The 1928 USC Trojans: Forging a Dynasty

Throughout the summer I will be posting a series on USC teams and players of the past. The first is a profile of the 1928 USC football team.


            Long before Matt Leinart first tossed a football or Marcus Allen began weaving through defenses or the likes of John McKay and Pete Carroll showed up on the practice field, another legendary coach was laying the foundation for the more than 80 years of USC football excellence that would follow.

            Howard Jones’ 1928 Trojans were the first of USC’s 11 national championship teams, but probably the least well known today. After all, how many of even the most devoted USC fans know the names or stories of Don Williams, Russ Saunders, Jesse Hibbs, Marshall Duffield or Lloyd Thomas?

            Those are their names. This is their story.

            Since arriving at USC in 1925, Howard Jones had led the Trojans to a series of fairly successful seasons. In his first season USC tied for third place in the Pacific Coast Conference and improved to second place in 1926. By 1927 the Trojans tied for first place with an 8-1-1 record and only a 13-13 tie with Stanford kept them from playing in the Rose Bowl that year.

            The ‘28 team was talented and experienced, but had enough question marks before and throughout the season for observers to wonder exactly how high their ceiling was.

            The biggest question, which needed to be answered quickly if the team were to have any national aspirations, was who would step into the shoes of departed captain and quarterback Morley Drury, “The Noblest Trojan of Them All.”

“The Noblest Trojan of Them All”

            If you thought replacing Matt Leinart was tough, following the legend of future Hall of Famer Morley Drury may have been harder. The All-American, captain and 3-year football letterman handled just about every duty on the field including running, passing, punting, tackling and blocking. He also lettered in water polo, ice hockey and basketball during his USC career. In 1927 he rushed for an ungodly (for the time) 1,163 yards becoming USC’s first 1,000-yard rusher, a feat that would not be repeated in Southern California for 38 years until Heisman winner Mike Garrett led the nation with 1440 yards rushing in 1965. Drury was so beloved that in his final game in a USC uniform, the Trojan faithful at the Coliseum gave him a 10-minute standing ovation.

            The competition came down to two players. Junior Russ Saunders was a bruising runner who used his size to bowl over defenders. On the other hand, senior Don Williams relied on a combination of power, speed and agility to elude pursuers, but having sat out the previous season with a chipped bone in his back there were concerns about his toughness and durability.

            Still, it was Williams who stood out in preseason practices and won the starting job causing one observer to note that he “hits the line like a ton of dynamite and whizzes around end like a runaway engine.”

            The nickname would stick and “Dynamite Don” Williams solidified his selection in a September scrimmage against the San Diego Navy football team by “slipp[ing] through the Navy line, whirl[ing] around the Navy ends and gallop[ing] past Navy tacklers.”

            With the All-American tackle Jesse Hibbs anchoring a veteran offensive line, a talented backfield helmed by Williams and rounded out with Russ Saunders moved to fullback and senior Lloyd Thomas at halfback, the Trojans looked primed for a promising season.

            Indeed the season got off to a promising start as USC took a 21-0 halftime lead in their first game against the Utah State Aggies.

            The Aggies, however, would not give up easily. Star halfback Theron Smart returned the second half kickoff 85 yards for a score and then added another on a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Call to cut the Trojan lead in half.

            The USC offense responded in the fourth quarter with touchdown runs from Williams and Saunders to put the game out of reach.

            A 51-yard pick six by Lloyd Thomas in the closing seconds was icing on the 40-12 win.

           Thomas, a halfback the size of a lineman who was described by the Los Angeles Herald as “always a bulwark of defense in the backfield and a slashing interference runner (blocker),” would again display impressive defensive skill in the Trojans next game, this time in a more meaningful setting.

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            In fact, it was a defensive struggle on both sides when USC met Oregon State in the Coliseum before a crowd of 51,000 (quite large for the time).

            The Trojans recovered a fumble at the Oregon State 36 early in the first quarter. Led by exceptional blocking from Jesse Hibbs, who had been moved to right end to counter the Beavers size at defensive tackle, USC marched down and scored on 12-yard run from Don Williams.

            The Oregon State defense stiffened going forward though and kept the Trojans from reaching the end zone again in the first half.

            With the offense struggling, the USC defense did more than enough to protect the lead. The Beavers were held scoreless and never crossed the USC 30 yard line.

            Oregon State’s best scoring chance came as talented back Howard Maple took a USC kickoff and burst through the Trojan coverage unit, leaving defenders in the dust. It looked like a turning point in the game for the Beavers and a surefire score for Maple who was “rated as the fleetest runner in the great Northwest.”

            Enter Lloyd Thomas.

            “All of a sudden, out from nowhere, came the bulging form of Lloyd Thomas, galloping along in hot pursuit of the fleet Maple,” the Los Angeles Times reported. “Sure, Thomas got him – brought him down with a crash on the Trojan 43.”

            The Trojan defense would complete the shutout and with two scores in the second half, USC won 19-0.

            Things would not get any easier for the Trojans though as the next week the men of Troy would play what the Los Angeles Times said was “as tough a game as they will be called upon to play this year.”

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            The Saint Mary’s Gaels were coming off a successful 1927 campaign under head coach Slip Madagin and the week before had challenged an excellent Cal team in a 7-0 loss.

            Lloyd Thomas started at quarterback in place of Don Williams, but with the absence of injured offensive linemen Jesse Hibbs and Charlie Boren the USC offense was in shambles.

            Thomas’ performance didn’t help matters either. The halfback turned quarterback also handled punting duties three times in the first quarter. He averaged 6 yards per punt.

            Even with the excellent field position, the Gaels were held scoreless by the USC defense and Thomas found an opportunity to redeem himself with a 60-yard scoring drive at the end of the first quarter.         

            In the second quarter Howard Jones turned to benched quarterback “Dynamite Don” Williams to ignite the men of Troy, not as a passer or rusher, but as a punter.

            In 2008 UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel spoke the words that would become infamous among USC fans: “Punting is winning.”

            What Neuheisel didn’t realize when he uttered the phrase was that those words may have applied to a game played by his rivals nearly 90 years before.

            Williams put on a clinic with his quick kicks, surpassing 50 yards several times and keeping Saint Mary’s pinned deep in their own territory for the entirety of the second quarter.

            But the game was not yet over.

            The Gaels’ Fred Stennett scored on a short touchdown run late in the third quarter to tie the game 6-6.

            Soon after, “Dynamite Don” Williams, newly reinstated as the starter, put on another clinic, this time in more traditional football skills.

            He took a sweep to the left and turned it into a 31-yard gain. Then he hit Thomas with an 18-yard pass to the goal line. Finally, to complete the trifecta, Williams caught a pass of his own from Thomas in a crowd of defenders for the go-ahead touchdown.

            Still he wasn’t finished.

            In the fourth quarter Williams led a 50-yard scoring drive, doing most of the rushing himself, to end the game 19-6.

           Writers at the time were in agreement that Williams “was the spark that galvanized the USC football eleven into action…because of his direction and his personal accomplishments without which there’s no telling what might have happened.”

           As for Williams’ kicks, USC assistant coach Leo Calland would go on to say that they “decided the outcome of the game.”

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            The outcome of the Trojans’ next game was mired in controversy and mystery.

            It was a battle of unbeatens as USC traveled to UC Berkley for their one and only road game of the season. Despite that the Trojans were heavy favorites going in. On paper they outmatched the Bears in every way. But one very important aspect favored the home team.

            In the classic 2005 contest between USC and Notre Dame, Irish head coach Charlie Weiss famously instructed his groundskeepers to let the grass at Notre Dame Stadium grow long in an attempt to slow the speedy Trojan skill players.

           The 1928 Bears did Weiss one better. They didn’t bother with grass at all.

            Cal’s football field was barren, just a patch of dirt with a thin layer of sand on top.

            And it was wet.

            Never mind that it had not rained that week in Berkley, as the Los Angeles Herald put it “just how it got wet is one of those intriguing mysteries. One version is that there was a slight precipitation, limited by some strange meteorological freak, to the confines of the memorial stadium.”

            And it was ravaged.

            Though the reason for that particular issue was no mystery. The Cal freshmen and scout teams had played a game on the field just before the Trojans and Bears took the field leaving the surface in dismal condition.

            Leading up to the game, sportswriter Jack James wrote that “California has no ball carrier to compare with ‘Dynamite Don’ Williams. That boy is a whole ball club in himself.” Cal might not have had a player to compare with Williams, but they found an answer for him.

           His quickness and agility, the most important aspects of his play, hindered by the muddy field, the Trojan quarterback was abused by the Cal defense.

           “If ever a ball carrier was marked for slaughter, Don Williams was that unfortunate,” the Los Angeles Herald commented. “He took terrific punishment and battering told on him.”

            With Williams “too busy protecting himself in the clinches to inspire anyone,” it fell to sophomore quarterback Marshall Duffield to rally the troops.

            The year before Duffield starred on the USC freshman team and there was a sense that he had enough talent to one day lead the Trojans to great heights. Harry Culver, a writer for the Los Angeles Herald said that “when you see a blonde, baby-faced but sturdy gridder hurtling off tackle, tossing perfect spirals or booting the ball with an air of nonchalance, that’ll be Duffield.

            Duffield, along with Russ Saunders, led USC to its best scoring chance with four minutes left in the game, making it to the Cal 20 yard line. However, the young quarterback threw a costly interception and the Trojans left Berkley with a frustrating and disappointing 0-0 tie.

            Howard Jones had only one thing to say about the circumstances of the game: “I would not care to make a statement about the situation.”

            The men of Troy carried the hangover through to their next game against Occidental College. In a game they should have won handily, the Trojans struggled mightily in the first half before finally pulling away in the second for an unexpectedly tough 19-0 victory.

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            Although USC was glad to be done with a torturous October, the month of November promised no solace for the men of Troy who were set to meet Glenn “Pop” Warner’s Stanford Indians, a team considered the “strongest all-around material” Warner had fielded in his five years as head coach and the same team that had kept the Trojans out of the Rose Bowl the year before.

            At the same time, USC assistant coach Leo Calland wrote a column in the Los Angeles Herald proclaiming that “results so far this season leave no doubt that the team representing USC is the weakest Coach Howard Jones has assembled since coming to Los Angeles. It will take a supreme will to win.”

            Whether such a statement was Jones and Calland taking a page from former USC coach “Gloomy Gus” Henderson’s book on downplaying the team’s chance of success is open to debate. However, they were not alone in such sentiment. Sportswriter Harry Culver believed that the Trojans were “outclassed in every department of the game on paper.”

            Stanford’s squad had a 10-pound per man weight advantage and Jones had never beaten a Warner coached team in his career.

           “The USC Trojans have but one way left to win – through sheer fight,” Culver wrote.

            Stanford dominated early. But the USC defense, “outclassed” as they may have been, was not lacking in “sheer fight.” Four times in the first half the Cardinal reached the USC 10 yard line. And four times the Trojan defense held them scoreless.

            Then, on the final play of the half, Stanford quarterback Biff Hoffman dropped back to pass as Chuck Smalling raced past the USC secondary. Hoffman launched a bomb to the uncovered Smalling, who was so far ahead of the defense that no Trojan was near him. He caught the ball in stride and, with a stretch of empty field before him, was off to the races.

            In the stands, 80,000 of the Trojan faithful looked on in horror.

            Enter Lloyd Thomas.

            In a scene of glorious déjà vu “Lloyd Thomas fought his way out from a mass of players and took off in pursuit. It looked almost hopeless to those in the stands but Thomas had other ideas,” Los Angeles Times writer Braven Dyer wrote. “Finally, just when it appeared that Lloyd would never catch his foe, the Trojan halfback lurched forward, wrapped his powerful arms about Smalling’s legs and brought him down with a thud on the 10 yard line.”
           For the second time that season Thomas had improbably and singlehandedly prevented a sure touchdown and just as with Oregon State “that was the play that took most of the steam out of the Big Red steam roller, for Stanford was never dangerous after that.”
            In 1989, writing in the College Football Historical Society’s newsletter, Ray Schmidt would call it “the most important play in USC’s history.”

            A dominating defensive performance in the second half and a Russ Saunders touchdown capped the 10-0 upset.

            “A team is only that good once a season,” the Los Angeles Herald wrote. “The Trojans rose above themselves playing inspired, faultless football.”

            Pop Warner put it another way: “USC was the perfect eleven, or as perfect as football teams can be made. In fact it was the most perfect game of football from a Trojan viewpoint that I have ever seen played.”

            Howard Jones would never lose to Warner again.

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            The Trojans may have bested the Cardinal, but they still needed to make it through the remainder of November and they would have to do it without the services of “Dynamite Don” Williams who had fallen ill with a severe bout of influenza.

            Once again Howard Jones would turn to the young Marshall Duffield to replace Williams, but this time the sophomore didn’t fail to reach the end zone. He accounted for four touchdowns in a 78-7 drubbing of Arizona. Then he led USC in a hard fought battle with Washington State.

            After a first quarter Cougar fumble resulted in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Russ Saunders to Lloyd Thomas, Duffield scorched the WSU defense with a 75-yard scoring run and the Trojans entered halftime with a 13-6 lead.

            Ted Rohwer returned the second half kickoff to put the Cougars back in the game, but another Washington State fumble, there were five total, was recovered and returned by Francis Tappaan 37 yards for a Trojan touchdown. A short touchdown pass from Saunders to Tappaan later capped the 27-13 victory.

            The next week USC beat Idaho with a dominating performance from Saunders, who rushed for 148 yards, and the return of a healthy Don Williams, who scored a touchdown.

            The Trojans were 8-0-1 and a win over rival Notre Dame in the final game of the season “would give them a heavy claim to national championship honors.”

            The year before USC lost 7-6 in front of 120,000 at Soldier Field, allegedly the largest crowd to ever watch a football game. It was the Trojans only loss that year and Howard Jones had singled out revenge as one of the goals for the 1928 season.

            As the first quarter ticked down, the Trojans marched down the field 67-yards before Russ Saunders scored a goal line touchdown.

            The second quarter belonged to “Dynamite Don” Williams, whose running and passing led a short drive finished with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Marger Apsit.

            Revenge was well in hand in another two plays when Tony Steponovich grabbed an 18-yard pick six to put USC up by three scores.

            A 5-yard pass from Williams to Lawrence McCaslin late in the game all but ended the 27-14 win. It was the first USC win over Notre Dame in the storied rivalry.

            The Trojans had their revenge and the national championship was in reach.

            But USC never got the chance to face undefeated Georgia Tech in the Rose Bowl to determine a champion on the field.

            Despite the Trojans having greater claim to a bid, on November 26^th the Rose Bowl Committee invited Cal to play the Yellow Jackets because USC had expressed a desire to spurn the bowl, wanting nothing to do with Les Henry, the committee chairman, and many of the policies he was pushing.

            USC’s official position was that they could not play in the bowl that year because all football games had to be scheduled at least one year in advance.

            Henry responded by offering USC an invitation to play in the Rose Bowl…on January 1, 1930.

            USC rejected the offer and fired back that “post-season games of any nature are against general athletic policy.” Of course, in the same breathe they made sure to state opposition to each of Henry’s policies with which they disagreed.

            Georgia Tech went on to beat Cal in a thrilling Rose Bowl game and finished the season undefeated and untied. However, USC was still rated as the national champions according to the Dickinson system because the Trojans played a more competitive schedule.

            On January 4, 1929 the men of Troy and Coach Howard Jones were awarded the Jack F. Rissman national intercollegiate trophy, the first for the school and the coach at USC.

            At the rally on campus, Dr. Dickinson told the crowd “that even had he taken into consideration the victory of Georgia Tech over California on New Year’s Day that the University of Southern California would have still be rated at the top.”

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            Since 1928, USC has amassed 11 national championships, seven Heisman Trophies and 34 College Football Hall of Famers. The ’28 squad may not have been the fastest or strongest of the all-time Trojan teams, but they set the stage for the winning tradition that would follow.

            Head coach Howard Jones would coach USC until his untimely death in 1941 from a heart attack. His legacy would include a 121-36-13 record, four national championships, eight conference championships and five Rose Bowl wins in five appearances. He was a member of the College Football Hall of Fame inaugural class of 1951 and joined the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of its own inaugural class.

            In regards to his 1928 squad, when faced with the knowledge that only two of his players were included in the Associated Press All-Pacific Coast Team (Lloyd Thomas and Nate Barrager), he commented that the entire starting lineup at USC that year could have made up the All-Coast eleven.

            Senior halfback Lloyd Thomas was named to the NEA Second Team All-American squad. In recognition of his contributions to the team he won the Davis-Teschke Award, voted on by the varsity lettermen and given to the most inspirational player on the team.

Upon Thomas’ graduation, Howard Jones commented: “He is my idea of an All-American football player. I am convinced that no team in the country the past three years has had a player of more dependability than Lloyd Thomas.”

            Jesse Hibbs, the outstanding senior captain and offensive tackle who garnered All-American honors in 1927 and was the strength behind the Trojan running game, was once again named an All-American by the New York Sun, NEA and Walter Eckersall. In 1999 he was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

            “Dynamite Don” Williams, the electrifying senior quarterback and emotional spark of the team, received All-American honors from the NANA and Third Team honors from the New York World Telegram.

            Junior center Nate Barrager, a key member of the offensive line, was named to the Second Team of both the Associated Press and New York World Telegram. He would go on to captain the 1929 Rose Bowl winning squad. In 2003 he was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.

            Fullback Russ Saunders, who contributed greatly to the success of the ’28 team, led the 1929 Trojans in rushing yards and scoring as a senior, won the Davis-Teschke Award that year and was named Player of the Game in the 1930 Rose Bowl. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1994 and the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He was immortalized in 1930 as one of the models for the Tommy Trojan statue.

            End Francis Tappaan eventually won All-American honors during his senior season in 1929. He rejoined Howard Jones and the Trojans as an assistant coach from 1931-32. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

            Sophomore quarterback Marshall Duffield would indeed reach great heights at USC as he logged All-Conference honors as a junior and senior and led the 1929 team to the Rose Bowl. He still ranks as one of USC’s all-time leaders in total offense and rushing yards. He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

            Other members on the 1928 team to be inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame include Jess Hill (halfback), Jess Mortensen (halfback), Willis O. Hunter (assistant coach, Athletic Director), and Jeff Cravath (assistant coach).