Before the game, the Trojan Knights ring the Victory Bell down Trousdale Boulevard. The Victory Bell can be seen every Game Day in the possession of the Trojan Knights. Since the bell became a rivalry trophy, its carriage has been painted both cardinal and blue several times over the years. On November 12, 1942, the student body presidents of both schools, USC’s Bill McKay and UCLA’s Bill Farrer, signed an agreement stating that the annual winner of the rivalry football game would keep possession of the bell for the following year. This ultimately led to the Victory Bell Accords of 1942. von KleinSmid, threatened to cancel the USC-UCLA game if any other incidents happened. Shortly thereafter, USC’s President at the time, Dr. At some point, it was even hidden under a haystack.Īfter photos of the Bell appeared in a local student magazine, UCLA fans retaliated by painting Tommy Trojan, which incited a prank war between the two schools. The bell remained hidden for more than a year, where its location moving all across southern California. While the Bruins went to get the key to the truck, they found that the Trojan Knights had removed the key and had driven off with the bell. Originally from atop a Southern Pacific freight locomotive, the bell became a common sight at UCLA football games, as the Bruin cheerleaders began to ring it after each Bruin score.Īt the beginning of the 1941 football season, 6 Trojan Knights infiltrated the UCLA cheering section and helped the Bruin students load the bell onto a truck bound for Westwood. In 1939, UCLA was given a 295-pound bell from the UCLA Alumni Association. One such honored tradition has been the appearance of the Victory Bell at USC Football games. We take great pride in upholding these traditions inspired by our founders and work today to maintain our heritage, as well as creating a new legacy for our future Knights. Since our establishment in 1921, the Trojan Knights have served as USC’s Guardians of Traditions. Card stunts can be now be seen at the annual New Student Rally during Welcome Week and at the halftime of certain football games. In 2011 at the USC-UCLA game, card stunts made their triumphant return, with the use of a flexible, plastic card instead of the traditional hard plastic cards. A number of attempts were made to bring stunts back in the 1990s and mid-2000s. In the late 1980s, card stunts disappeared from USC football games due to safety concerns over the thrown cards after the stunts. In the early years, only one section was used for the stunt, but over the years we have added another section, doubling our card stunt capacity. To keep the rooting section orderly and help organize the stunts, Knights were given two seats on the end of every aisle – one for themselves and one for their date. While in the USC “rooting section” students were required to wear white shirts in order to be a part of the card stunt. It was not until the 1960s that a computer program started to be utilized to create each stunt. In the following years, Knights created card stunts by hand on large sheets of graph paper. Cal and Stanford had been performing card stunts since the early 1900s, but the Knights created the world’s first moving card stunt at Bovard Field. On October 21st, 1922 the Trojan Knights, under the leadership of Yell Leader Lindley Bothwell, created the first sequential card stunt with a record setting 500 cards. Lastly, we strive to build a great USC future through upholding some of the university’s greatest traditions, including our very own Trojan Knights.
We value USC’s present with our continuous efforts to build spirit within the USC community as well as serve our surrounding community. We treasure USC’s past with our dedicated study of the university’s history. We ask that all Knights, New Member Candidates and graduating seniors alike, fully embrace USC and all that it stands for. We consider it an immense honor to attend the University of Southern California and continue to uphold the prestige and reputation of Cardinal and Gold through our organization’s three pillars: brotherhood, philanthropy, and spirit. Today, the Trojan Knights are known for being the guardians of the Victory Bell, the protectors of Tommy Trojan during Troy Week, and the rambunctious crowd of body painters in the front row of every home football game. Over the course of almost a century now, the Knights have planned and executed some of the most important events in the history of USC, including Swim with Mike, card stunts, and escorting U.S. Founded in 1921 as the University’s official hosts, the Trojan Knights have served USC and its surrounding community with faith and energy, becoming a symbol for school service and spirit.
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