Victory in the Cards
November 17, 2017 | Football, USC Ripsit Blog, Features
In the days leading up to this weekend's battle against UCLA, USC head coach Clay Helton has expressed his excitement to play in the "special" crosstown showdown.
Helton described the "ultra level of respect" between the two universities due to the impressive academic and athletic caliber of both programs, which sets the rivalry apart from many others across the country.
Though the USC and UCLA communities have great respect for each other, students from each school have taken pride in pulling off a number of pranks over the last few decades. The Trojans' stunts have included stealing the original Victory Bell, releasing Cardinal and Gold painted crickets in a UCLA library, printing and distributing fake Daily Bruin newspapers and more.
But perhaps no prank was more cunning than the card stunt trick that the Trojan Squires pulled off at the 1957 rivalry game.
The Trojan Squires were a group of about 50 USC students working toward becoming Trojan Knights. At USC football games, the Squires were in charge of coordinating the student section's card stunts, while the Knights served as stadium ushers. The Squires' familiarity with card stunts led to the idea of infiltrating the UCLA student section at that year's rivalry game to put a Cardinal and Gold spin on things.
Steve Marienhoff, then a business and finance major at USC, was one of nine Trojan Squires who volunteered to put on the prank. His role was to print the altered instruction cards that would eventually lead an unknowing group of UCLA students to hold up cards that that flashed the letters "SC" in the corner of UCLA's student section.
Another member of the secretive group infiltrated UCLA's rally committee, attending meetings in Westwood to learn the intricacies of UCLA's plans for the rivalry game.
"It was sort of like a CIA operation," said Marienhoff. "It was really quiet. I didn't even know what all the other guys were doing all the time. We took care of our own little thing."
On gameday, each of the Squires' individual efforts finally came together at the Coliseum, which served as the home game for both teams at the time.
"At game time, we still hadn't said a word to anybody," Marienhoff said. "It wasn't until about midway through the second quarter that the word started getting out to watch UCLA's card stunts."
Halftime rolled around, and UCLA's students pulled out their instruction cards, telling them which colored card in the seat pocked in front of them to hold up in order to create what they assumed would be a Bruin-friendly picture.
"When they came up with the first stunt, there was such a cheer and a roar that went out from USC fans, it was unbelievable," Marienhoff said. "And every stunt after that, about the eighth or ninth stunt, they started to wonder, 'Why is USC cheering so loud?'"
UCLA's students accidentally flashed "SC" and other pro-USC messages in the upper left corner of each of their 26 card stunts throughout the game.
Though the Bruin football team won the battle on the field, USC's students had clearly won the day, earning "prank of the year" distinction from Sports Illustrated not long after.
Sixty years after pulling off the prank, Marienhoff remains a loyal fan of USC football. He purchased season tickets shortly after graduating, and has been attending games at the Coliseum ever since. While every game is an exciting experience, Saturday's battle with UCLA will bring a special memory of one of the best moments in the history of the rivalry.
Helton described the "ultra level of respect" between the two universities due to the impressive academic and athletic caliber of both programs, which sets the rivalry apart from many others across the country.
Though the USC and UCLA communities have great respect for each other, students from each school have taken pride in pulling off a number of pranks over the last few decades. The Trojans' stunts have included stealing the original Victory Bell, releasing Cardinal and Gold painted crickets in a UCLA library, printing and distributing fake Daily Bruin newspapers and more.
But perhaps no prank was more cunning than the card stunt trick that the Trojan Squires pulled off at the 1957 rivalry game.
The Trojan Squires were a group of about 50 USC students working toward becoming Trojan Knights. At USC football games, the Squires were in charge of coordinating the student section's card stunts, while the Knights served as stadium ushers. The Squires' familiarity with card stunts led to the idea of infiltrating the UCLA student section at that year's rivalry game to put a Cardinal and Gold spin on things.
Steve Marienhoff, then a business and finance major at USC, was one of nine Trojan Squires who volunteered to put on the prank. His role was to print the altered instruction cards that would eventually lead an unknowing group of UCLA students to hold up cards that that flashed the letters "SC" in the corner of UCLA's student section.
Another member of the secretive group infiltrated UCLA's rally committee, attending meetings in Westwood to learn the intricacies of UCLA's plans for the rivalry game.
"It was sort of like a CIA operation," said Marienhoff. "It was really quiet. I didn't even know what all the other guys were doing all the time. We took care of our own little thing."
On gameday, each of the Squires' individual efforts finally came together at the Coliseum, which served as the home game for both teams at the time.
"At game time, we still hadn't said a word to anybody," Marienhoff said. "It wasn't until about midway through the second quarter that the word started getting out to watch UCLA's card stunts."
Halftime rolled around, and UCLA's students pulled out their instruction cards, telling them which colored card in the seat pocked in front of them to hold up in order to create what they assumed would be a Bruin-friendly picture.
"When they came up with the first stunt, there was such a cheer and a roar that went out from USC fans, it was unbelievable," Marienhoff said. "And every stunt after that, about the eighth or ninth stunt, they started to wonder, 'Why is USC cheering so loud?'"
UCLA's students accidentally flashed "SC" and other pro-USC messages in the upper left corner of each of their 26 card stunts throughout the game.
Though the Bruin football team won the battle on the field, USC's students had clearly won the day, earning "prank of the year" distinction from Sports Illustrated not long after.
Sixty years after pulling off the prank, Marienhoff remains a loyal fan of USC football. He purchased season tickets shortly after graduating, and has been attending games at the Coliseum ever since. While every game is an exciting experience, Saturday's battle with UCLA will bring a special memory of one of the best moments in the history of the rivalry.
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