Earl McCullouch (2007) - USC Athletics Hall of Fame

Earl McCullouch

Induction:
2007
Class:
1968

McCullouch was one of USC’s most successful football/track athletes. In football, the Long Beach City College transfer lettered at end for Troy’s 1967 national championship team, where he was an All-Conference first teamer while leading the Trojans in receiving (30 catches for 540 yards and 5 TDs). He then was a first round pick in the 1967 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, playing for them for 6 years (1968-73) and with the New Orleans Saints in 1974. He was NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1968. Nicknamed “The Pearl,” he also lettered 3 years (1966-68) in track at USC, where he was a member of Troy’s 1966 and 1967 NCAA champion outdoor team and the 1967 NCAA champ indoor team. He won the NCAA high hurdles outdoor crowns and ran the leadoff leg on USC’s NCAA champion 400-yard relay squads in both 1967 and 1968, as well as winning the 55-meter high hurdles indoor title in 1967. The 1967 NCAA-winning 400 relay quartet set a world record (38.6). A team captain in 1968, he set the USC record in the 120-yard high hurdles (13.2, tying the world record at the 1967 Pan Am Games Trials) and had a best in the 110-meter high hurdles of 13.44. He was ranked second in the world in the high hurdles in 1967 and 1968. He became a track coach and worked in the aerospace manufacturing and global delivery industries.