...and their memories

Michael "Mike" Furtney
Was delighted to see that you included Dr. McCorkle, who gave her famous 100-word spelling test at the outset of each semester, which one could pass the first time with 95 correct as I recall, and with higher numbers needed to pass in the second and third rounds. She also wore her Phi Beta Kappa key every day. Also great to see the segment on Wayne Warga, who was my friend and classmate, and with whom I competed for a gopher job with the AP at the 1960 Democratic convention, and which he prevailed in obtaining. From there he went to AP-Chicago and onward. Add your own memory

Joe Jares
I was at USC from Sept. 1955 to June 1959 and worked on the pre-tabloid DT all that time. I would have done that anyway, but Fred Coonradt's reporting classes and Erl Erlandson's [sp?] copyreading classes required students to put in at least one day a week working those jobs for the school paper, which I think was a capital idea. I was a reporter, a copy editor, sports editor and managing editor. Wrote a sports column one or two years and a three-dot gossip column one year. Also worked on the Trojan Owl, newspaper for night school that came out once a week, and Wampus, the humor magazine. The big event, which you know about, was the production of the first (as far as I know) phony Daily Bruin in the fall of 1958. It was my idea and my co-conspirators were DT sports editor Garry Short and senator/varsity diver Larry Lichty. The paper is reproduced in full in the 1959 El Rodeo. Even the classified ads were phony, and I wrote an editorial on public vs. private education (with private winning out, naturally). Wrecked my grades that semester (got my first C's). We made sure copies were delivered to the Trojan Club meeting in the Biltmore (the only one at that time) and the club kindly reimbursed us for our expenses. DT at that time was printed at Dixon-Bell Press on Jefferson, across the street from the Shrine Auditorium. DB was printed there once a week, perfect for our purposes. The Knights, or maybe it was the Squires, kidnapped the DB truck driver and delivered the phonies, just as he normally did (it had been scouted). We had the legit copies delivered at about noon, so no ad revenue would be lost. The caper got lots of publicity. I was part-time on the staff of the Hearst evening paper (L.A. Herald-Express), which gave it big play, as did the morning Examiner and other media outlets. What else? We had some wonderful people on the Daily Trojan staff. ME my freshman year was Paul Wasserman, was a bright, colorful guy. And Susanna Barnes McBee, I believe the first woman editor of the DT in many years. Julia Norton McCorkle, a much-feared USC English teacher, had been DT editor many years before. I idolized her when I was a freshman; still do! And the late Ed Neilan, another hero for me. We had no elevator in the Student Union in the '50s. Up and down those four flights we went to work at the typewriters (no computers); we had the best legs on campus outside the football team. Oh, and a special issue on USC's track & field heritage was a highlight. As I recall, the two inside pages of the 4-page full-size issue were devoted to the history of Trojan track. Much sweat went into producing that: Tom Braly, Chuck Signor, Garry Short and others, I remember. I wrote a mostly-Row gossip column my senior year. It was not fine literature, or even fine journalism, but it was fun and it had a following. I'm sure it did have a name -- maybe SCatterings -- but I don't remember. It was a three-dot thing. Add your own memory

Lawrence W "Larry" Lichty
There were many new and revived jazz events--mostly Dixieland--and i usually got the free tickets to cover them. I am not sure if any of those reviews were ever published. On the fake Daily Trojan caper ... at especially Ken Ballard, my roommate then, and now a lawyer in Oakhurst CA, he drove the truck on the UCLA campus--the scariest part of the deal. Add your own memory

Richard "Dick" Patman
You asked about favorite memories while working for the DT. There were many. It was a wonderful four years, some of the happiest of my entire life. We had a truly outstanding staff...I was lucky enoughÊto work for people like Garry Short,ÊJoe Jares and Jim Bylin. ÊÊJoe Saltzman was an effective editor and always gave me great latitude concerning the sports page. I recall with great clarity the special DT edition about SC's track and field legacy that we issued in spring 1959. I was lucky enough to write much of that material. Track was a co-first love of mine, along with football, and I traveled with the team to the NCAA meet in Berkeley in 1961 and also covered the Olympic final tryouts at Stanford in 1960. I recall, among many other memories: (1)Êmeeting and discussing track with Jesse Owens at a Los Angeles sportwriters luncheon, (2) watching Dallas Long break the national shot put record on his FIRST THROW AS AÊFRESHMAN on Cromwell Field against Pierce JC, (3) doing all night duty on the fourth floor of the Student UnionÊduring the week preceeding the UCLA gameÊ(looking for wayward Bruins trying to paint Tommy Trojan) and (4) uncovering the story of ÊWorld War II experiences of Trojan miler Atis Petersons whose family was trapped between the Nazis and Russians, and then seeing my DT article picked up by the L.A. Herald-Examiner and run verbatim complete with credit. The sports office in those days was filled with Playboy centerfolds (risque stuff for the 50s) and we surely did get our share of visitors!! It was a wonderful time, and I value it to this day. Add your own memory

Peter Plagens
I'm afraid i'm not in contact with anybody from my DT era, although i've given passing thought to wondering where larry fisher and wes gregory have gone. never played in a blood bowl (b'ball was my sport). and i was a kind of independent contractor, the art student who brought in his cartoon once a week on wednesday, and not really part of the paper's 'culture,' as they'd put it these days. DT parties much better, however, than my frat's, and more adult-drunk than kegger-drunk. brought a date to one who modeled in life drawing classes, a bit of a beatnik. she brought her guitar and did joan baez. some large guy named george was inebriated and besotten with her, wasn't going to let me leave with her. threatened him with a broken bottle, and other calmer people prevailed upon him to let us go home peacefully. vaguely remember a guy still with a high-school elvis-y haircut dutifully bringing in his frat's party date list for the social page and whining about lack of coverage: donald segretti, a minor watergate player. that's about it. Add your own memory

Garry Short
I must feed you some DT stuff, as promised, but just haven't had time. You're certainly on my to-do list. Add your own memory

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