Old, familiar traditions return with a bang this week as the USC vs. UCLA rivalry hits its annual climax. While the Trojans have fierce historical adversaries in the University of Texas Longhorns and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, no feud is bigger than the one with crosstown rival UCLA.
“It is one of the best rivalries in sports,” said UCLA student Jason Taormina.
While the two schools are only 12 miles apart, their large and ferociously loyal fan bases are always at odds in a rivalry that has a very competitive history. At the moment, USC has the better of the Bruins with a 50-33-7 in football, while UCLA leads in basketball, holding a 148-113 record against the Trojans.
“I believe the rivalry is amazing because it brings out the best of the players on both sides,” said UCLA basketball player Adem Bona.
Outside disputes on the field, the rivalry also comes with a long standing tradition of prank warfare, rumored to have begun in the 1940s after USC stole a bell from UCLA’s campus. This act by the Trojans not only sparked an enduring war of practical jokes, but is the reason behind the winning team being awarded a victory bell.
Pranks between the two colleges have become historic in their own right, and even overshadowed the game at times. The Trojans once released 30,000 USC colored crickets into a UCLA library in 1989.
Decades earlier in 1958, UCLA flew a helicopter over the USC campus in order to dump manure on the Tommy Trojan statue. While the Bruins were successful, the prank backfired as the manure ended up in the rotors and blades of the chopper due to the wind.
In recent years, the main targets in this never-ending prank war have remained the school’s statues and monuments. Tommy Trojan and Bruin the Bear are often victims of vandalism.
The most recent incident was in 2018 when two men were arrested for painting over Bruin in USC colors. The damage to the beloved statue ended up costing UCLA $15,000.
Students at both universities have taken the matter into their own hands by standing watch 24/7 during rivalry week and protecting the statues with tape. At USC, a group known as the “Trojan Knights” have at least one person on guard throughout the day to ensure nobody messes with Tommy Trojan.
“We do our best to make sure that Tommy is safe and sound,” said Trojan Knight John Bosco.
To help pass the time, the Trojan Knights compete in Super Smash Bros. tournaments and play board games and cornhole. Many institutions on campus also help by providing them with food and drinks for their long security shifts.
Although the job may get tedious, the Trojan Knights continue to protect Tommy as they feel that the statue represents what it means to be a Trojan — something worth preserving .
“Being a Trojan means never backing down, staying true to who you are while still working hard,” said Bosco. “We need to be courageous and make sure that we make this university everything we want it to be, and everything we feel it has been in the past, while still addressing the ways that this university needs to grow and change.”
Along with the Trojan Knights, the Helenes of USC also stand guard and look after the statue Hecuba in the USC Village.
Even though rivalry week may divide LA’s two biggest colleges, it definitely brings the students within the universities together.
“I think it really just shows that we do come together as a school, despite all the different adversities that our students might face,” said USC student Lindsay Huerta. “It is really exciting that people care about something that looks really mundane on paper, but really exciting in real life.”