Former USC All-American split end Hal Bedsole will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the 2012 class. Bedsole helped lead USC to the 1962 national championship and was the top receiving target on two of John McKay's teams. 

Former Trojan assistant coach R.C. Slocum, who made his name as the head coach at Texas A&M, will join Bedsole in the 17-member 2012 Football Bowl Subdivision class as the 38th and 39th Hall of Famers with ties to Troy.

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At 6'5" 221 lbs., Bedsole had the size to dominate the red zone with 20 career touchdown catches, including two in the 1963 Rose Bowl, but he also possessed the speed to make big plays (owns the USC career record for highest average per catch at 20.94).

If Bedsole's stature reminds you of Mike Williams, his brash personality was reminiscent of Keyshawn Johnson.  He earned the nickname "Prince Hal" for his outspoken ways, but backed up his words on the field as the first USC player to record 200+ receiving yards in a game.

He played three NFL seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, the franchise that drafted him in the second round, before retiring.  He was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame in 2001.

Former USC All-American wide receiver Erik Affholter, who was reported missing after not returning from a hike Sunday night, has made contact with his family.

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The search has been called off by authorities. 

(Photo via LA Times)

USC women's water polo is young.  The Women of Troy placed five athletes on the conference honor roll and all of them will return next year.

Now, the Trojans know what it takes to bring home the big trophy.  After a regular season of coming up just short against UCLA and Stanford, USC trumped the Bruins in the national semifinals before falling to the Cardinal in a hard fought NCAA Championship match.

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Glory missed the Trojans by a matter of inches.  "We were ready to play this game just a few things didn't go our way and that was the difference," said Kaleigh Gilchrist about playing emotional contests on back-to-back days. 

USC women's water polo will have a year to think up how to close that narrow gap between itself and its Cardinal rival.  Jovan Vavic, who has won 10 national titles at USC including three with the women, is just the coach to finish the job. 


(Photo by Dan Avila)

Several Trojans starred at the Pac-12 Track and Field Championship this past weekend in Oregon, but the injury-riddled rosters kept USC from making any statements as a team.

"I'm disappointed," said USC Director of Track and Field Ron Allice.  "I don't want to make any excuses with the injuries, but we didn't use all of our weapons that we have on scholarship."

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The Women of Troy placed fourth in the conference led, as they have been all season, by their throwers.  Most notably, Marissa Minderler won the hammer competition and scored in the shotput (photo below by Pac-12) and javelin.

The men's team, which finished seventh, missed sprinters Joey Hughes and Josh Mance, but senior Bryshon Nellum put an exclamation point on his comeback story with a win in the 400m four years after being shot three times in the legs. (Photo of Nellum by Pac-12)

No. 3 USC women's golf sealed a berth into the NCAA Championship with ease this past weekend topping the competition at Regionals in Columbus, Ohio.

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As a team, the Women of Troy led wire-to-wire with senior Lisa McCloskey finishing in a first place tie individually.  Sophomore Sophia Popov and freshman Doris Chen also posted top 10s.

The Trojans are headed to the NCAA Championship final for the 15th consecutive time under head coach Andrea Gaston.  Tournament play begins May 22 in Nashville, TN, with Vanderbilt serving as the host.

Pierson Clair served as a roving photographer on graduation Friday documenting student-athletes from several different fields completing their undergraduate studies.

The student-athletes and athletic department staffers are captioned at the bottom of the photos.

We have four great events in three days from last week to feature in photos on the blog today.  First, the Marks Luncheon and Student-Athlete Graduation were last Thursday.

The Marks Luncheon recognizes student-athletes with exceptional GPAs, while the senior speakers at the Student-Athlete Graduation were Greg Woodburn (track and field) and Geena Urango (volleyball) plus Legend of Troy recipient Barbara Hedges.

A pair of galleries from Pierson Clair...

USC football graduates Matt Barkley, Khaled Holmes and Devon Kennard are finishing up a whirlwind 24 hours.  The trio donned their cap and gowns to celebrate scholarly achievements Friday before jumping on a midnight plane bound for Haiti connecting through Florida.

The Trojan troop including 16 football players will arrive in the earthquake ravaged country today and get straight to work.  If the Haitian internet allows it, we will do our best to document the journey as it happens.

In the meantime, here's a great shot of Barkley and Holmes taking care of some "unfinished business."

(Photo by Pierson Clair)

Congratulations to all the USC graduates!

The athletic department is proud to announce that by the end of the next fall semester, 107 of the 108 senior student-athletes are expected to have completed their undergraduate degrees.  As of right now, 80% of the 2012 class have officially graduated.

The graduation rate, which was high last year with only five student-athletes still finishing up coursework, has only improved.

To the class of 2012...Fight On!

(Photo by Pierson Clair)

The USC Hall of Fame black tie gala is tomorrow night.  And now a look at the final member of the class of 2012...

USC men's basketball has made just two Final Fours in its history.  The most recent national semifinal run came in 1954 under the guidance of Forrest Twogood.

"Twogie," as he was known around Troy, sits only behind his mentor Sam Barry on the Trojan men's hoops all-time wins list with a 251-179 career record.  He captured three conference crowns and recorded 13 winning seasons during his 16-year tenure as the head coach.

Like Barry, Twogood was a Midwest guy who fell in love with USC.  He was a three-sport athlete at Iowa before coaching both basketball and baseball as an assistant at Troy.

After retiring from the sidelines, Twogood served as an assistant athletic director at USC.  The World War II veteran of the Navy passed away in 1972 at the age of 64.