The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has been home to USC Football since 1923. (Photo/John McGillen)
Celebrating centennials at USC
Read about five important institutions celebrating 100 orbits around the sun this year.
1923 was a big year of growth and change in Southern California: It was 100 years ago when the Hollywoodland sign was erected over the city and the Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. were founded. USC was part of that huge wave — read about five important institutions celebrating 100 orbits around the sun this year.
“All Hail” USC’s alma mater song
The words and music to USC’s alma mater song, “All Hail,” were composed by Trojan Marching Band member Al Wesson ’23 for a 1923 campus show called “Conquest.” Wesson eventually became the sports information director at USC from 1928 to 1942. During the USC versus Stanford home game held on Sept. 9, the USC Alumni Association held a triple centennial celebration at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by leading an alma mater sing-a-long.
USC Alumni Association
USC alumni now number 480,000, but when the General Alumni Association was officially founded in June 1923 to create an all-USC association, it barely had 5,000 members by the end of its first year. Learn more about the USCAA’s anniversary celebration here.
USC Graduate School
Graduate studies had their formal beginnings at the University of Southern California in 1910, but it was in 1923 that the official constitution of the Graduate School of the university was formed.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
On Oct. 6, 1923, Trojan athletes and fans set foot in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time for the first football game held at the venue: The USC Trojans defeated Pomona College 23-7, with 12,836 people in attendance.
USC Caruso Catholic Center
The USC Caruso Catholic Center was formed as the Newman Club in 1923 by just 62 students. Today, it is one of the largest communities of Catholic students west of the Mississippi.
