Highlights of our time at USC 1970 - 1974
Fall Semester - 1970
12 SEP 70: First USC Football game. USC beats Alabama 42-21.
SEP 70: ~50 members of the Class of 1974 sworn in as MIDN 4/C USNR
15 SEP 70: First registration mob event. Rush for computer class cards.
21 SEP 70: Fall semester classes begin.
SEP 70: Women’s auxiliary (The Anchors) started. 100 midshipmen in Battalion.
4 OCT 70: Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose in a Hollywood hotel, at the age of 27.
7 OCT 70: Students storm Commons to argue campus politics with Justin Dart, chairman, Board of Trustees.
27 OCT 70: Alcohol allowed in dorms.
31 OCT 70: Homecoming. USC loses to Cal 13-10.
3 NOV 70: Ronald Reagan re-elected Governor of California, defeating Jesse Unruh.
18 NOV 70: USC beats #2 ranked, undefeated Notre Dame 38-28 in the rain. Finishes season at 6-4-1.
30 JAN 70: Finals end.
Spring Semester - 1971
6 FEB 71: #1 ranked USC basketball team loses to UCLA 64-60 and finishes the season with a 24-2 record. Both losses were to UCLA.
8 FEB 71: Spring semester classes begin.
9 FEB 71: @0600 a 6.6 earthquake centered on Newhall, CA hits campus. Major damage throughout the San Fernando Valley resulting in 65 deaths and more than 2,000 people injured. Later that day, Apollo 14 mission returns from the moon.
30 MAR 71: Rock opera “Tommy” has world premier run in Bovard Auditorium as a theatrical production with permission from Peter Townshend.
24 APR 71: The largest ever demonstration opposing a US war took place when 500,000 people marched in Washington D.C. On the same day, 150,000 people demonstrated in San Francisco. The event was set up by Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
MAY 71: Drill Team beats UCLA for fifth straight year, retains Marion Davies trophy. Year includes first at Torrance Armed Forces Parade, first and second at Anaheim Drill Meet and third at Tempe plus a trip to march in a Mardi Gras parade.
13 JUN 71: Z-Gram #87 announces elimination of Service Dress Khaki uniform for Officers and CPOs. New service dress uniform for enlisted similar to officer SDB uniform replacing undress blues and undress whites (cracker jack style).
JUL/AUG 71: MIDN 3/C cruise on DD’s leaving from San Diego to San Francisco, Portland/Seattle, Victoria, Canada and back to San Diego.
Fall Semester - 1971
10 SEP 71: first football game of the fall. USC loses to Alabama 17-10.
11 SEP 71: Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev dies at the age of 77 from a heart attack. Succeeded by Leonid Brezhnev.
21 SEP 71: Draft extended to June 1973
8 NOV 71: Led Zeppelin IV, the 4th studio album by Led Zeppelin, is released. The album goes on to sell 23 million copies in the US.
11 NOV 71: Marine Corps Birthday celebration (196th) in the PE Atrium.
19 NOV 71: USC beats UCLA NROTC in annual Blood Bowl flag football game.
20 NOV 71: USC-UCLA game ends in 7-7 tie. Season record is 6-4-1
24 NOV 71: “Dan Cooper” hijacks a Boeing 707 aircraft between Portland and Seattle. He extorts $200,000 ransom before parachuting out of the plane, disappearing for good.
9 DEC 71: Fall Battalion inspection by BNCDR Steve Case in Service Dress Blues. CO’s inspection was conducted the following Thursday.
Spring Semester - 1972
4 JAN 72: first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced for $395 ($2,972 in 2024 dollars). 100,000 units were sold the first year.
7 JAN 72: Winter Formal at the Allen Center (O Club @ NavSta Long Beach?).
16 APR 72: Apollo 16 is launched and conducts 5th moon landing/exploration.
20 APR 72: Alpha wins annual Company Drill Competition under leadership of MIDN 1/C Mike Hedin.
6 MAY 72: Annual Ring Dance. Five MIDN announced their engagements.
11 MAY 72: Battalion Dress Parade at Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center (Chavez Ravine) with RADM C. J. Seiberlich as reviewing officer.
MAY 72: Drill Team w/MIDN 2/C Lupton as CO, completes best season in unit history by beating UCLA for Marion Davies trophy as well as previously winning the Sweepstakes Award for best overall performance at Air Force Anaheim drill meet and placing 2nd overall in The Governor’s Drill Meet in Tempe.
26 MAY 72: USA and USSR sign SALT I and ABM Treaties in Moscow.
17 JUN 72: Watergate scandal begins with the arrest of 5 men who were accused of burglarizing the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Complex in DC.
JUL/AUG 72: MIDN 2/C summer cruise to Corpus Christi for free plane rides and on to Coronado Amphib Base for hikes and boat rides.
Fall Semester - 1972
5 SEP 72: Munich massacre. 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich are killed by Arab terrorists.
11-15 SEP 72: MIDN 4/C indoctrination week for the class of 1977.
19 SEP 72: Fall semester begins.
12 OCT 72: Battalion athletic competition won by Charlie Company.
28 OCT 72: Annual Casino Party
14 NOV 72: Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 for the first time.
24-25 NOV 72: Numerous MIDN work as extras on TV pilot of “Catch 22.” Excellent payday follows.
11 DEC 72: Apollo 17 lands on the Moon as part of the last US manned flight to conduct operations on the Moon.
14 DEC 72: CO’s Battalion inspection. No winners as Alpha and Bravo Companies tie. Sorry Charlie!
17 DEC 72: NROTC flag football team wins USC intermural championship.
Spring Semester - 1973
1 JAN 73: USC finishes unbeaten football season 12-0 by demolishing The Ohio State University in the Rose Bowl.
4 JAN 73: Spring semester classes begin.
6 JAN 73: Annual Winter Formal
11 JAN 73: MYSGT Nelson Callen, USMC retires after 20 years of service.
27 JAN 73: Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. U.S. military draft is abolished. MIDN 1/C and 2/C wish they were born in 1954.
30 JAN 73: Rock band Kiss plays their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens, NY
27 FEB 73: The American Indian Movement occupies the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, SD. The protest will last 71 days.
17 MAR 73: Drill Team takes second place overall at Air Force Drill Meet in Anaheim.
3 APR 73: The first handheld cellular phone call is made in New York City using a handset that weighed 2kg (4.4 lbs). The first commercial mobile phone would go on sale ten years later.
28 APR 73: 0646: Point Mugu earthquake (5.8)
3 MAY 73: Charlie Company wins drill competition.
4 MAY 73: Annual Ring Dance.
15 MAY 73: Drill Team, led by MIDN 1/C Fisher, beats UCLA for 4th year in a row.
17 MAY 73: Dress parade on Cromwell Field. Charlie Comany (Max Bumgartner CO) wins Color Company award.
5 JUN 73: Finals end.
7 JUN 73: Class of 1973 commissions 18 Ensigns and 2 2nd Lt.
JUL/AUG 73: First Class Summer Cruise. SWOs to WestPac, Nukes submerge, Airdales to O Clubs, Marines to Quantico. Supply Corps stays home to inventory office supplies.
Fall Semester - 1973
29 SEP 73: #1 USC vs. #2 Oklahoma with 84,000 fans in the Coliseum results in a 7-7 tie. USC loses #1 ranking.
10 OCT 73: Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President of the United States after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion.
17 OCT 73: Arab oil producers cut production by 5% and instituted an oil embargo against Israel’s allies following the Yom Kippur War won by Israel. Oil prices shoot up to more than $11 per barrel. The resulting shortage of gas, caused the price to approach $1/gal. in California and there were long lines of cars at gas stations.
20 OCT 73: Saturday Night Massacre. President Richard Nixon fires Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Multiple DOJ officials resign.
27 OCT 73: USC loses to ND in South Bend 23-24, ending their 21 game unbeaten streak.
NOV 73: Disco era begins with the release of “Love’s Theme” by Love Unlimited and “Rock the Boat” by The Hues Corporation. Both songs would reach #1 in 1974.
20 NOV 73: The animated Thanksgiving special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premieres on CBS.
24 NOV 73: USC (8-1-1)beats UCLA (9-1) 23-13, wins the Pac 8 title and a Rose Bowl berth.
6 DEC 73: Gerald Ford sworn in as VP of the United States.
26 DEC 73: The Exorcist is released to a limited number of theaters.
Spring Semester - 1974
1 JAN 74: USC loses Rose Bowl game 42-21 to Ohio State.
7 FEB 74: Blazing Saddles directed by Mel Brooks and starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder is released in theaters.
29 MAR 74: Chinese farmers discover the Terracotta Army near Xi’an. 8,000 clay warrior statues buried to guard the tomb of China’s 1st emperor, Qin Shi Huang
6 APR 74: Swedish pop group ABBA’s song “Waterloo” wins the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, UK.
8 APR 74: Hank Aaron hits 715th HR, off of L.A. Dodger Al Downing, breaking Babe Ruth’s record in Atlanta.
6 JUN 74: 34 members of the Class of 1974 are commissioned as Ensign, USN or 2nd Lt, USMC after graduating from USC earlier in the day.
JUN-SEP 74: 7 new ensigns slated for flight school in Pensacola spend the summer TAD at USC and were assigned to rehab the Wardroom by installing wall to wall walnut paneling among other upgrades.
14 SEP 74: USC begins another season of NCAA football with a loss to Arkansas. Finished 10-1-1 with a Rose Bowl victory over Ohio State. Ranked #1 in FWAA, NFF, UPI polls. #2 in AP poll to Oklahoma.
