...and their memories

Hazel Browning
Says Dan Smith: Hazel was a journalism major and, accordingly, was required to work on the paper. She did simply the required jobs--at that time it was a year as a reporter, a semester as a copy editor (one night a week) and a semester as a news editor (one night a week). Add your own memory

George H. John
I wrote for the Daily Trojan in years 1962-63 and 1963-64. In my second year (as a sophomore), I was either the sports editor or assistant sports editor. I can't remember which. My claims to fame were: I won the DT college football picking contest my first year. I, too, roomed with Steve Harvey, Greg Hill and Hal Lancaster - at the Caribbean apartments. And, I was almost kicked out of school by the Trojan men's basketball department for writing an editorial column critical of coach Forrest Twogood. Professor Gordon Jones scotched that move - reminding my critics of something called the First Amendment. Add your own memory

Dan Smith
The most memorable event in the world when I was editor was the assassination of John Kennedy. It shocked the entire campus (the whole world,for that matter) and brought everything to a halt for several days. We managed to get an edition out that I think provided some good coverage to the campus reaction to this terrible thing. Otherwise, USC in those days was trying to be "an Isle of Tranquility," as the dean of students put it, while most campuses were swirling in student protest and demonstrations. The administration wanted to keep everything calm--I recall the University President in one somber meeting warning me I was meddling in Trustee business because I wanted to report some controversial stuff. It was a challenge to come up with coverage that I felt did not compromise my journalistic integrity without getting fired. The Daily Trojan staff of that day was a pretty close-knit group of people with real talent and skills. My class was probably the smallest in the Journalism School history (seven--four men and three women). Fortunately the next class was larger and, as I say, we had a good staff. The paper was selected as the top student newspaper in the state that year. Add your own memory

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