and the results were stunning. The previous two years USC went 0-12 in the PCC. In 1927 SC went 22-4 overall, 6-3 in conference, and beat North winner Washington is a best of 3 playoff 2-0 to win the PCC title. It would be fascinating to know what those practices were like and what Calland did for such an amazing turnaround, as that season's .846 win percentage sits third in school history. Calland would follow that up with a 16-6 record in 28-29, but college football was still king, and he left SC to be the Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Idaho. Wilson now needed to hire his second basketball coach, and turned to Howard Jones for advice. Jones recommended his old colleague and assistant at Iowa, Sam Barry, who was still the Bball coach there.
Sam Barry came West like Jones had, and has to be considered one of the legends of coaching, both at SC and nationally. He was an innovator of the game, pushing for the end of a jump ball after each basket and free throw, the creation of the mid court 10 second line, and was the first along with Phog Allen to use the four corner offense, later immortalized by Dean Smith at North Carolina. His impact at SC was immediate. In Year 1 he went 15-5, winning SC's second ever conference title. In his first 11 years he won 3 Full Conference and 8 Southern Division Titles. In that stretch he won 20 games three times when the average total number of games played was between 21 and 25. The 34-35 team deserves special recognition as probably the third best team in program history. That team went 20-6, a gaudy 11-1 in conference, and won the Conference championship against Oregon State. During this time USC also had two first team All Americans in Jerry Nemer and Lee Guttero, two of the four PCC players to be AA in that period.
Barry's and one of SC's two greatest seasons ever came in 1939-40. The previous year SC went 20-5, but finished second in the South behind 24-8 Cal, and third in the Conference behind 29-5 Oregon, which won the first even NCAA tournament. In 39-40 USC was led by Consensus First Team All American Ralph Vaughn, who led the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring at 15 points per game, and hung 36 points in a single game against UCLA, which was a conference record that stood for 21 years. Vaughn appeared on the January 15, 1940 cover of Life magazine, and his name should never be forgotten when talking about the greatest SC players of all time.
So, in the Winter of 1939 the Trojans embarked on what was described by the Daily Trojan as a barnstorming tour, and one can argue it was one of the most successful road trips in college basketball history. The first game of the year was at DePaul, and SC pulled it out in OT. Then they won at Purdue, and then at Notre Dame. Then came the big show…. Madison Square Garden. USC faced off against Long Island, then a power house coached by the legendary Claire Bee, in a sold out Garden. Long Island was undefeated the previous year, and the Helms National Champion. This was truly the Big Time, and USC beat Long Island by 8. They then moved on to Philly where they beat Temple by 16. This Road Trip, before ever playing a home game, put SC Hoops on the map. SC would go on to only lose two games that regular season, away at Stanford and Cal, thus winning the South Division. They would then walk over Oregon State in the best two of three Conference Championship.
As Conference Champs SC was invited to the second ever NCAA Tournament, an eight team affair with the Western Regional and Final Four being held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. SC's quarterfinal opponent was Colorado, and SC won 38-32, so on to the second ever Final Four against Kansas. Also in the Final Four that year were Indiana (eventual winner) making its first Final Four appearance of eight. Kansas was making its first appearance of sixteen, and USC was making its first appearance….. of two. We will get into why SC didn't stay on the same track as these other schools, besides the facility question, when we get to the 50's.
The Semi Final with Kansas was a back and forth affair. Kansas, coached by Phog Allen and with future Oregon State coach Ralph Miller on the team, shut down Vaughn, but Dale Sears went off for 19 points. SC led 21 to 20 at half, and held a one point lead with Kansas having one final possession at the end of the game. Alas, Kansas, hit a shot pretty much as time expired to win the game.
As bitter a defeat that was, the story of the 39-40 season does not end there. The Helms Foundation was pretty much the recognized authority in naming the National Champion for college basketball before the NCAA tournament came about. This is important since there was no NCAA tournament until 1939, but even after the tournament started the Helms Foundation named a National Championship up until 1982. So, for some reason in 1946 the Helms Foundation named USC the National Champion of College Basketball in 1939-40, one of the six times they named a champion other than the NCAA or NIT winner. Why is a bit of a mystery. The combination of the national semifinal not really being on a neutral court and SCs barnstorming trip that year, including beating the defending Helms Champions Long Island at MSG, had to be factors. Regardless, an institution that other schools accept as awarding of Natties awarded one to USC. That is a pretty big deal, and I wish SC would recognize it as such.
Next time: Barry's other jobs, Ernie Holbrook, the Triangle, the Streak, and John R Wooden
USC began playing basketball in 1907, sixteen years after Dr Naismith invented the game, ten years after the first college game, six years before Stanford, same year as Cal, and twelve years before UCLA was founded. The Year 1 record was 6-5, highlighted by a couple of wins vs Pomona, but a 34 to 9 thumping by Huntington Beach High School. For the first 14 years USC hoops could be characterized as a club sport, playing mostly local colleges, high schools and YMCA teams. There were seven coaches in that time, four years without a coach, and the criteria seems to be that you knew something about another sport, or taught P.E., or were picked by the other players on the team. Legendary track coach Dean Cromwell coached a year (0-2) and SC's first real football coach, Elmer "Gloomy Gus" Henderson, coached two years, going 18-6.
A couple of developments in the early 20's propelled SC hoops into major college basketball. First was joining the six year old Pacific Coast Conference consisting of the two Bay area, Oregon and Washington schools in 1921. This did not go particularly well as USC went 7 and 25 in the first five years of PCC play. In 1925, however, USC hired its first Athletic Director, Willis O. Hunter, who would hold the position for 32 years. He was a high school football coach who then was hired by Henderson to be an assistant in 1919. He was given the AD job primarily because Henderson, who won the first Rose Bowl at the current stadium and put SC football on the map, was forced out at SC due to complaints and a boycott from Cal, accusing him of cheating. SC decided they needed someone to run Athletics and hired Hunter, who pursued Knute Rockne to replace Henderson, but when he turned it down he hired Rockne's recommendation, Howard Jones, in 1925.
This is the point where the issue of basketball facilities comes in. In 1924 and 1925 you have the opening of the Shrine and the Olympic. The Shrine was right across the street, and would become USC's "home court", along with the Pan Pacific Auditorium later on, until the opening of the Sports Arena in 1958. To state the obvious the Shrine is a theater, so really pretty awful for a basketball game. The Pan Pacific was better, but also 7+ miles from Campus. The "Madison Square Garden of the West", The Grand Olympic Auditorium, opened a mile and a half from campus, and SC played there occasionally over the years. However, regardless of the merits for it being SC's home court it was a boxing arena, so scheduling was always a problem. Sadly one of the most lasting negative influences on the BB program was that in 1933 the Physical Education building opened in the center of campus with the North Gym, on the second floor, holding only 1,000 fans if packed, as opposed to even UCLA's first facility, the Men's Gym, which opened the same year with capacity of 2,500. Why the powers that be at that time chose to basically ignore the BB program and not build a gym at least the size of UCLA's remains a mystery. Regardless of the size, it is easy to see what the difference in the fortunes for SC basketball would have been if in Year 5 of his tenure Sam Barry would have been able to walk into an on-campus home court vs a theater next door. This missed opportunity will have a huge impact on the fortunes of SC basketball up until the first game at the Galen Center tips off seventy year later.
Back to play on the floor, Les Turner was the BB coach when Wilson took over, but did not win a PCC game for two years. So in 1927 Wilson hired Leo Calland to be he head coach. Calland had played football for Henderson in high school, and followed him to SC. He was team captain and most inspirational player on that first RB team, and was named player of the game in the Trojans' 14–3 victory over Penn State. He also lettered in basketball at USC. After graduating from USC in 1923, Calland became an assistant coach there, leading the Trojan freshman squads in football, basketball, and baseball. He left in 1925 to lead Whittier College for two seasons in multiple sports. Wilson needed a basketball coach in 1927 so Calland became the first basketball coach at SC hired by an Athletic Director, and the results were stunning. The previous two years USC went 0-12 in the PCC. In 1927 SC went 22-4 overall, 6-3 in conference, and beat North winner Washington is a best of 3 playoff 2-0 to win the PCC title. It would be fascinating to know what those practices were like and what Calland did for such an amazing turnaround, as that season's .846 win percentage sits third in school history. Calland would follow that up with a 16-6 record in 28-29, but college football was still king, and he left SC to be the Head Football Coach and Athletic Director at Idaho. Wilson now needed to hire his second basketball coach, and turned to Howard Jones for advice. Jones recommended his old colleague and assistant at Iowa, Sam Barry, who was still the Bball coach there.
Sam Barry came West like Jones had, and has to be considered one of the legends of coaching, both at SC and nationally. He was an innovator of the game, pushing for the end of a jump ball after each basket and free throw, the creation of the mid court 10 second line, and was the first along with Phog Allen to use the four corner offense, later immortalized by Dean Smith at North Carolina. His impact at SC was immediate. In Year 1 he went 15-5, winning SC's second ever conference title. In his first 11 years he won 3 Full Conference and 8 Southern Division Titles. In that stretch he won 20 games three times when the average total number of games played was between 21 and 25. The 34-35 team deserves special recognition as probably the third best team in program history. That team went 20-6, a gaudy 11-1 in conference, and won the Conference championship against Oregon State. During this time USC also had two first team All Americans in Jerry Nemer and Lee Guttero, two of the four PCC players to be AA in that period.
Barry's and one of SC's two greatest seasons ever came in 1939-40. The previous year SC went 20-5, but finished second in the South behind 24-8 Cal, and third in the Conference behind 29-5 Oregon, which won the first even NCAA tournament. In 39-40 USC was led by Consensus First Team All American Ralph Vaughn, who led the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring at 15 points per game, and hung 36 points in a single game against UCLA, which was a conference record that stood for 21 years. Vaughn appeared on the January 15, 1940 cover of Life magazine, and his name should never be forgotten when talking about the greatest SC players of all time.
So, in the Winter of 1939 the Trojans embarked on what was described by the Daily Trojan as a barnstorming tour, and one can argue it was one of the most successful road trips in college basketball history. The first game of the year was at DePaul, and SC pulled it out in OT. Then they won at Purdue, and then at Notre Dame. Then came the big show…. Madison Square Garden. USC faced off against Long Island, then a power house coached by the legendary Claire Bee, in a sold out Garden. Long Island was undefeated the previous year, and the Helms National Champion. This was truly the Big Time, and USC beat Long Island by 8. They then moved on to Philly where they beat Temple by 16. This Road Trip, before ever playing a home game, put SC Hoops on the map. SC would go on to only lose two games that regular season, away at Stanford and Cal, thus winning the South Division. They would then walk over Oregon State in the best two of three Conference Championship.
As Conference Champs SC was invited to the second ever NCAA Tournament, an eight team affair with the Western Regional and Final Four being held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. SC's quarterfinal opponent was Colorado, and SC won 38-32, so on to the second ever Final Four against Kansas. Also in the Final Four that year were Indiana (eventual winner) making its first Final Four appearance of eight. Kansas was making its first appearance of sixteen, and USC was making its first appearance….. of two. We will get into why SC didn't stay on the same track as these other schools, besides the facility question, when we get to the 50's.
The Semi Final with Kansas was a back and forth affair. Kansas, coached by Phog Allen and with future Oregon State coach Ralph Miller on the team, shut down Vaughn, but Dale Sears went off for 19 points. SC led 21 to 20 at half, and held a one point lead with Kansas having one final possession at the end of the game. Alas, Kansas, hit a shot pretty much as time expired to win the game.
As bitter a defeat that was, the story of the 39-40 season does not end there. The Helms Foundation was pretty much the recognized authority in naming the National Champion for college basketball before the NCAA tournament came about. This is important since there was no NCAA tournament until 1939, but even after the tournament started the Helms Foundation named a National Championship up until 1982. So, for some reason in 1946 the Helms Foundation named USC the National Champion of College Basketball in 1939-40, one of the six times they named a champion other than the NCAA or NIT winner. Why is a bit of a mystery. The combination of the national semifinal not really being on a neutral court and SCs barnstorming trip that year, including beating the defending Helms Champions Long Island at MSG, had to be factors. Regardless, an institution that other schools accept as awarding of Natties awarded one to USC. That is a pretty big deal, and I wish SC would recognize it as such.
Next time: Barry's other jobs, Ernie Holbrook, the Triangle, the Streak, and John R Wooden