...and their memories

Darryl Adams
I first joined the DT in Spring of '80. Robin Oto was my 1st editor,and I go back to The R. Jane Zacharys', Linda Lebovics, Steve Padillas of the world. Made my USC mark by serving as BSU President from 81-84. One of very few staffers to write a Page 1 story and later become a Page 1 story. I remember... My first semester being in awe of Rich Bonin, Michael Schroeder, R. Jane Zachary, Carol Long, Holly Houston (Boy did I have a crush) and Margaret Bernstein.. As one of a handful of African Americans on the staff at the time, Margaret mentored me and became a good friend. Over the years, Casey Wian, Steve Padilla, Mark Gil, Mark Ordesky , Marci Brown, Carmen Chandler, were very influential and enjoyable to work with. Some of the articles that we first dealt with included the story of the USC football team getting placed on probation for courses they did not take, Black Student Services, The Student Senate and Apartheid divestment issues. Thanks to Mr. Cray and all the editors on the DT who allowed me to dabble as a writer and political operative. Shouts out to Carmen Chandler, Steve Padilla,The Marks (Brown, Gil and Ordesky) Belma Johnson & Margaret Bernstein. ( A classy writer for the DT, now in Cleveland) Add your own memory

Kahlil Bendib
Guest remembrance: "I remember first seeing Bendib's work in the DT when I was a freshman in the fall of 1980. Particularly memorable was a cartoon he drew after John Lennon was murdered...it showed the three surviving Beatles walking with their heads down. Powerful stuff back then. Another cartoon I remember was one that showed people dancing in the streets in the rain saying, "The trickle-down effect! It's happening!" (or something similar). The last panel showed President Reagan standing on the roof of a skyscraper, urinating over the edge. -- Submitter: Trisha Duron (Trisha Martinez), class of 1984 Add your own memory

Margaret Bernstein
I wrote for the DT my first year of J-school, and will never forget the sign on the editor's office: "Give me head(lines)!" Went on to donate countless hours of my time to putting out AllUsWe, the black student magazine...is it still alive? Add your own memory

Terri Bingham
I remember a great editor named Jim Corning. His family was the Corning Glass people. He was bright, but laid back. Tommy Trojan was trashed by the Bruins, we didn't like that much. I also had a Japanese man edit some of my work, he was good. Songfest was a big deal, I covered that, I still remember one frat, maybe Sigma Chi, coming out dressed as many Kermit the Frogs. I covered the Brixton riots in London, and ran an article on Bob Marley. I'd review albums too. Being an entertainment staff writer didn't pay much, maybe $50 a semester. But every little bit helped, I was so broke, and didn't have a car. I got my pic in the paper one time when I was at ceramic class using the potter's wheel, thanks to some unknown photographer that worked for the paper. They demonstrated against the Shah of Iran on campus a bit, I remember that. There was a beautiful girl, Lisa Messersmith or something like that that joined the staff the year after me. I worked there several semesters, she joined because she wanted to be like me, and then they gave her my position and she was horrified because she wanted to work with me, not instead of me! Apparently I had inputting the Songfest story myself, in the middle of the night the computer crashed, dropped the whole thing. The editor reentered the story and left out a sentence. The frat guys wrote to complain that I hadn't mentioned their skit. But I had, the editor goofed but because my name was on the byline, they blamed me. Add your own memory

Ruben Castaneda
I worked at the DT in 1979-80, long enough to write a handful of stories and a couple of way overwrought op-eds. Add your own memory

Ezell Marcus Gray Jr.
Just a college newspaper staff member enjoying being on the DT. Mentors Roy Copperud, Jack Langguth and Bill Farr. DT experience and collegiate years at USC were excellent. Loved every minute; despite being a loner. Add your own memory

Galen Gruman
As for DT recollections, boy was that a fun, crazy, yet defining period: I came into the DT my freshman year ready for the big time, since I had been editor of my high school and junior high school paper. Then I got the set-yourself-straight comment from one of the editors who interviewed me, Carole Long: "We were all editors of our high school papers." My next experience was with Robin Oto -- "Roto" -- who delighted in telling guys she wanted to sit on their face and with Mike Schroeder, who loved to roar "What, do you think we're trying to put out a paper around here?" It was "Lou Grant" meets L.A. Carole, Robin, Mike, and Steve Padilla were incredible mentors, and I credit them for much of my journalistic formation. But it was also a blast -- I loved writing stories for the paper, and was particularly proud of two. One uncovered a scam targeting Iranian students (this was right after the Shah was deposed) that ran in our paper. It promised to get the students papers to stay. The other was right after the end of semester in what was to be my last story in the DT: a controversy over the appointment of the new journalism school dean. The press release seemed off to me, so I called the president's office to confirm. Whoops, there was no announcement, and the guy named definitely wasn't the new dean. Even more embarrassing, the release had come from the head of the school's PR division. Beyond that, a lot of late, pizza-filled nights, since after finishing my duties as first a reporter, then later as the new editor (a sort of deputy managing editor slot, working with Managing Editor James Grant and an editor named Mary Ellen Hickey whose job I can't remember but our teasing conversations I'll never forget), I switched over to the production side and spent the night doing the typography and layout for the paper as part of my work-study program. (I'm almost as big a production geek as Schroeder, though my big passion remains editing.) There, I got to spend laughter-filled nights with production chief Denice Killian and a particularly zany photographer named Kenny. I also became close friends with Laura Nicholson and Matthew Kane, though I lost touch with them a few years after we all graduated. My third proudest moment was my one and only issue as editor of SoCal magazine (cut short by a silly dispute between me and Jane Zachary), where we sent a reporter to cover the first space shuttle launch and I got to go to the first space shuttle landing (college press was not allowed, so Matt and I whipped up credentials as WJM-TV reporters on the DT publishing system -- if the NASA press people nopticed the joke, they didn't let on) -- for us, this was a fundamentally Southern California-created event, given the aerospace industry's influence and fit the magazine team's mission to expand coverage beyond the school (perhaps because most of us happebed to come from out of state, and L.A. was a phenomenon to us in its own right). It's funny how college both redefines and reinforces who you are -- the DT certainly did that with a great group of colleagues and sometimes competitors and adversaries. Add your own memory

Thomas "Tom" Hoffarth
Maybe the highlight of the time on the DT was the Blood Bowl against the Daily Bruin when we recruited this gangly baseball player who happened to take pictures to be our tight end. Randy Johnson wasn't very coordinated, but we thought he'd be good. QB John Soo-Hoo, who is now the Dodgers' official photographer and his art is used alot by the team, kept hitting RJ over the middle, but he kept dropping the passes. Add your own memory

Michael "Mike" Schroeder
In 1979, we installed the first in-house typesetting system for the DT. In a word, it was a disaster. Anyone who can remember Logicon (I think we got their last system) can remember the long nights and not-unusual "everything's gone" about 5 p.m. Remember typesetting the whole paper at Pepperdine one of those nights. Half the staff quit during the semester -- can't blame them for trying to get to class sometime! -- but those of us who hung in got out a record number of papers without missing a day of publication. We also blew the lid off the USC football grade scandal -- not a real popular story -- thanks to Richard Bonin's digging (he's been at "60 Minutes" for quite a few years now.) This led to my one and only lead major newspaper story in the Herald a bit later. Went through the hoops of redesigning and getting approval for a new logo, which lasted a few years (I think). Covered the selection of a new president, whoever replaced Hubbard. Moments? Gary Maloney (who I think went to work for a congressman/senator) was the king of Tommy's, wolfing down two double cheeses (extra chili, please!), followed by calisthentics in the parking lot prior to a third. Getting called in for a meeting with the Executive Vice President after publication of the first athletic academic expose. Forming a tight friendship with longtime adviser Roy Copperud (including filling his radiator in the truck lot of the Herald). Interviewed Norman Topping, getting some great advice on the side. Add your own memory

Paul Michael "Zeke" Virga
My memories are fading fast after being away from USC for over 25 years but some of my fondest were getting to see my drawings in print! And hanging out with the DT staff after a football game. The place was always a bee hive of activity. My major at USC was Business Administration with a minor in Fine Art and the experiences of getting assignments to do drawings at the last minute have actually carried with me to this day. I was also a Marine Corps NROTC Midshipman during the '78 - '82 years and so my perspective, I am sure, was way different than others at the DT. The Shah of Iran died, Saddam Hussein invaded southern Iran, Lebanon was terror central, Hinkley shot Reagan and I was drawing pictures of psilosybin mushrooms for a story on them in the DT. There are a couple of individuals that I do remember: Laura Rodriguez, she was assistant city editor and in a ceramics class with me one summer. She was beautiful, intelligent, and the person that talked me into doing illustrations for the DT. Staake, to this day, one of the sharpest and best editorial cartoonist I have ever seen. Add your own memory

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