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Victory Bell (USC-UCLA)
Encyclopedia
| Victory Bell (USC-UCLA) | |
| Teams | UCLA Bruins UCLA Bruins Football The UCLA Bruins football program represents the University of California, Los Angeles in college football as members of the Pacific-12 Conference at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The Bruins have enjoyed several periods of success in their history, having been ranked in the top ten of the AP Poll... USC Trojans |
| Originated | rivalry 1929, trophy 1942 |
| Trophy Series | USC leads, 46-28-7 |
| Current Holder | USC |
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| UCLA (28) 1942 1946 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1957 1959 1961 1965 1966 1970 1975 1980 1982 1983 1984 1986 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2006 |
USC (46) 1929 1930 1937 1938 1940 1943 1943 1944 1945 1945 1947 1948 1949 1952 1956 1960 1962 1963 1964 1967 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game The 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game was an American College Football game played in the 1967 College Football Season on November 18, 1967. The University of California at Los Angeles, 7–0–1 and ranked Number 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the University... 1968 1969 1972 1973 1974 1976 1977 1978 1979 1981 1985 1987 1988 1990 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 |
| Years in bold indicate when trophy changed hands | |
| Ties (7) 1936 1939 1941 1944 1958 1971 1989 |
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The Victory Bell is an annual trophy given to either the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
or the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. The winner of the annual USC-UCLA rivalry football contest keeps the bell for the next year, and paints it the school's color: "True Blue
True Blue (color)
True Blue is a tone of blue deeper than powder blue and lighter than royal blue that was developed by the UCLA Athletic Department and Adidas to be the color for all of UCLA's athletic teams starting in the 2003–2004 school year. Previously, the football team had worn powder blue while the...
" for UCLA, or cardinal
Cardinal (color)
Cardinal is a vivid red, which gets its name from the cassocks worn by Catholic cardinals...
for USC. The Victory Bell is a 295-pound brass bell that originally rang atop a Southern Pacific
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....
railroad locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
. It is currently mounted on a special wheeled carriage.
History
The bell was given to the UCLA student body in 1939 as a gift from the school's Alumni Association.. Initially, the UCLA cheerleaders rang the bell after each Bruin point. However, during the opening game of UCLA's 1941 season (at the time, both schools used the Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
for home games), six members of USC's Trojan Knights
Trojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...
(who were also members of the SigEp fraternity
Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
) infiltrated the Bruin rooting section, assisted in loading the bell aboard a truck headed back to Westwood
Westwood, California
Westwood is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5128 feet...
, took the key to the truck, and escaped with the bell while UCLA's actual rooters went to find a replacement key. The bell remained hidden from UCLA students for more than a year, first in SigEp’s basement, then in the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
, Santa Ana
Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana is the county seat and second most populous city in Orange County, California, and with a population of 324,528 at the 2010 census, Santa Ana is the 57th-most populous city in the United States....
and other locations. At one point, it was even concealed beneath a haystack. Bruin students tried to locate the bell, but to no avail. A picture of the bell appeared in a USC periodical. Tension between UCLA and USC students rose as each started to play even more elaborate and disruptive pranks on the other. When the conflict caused the USC President to threaten to cancel the rivalry, a compromise was met: on November 12, 1942, the student body presidents of both schools, in front of Tommy Trojan, signed the agreement that the bell would be the trophy for the game.
USC
Before home games, when the bell is in USC's possession, it sits along Trousdale Parkway for fans to ring as they participate in the "Trojan Walk" to the L.A. Coliseum. During home games, and whenever USC faces UCLA at the Rose Bowl, the Victory Bell is displayed at the edge of the field for the first three quarters of the game. Members of the Trojan KnightsTrojan Knights
The Trojan Knights are an American service and spirit organization associated specifically with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California...
and USC Helenes
USC Helenes
The USC Helenes, founded in 1921, is the University of Southern California's oldest all-female service organization.Known as the Official Hostesses of USC, the Helenes strive to embody the five attributes of the ideal Trojan and are prominent within the university and the Los Angeles community...
ring the bell every time the Trojans score. The carriage is painted cardinal red.
UCLA
When the bell is in UCLA's possession, the carriage is sandblasted and painted "True Blue". While in the possession of UCLA, the Bell is safeguarded by the UCLA Rally Committee. During UCLA home games at the Rose BowlRose Bowl (stadium)
The Rose Bowl is an outdoor athletic stadium in Pasadena, California, U.S., in Los Angeles County. The stadium is the site of the annual college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl, held on New Year's Day. In 1982, it became the home field of the UCLA Bruins college football team of the Pac-12...
and whenever UCLA faces USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum, it resides on the field in front of the student section. It is rung by members of the Rally Committee after each score. The Bruins also ring the bell using a rope attached to the handle, swinging the whole bell, as opposed to the Trojan style of attaching a rope to the tongue or clapper on the inside of the bell. The Bell also makes special appearances at rallies and athletic events. It has been used to accompany the UCLA Band
UCLA Band
The 270 member UCLA Bruin Marching Band, known as The Solid Gold Sound, represents the University at major athletic and extracurricular events. During the fall marching season, the Band performs at the Rose Bowl for UCLA Bruin home football games...
during halftime shows. In particular the bell will make an appearance at a major gathering when the bell returns to UCLA.
Series Record
The first victory for UCLA in the series occurred after the agreement, making the Bruins the first winner of the trophy. The Bruins made their post-season appearance in the 1943 Rose Bowl1943 Rose Bowl
The 1943 Rose Bowl game, played on January 1, 1943 was the 29th Rose Bowl game. The University of Georgia Bulldogs defeated the UCLA Bruins 9-0. The game returned to the Rose Bowl stadium after being played at Duke Stadium the year before...
. The teams played each other twice in the same season in 1943, 1944, and 1945. This was due to travel restrictions during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
USC has held the bell since the 2007 football season, winning 24-7 against its unranked rival (used to be ranked 14th preseason in the AP Poll). The Victory Bell was held by USC through the 1999-2005 football seasons. USC leads with an overall record of 45-28-7 in football contests with UCLA. . Before the streak of seven Trojan wins, the Bruins had won the Bell for the eight consecutive years from 1991-1998, the longest streak in the rivalry. There have been 7 ties and one overtime game in the history of the series.
See also
- UCLA–USC rivalry
- Lexus GauntletLexus GauntletThe Lexus Gauntlet was a year-long all-sports competitions between two pairs of rival Pacific-12 Conference universities in California. The original Southern version, now known as the Crosstown Gauntlet, is held between between UCLA and USC; a Northern version between Stanford University and...
- Victory BellVictory BellVictory Bell may refer to:*Victory Bell , awarded to the winner of the game between the University of Cincinnati and Miami University...
- Other trophies also called the "Victory Bell" - Stanford Axe - Trophy of the Big GameBig Game (football)The Big Game is an American college football rivalry game played by the California Golden Bears football team of the University of California, Berkeley and the Stanford Cardinal football team of Stanford University. It is typically played in late November or early December...
between Stanford and Cal - Territorial CupTerritorial CupThe Territorial Cup is a trophy that is awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game, commonly referred to as "The Duel in the Desert," played annually between the Arizona State Sun Devils football team of Arizona State University and the Arizona Wildcats football team of the...
- Trophy of the Arizona - Arizona State football game - Apple CupApple CupThe Apple Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of an American college football rivalry game played annually by the teams of the two largest universities in the U.S. state of Washington: the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars...
- Trophy of the Washington - Washington State football game - Platypus TrophyPlatypus TrophyThe Platypus Trophy is a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Civil War college football game between the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. The trophy depicts a platypus, an animal which has features of both a duck and a beaver . For three years, from 1959 to 1961, the trophy...
- Trophy of the Oregon - Oregon State football game - Jeweled ShillelaghJeweled ShillelaghThe Jeweled Shillelagh is passed between the annual winner of the college football game between the University of Southern California Trojans and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The shillelagh, an Irish war club, is made of oak or blackthorn saplings from Ireland...
- Trophy of the USC - Notre Dame football rivalry - 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game1967 USC vs. UCLA football gameThe 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game was an American College Football game played in the 1967 College Football Season on November 18, 1967. The University of California at Los Angeles, 7–0–1 and ranked Number 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the University...