Morris: USC success is a long time coming

LOST IN THE shuffle of a big win against Arkansas and a humiliating loss to Florida was a major milestone for the South Carolina football program. The Gamecocks have clinched a fifth consecutive non-losing season.

That might not sound like much to most college football fans, but it has not happened at USC since the team posted seven consecutive winning seasons from 1928 through 1934. Just how long ago was that? Consider:

• There were no national college football rankings, which began with The Associated Press poll in 1936.

• The stock market crashed in 1929, leading to the Great Depression.

• USC finished the 1928 season with a 6-2-2 record, including 2-2-1 in the Southern Conference. That was good for a five-way tie for ninth place in the 22-team league.

• Eight players died as the result of injuries sustained during college football games in 1931.

• Despite its wild success from 1928-32 (combined record of 28-19-5), USC never finished higher than eighth in the SoCon.

• Babe Ruth was in the twilight of his baseball career, one that would end in 1935 with 714 home runs.

• When the SoCon was trimmed to 10 teams in 1933, USC finished second to Duke but only because the Gamecocks played one fewer conference game. Duke was 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the league. USC was 6-3-1 and 3-0.

• Beer was sold in bottles only. No cans until 1935.

• From 1928 to 1932, the Rose Bowl was the only postseason game. The Dixie Classic played its only game in 1933, then the Sugar and Orange Bowl were formed in 1934.

• No television.

• Detroit (9-0) was the Utah of college football, one of three teams nationally to go unbeaten and untied during the 1928 season. The others were Georgia Tech (10-0 after a Rose Bowl win against California) and Boston College.

• Gas prices never moved from 10 cents per gallon from 1928 through 1934.

• Army was a national football power.

• The movie “Horse Feathers,” loosely based on a big football game, was released in 1932 with Groucho Marx as the star.

• Howard Harpster of Carnegie Mellon was a consensus All-American in 1928, as were Ben Tickner of Harvard in 1930 and Paul Geisler of Centenery in 1933.

• Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed in 1934.

• There was no Heisman Trophy, which was first awarded to the national player of the year following the 1935 season.

• The chocolate chip cookie debuted in 1933.

• No facemasks for football players ... and lots of broken noses.

• The parking meter was invented in 1932 in Oklahoma.

• Chicago was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

• The Colorado School of Mines was a member of the Rocky Mountain Conference.

• Mickey Mouse appeared for the first time in “Steamboat Willie,” an animated 1928 film produced by Walt Disney.

• Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne was killed March 31, 1931, in an airplane crash in Kansas while en route to Los Angeles to consult on a film.

• The 102-story Empire State building opened in New York City in 1931.

• Substitutions were not allowed in college football, except for injury.

• 7-up was invented in 1929.

• Nebraska’s nickname was “Bugeaters.”

• Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932.

• Billy Laval established himself as the greatest coach in USC football history. From 1928-34, all seven of his teams posted winning records.

• Phone booths appeared for the first time in London in 1929.

• Earl Clary was USC’s star running back from 1931-33 and carried with him one of the great nicknames in program history: “The Great Galloping Ghost from Gaffney.”

• The drive-in movie theater debuted in 1933.

• No one believed it would be seven decades between glory days for USC.

Listen to Morris Tuesdays from 4-5 p.m. on ESPN Radio 93.1 FM.