Fight On!: The Colorful Story of USC Football - Hardcover

STEVE BISHEFF has covered USC football for forty years, nearly twenty-five of them as a prize-winning columnist for the Orange County Register. The author of three previous books, including the critically acclaimed John Wooden: An American Treasure, he lives in Irvine, California, with his wife, Marsha, and their two dogs, Max and Maggie.

LOEL SCHRADER has covered college football since 1947 and USC for the last forty years. A sportswriter, columnist, and sports editor in the Knight-Ridder chain for nearly half a century, he has received numerous awards for the National Newspaper Association, California-Nevada-Arizona Managing Editors Association, and the Los Angeles Press Club. He and his wife, Lois, live in Palm Desert, California.

In recent years the University of Southern California football team has set records, enjoyed historic winning streaks, won national championships, and produced Heisman Trophy winners at a dizzying pace. For USC fans, recent years have signaled a wonderful return to the school’s longtime glory.

To help fans appreciate the whole story and its significance, Steve Bisheff and Loel Schrader have written a definitive account of how the Trojans once dominated college football and are doing so once again. Here also are the glittering history, rich traditions, and remarkable athletes who have marked the USC football program throughout the years.

Coaching legends like Howard Jones, who produced the “Thundering Herd,” and John McKay, whose innovations us to a long line of Heisman Trophy—winning tailbacks, are examined in depth. The real stories behind the great USC–Notre Dame intersectional rivalry and the number-one crosstown rivalry in the sport, USC vs. UCLA, are told along with stories of Hollywood’s amazing involvement with the program.

All of USC’s seven Heisman Trophy winners are profiled, from Mike Garrett to Reggie Bush, providing rare insights into these special players. And the story of how Pete Carroll turned the Trojans into a full-fledged collegiate dynasty begins with his teenage years in northern California and continues to his present status as the most successful college coach in America.

Also listed are the ten best games and the fifty greatest players in USC history, providing every Trojan fan with something to argue about. Clearly, Fight On! is the authoritative book on USC football.