SGV Trojan Club dinner recap

Jackson took the stage and told the crowd about the new priority in his life, the Redondo Seahawks, a junior league football team he coaches where his son (John Jackson, III) is a running back/defensive end. JJ, like many little league parents before him, has created a playbook three inches thick complete with power point presentations. He then told the story about how his dad was a former running back coach at USC for such tailbacks as Ricky Bell, Charles White and Marcus Allen. JJ was thrilled to tell the story about how be beat Ricky Bell in a race when he was eight years old and how he bragged to everyone at school about his accomplishment only to be disappointed later when his dad told him that Ricky had let him win.

JJ went on to become an accomplished wide receiver at Bishop Amat who ended up getting a late scholarship offer from USC. His original number at USC was #41 (it was the only one left, said JJ) although he was later able to get the #1 which he wore on his way to becoming the all-time leading receiver at USC by the time he left school.

A few years ago, while serving in his role as an announcer for Fox, JJ was at a USC practice and had a chance meeting with freshman Patrick Turner, a wide receiver who was wearing #1. JJ approached him and introduced himself, "Hi Patrick, I'm John Jackson, I played receiver here." Turner replied "Hello, nice to meet you." JJ said "You know there's a lot of history with that number, a lot of great receivers have worn that number and it's a lot to live up to. Do you know about the number, do you know which receivers wore it?" and Turner replied "Sure, Mike Williams did."

Mark Trakh was brought to the stage next and he talked about how the women's team has a new "un-official" recruiting coordinator. When Trakh was talking to a prospect from Ohio, the girl said "Oh, I know all about USC, my friend keeps telling me about your school." Trakh asked "Who is your friend?" and the recruit said "O.J. Mayo". When Trakh was recruiting a girl in New York, she said "I know all about you guys, my friend O.J. Mayo tells me about you". By the time Trakh was recruiting a star player in Texas, she told him "I know USC, I have a friend who goes there" and Trakh said "Let me guess, O.J. Mayo?" and she said "Yes, how did you know?"

Trakh talked about all the bad luck the team had last season with injuries. It got to the point where he was walking through the USC rec center and he asked "Can anyone here play basketball?" and the girl behind the desk said "Yeah, I played two years of JV in high school" and Trakh said "Great, you're on the team". Trakh said the girl ended up playing against Stanford and is on scholarship with the team for her senior year.

Trakh said Jackie Gemelos will be the cornerstone of this team. Losing her last year to injury started the slide. He said the women's team has beaten UCLA five straight times, they will play the USA Olympic team this year, and they will also have the highest GPA in team history.

Next up to the stage was Gib Arnold and he talked about how when he first got to USC the team was in last place with four returning starters and there just wasn't much to say. Now, after a sweet sixteen run and a #1 ranked recruiting class, there are expectations.

Arnold talked about how he was pulled over by a police officer and when he went to get his registration it was contained in a "USC basketball" envelope. The officer said "Oh, are you affiliated with USC basketball?" and Arnold thought "This is great, this Trojan Family thing I keep hearing about is going to pay off and I'm going to get out of this ticket" and so he said to the officer "Why, yes, I am. I'm one of the assistant coaches". The officer finished writing the ticket and as he handed it to Arnold he said "I went to UCLA". Arnold took the ticket and responded "Sorry you didn't get admitted to SC".

Arnold told the story of a recent trip to Mexico that didn't quite turn out as planned. The team was supposed to play three games over Labor Day weekend but only ended up playing one. He said "It was phenomenal to see our guys playing their hearts out in front of a couple hundred people". He talked about how with Coach Floyd, "The sky is the limit", and how NBA coaches like Jeff Van Gundy attended recent practices. He called O.J. Mayo "the real deal" who is living up to all the hype.

He said the recent success of the team means that they are now involved with every recruit they call. When USC calls, they listen. Coach Floyd puts no limitations on them and he joked, after the recent commit from 14 year old Dwayne Polee, "we sign every 12 year old at USC". He credited the tough Pac-10 with helping the team feel like they belonged as they made their run in the NCAA tourney last year.

The final speaker of the evening was Sed Ellis. He immediately began talking about his decision to come back last year. He said was considering leaving, "I was taking it under consideration", and he was lying in bed one night when the phone rang. It was Lawrence Jackson. The two had been roommates in their freshman and sophomore years. LJ asked "what are you doing?" and Sed replied "lying in bed, trying to go to sleep" and LJ said "Well, are we coming back?". The next night, same thing, the phone rings and it was LJ "Are we coming back?" and finally on the third night he said "Are we coming back?" and Sed just said "Yeah man, we're coming back".

Ellis talked about his role as a leader. He said Pete Carroll told him the freshmen players would be watching him to see his work ethic. In fall camp, there was a stretch drill Sed didn't want to do so he started heading out a little early for the next drill. Carroll caught his eye and nodded toward the back row, Ellis looked and all the young defensive linemen were looking his way. Sed said he got right back in line and finished the stretch.

He also talked about a situation prior to the opener where the coaches were trying to get the team fired up but it wasn't working for Sed. "Coach Carroll takes each week the same, it doesn't matter who the opponent is. One day Coach Holt comes over to me and says I need to get the guys going so I start yelling, "come on guys, it's Idaho, let's go" and they were looking at me like I was crazy."

Ellis said Kris O'Dowd is a good kid with a strong attitude about work. The first day of fall camp O'Dowd called him out "I want Sed". Ellis says "I lit him up. Afterwards he asked me how I learned to do that. I said it's my fifth year here."

Ellis has high marks of 510 in the bench and can do 41 reps of 225. He is four classes short of graduating.

A memorabilia auction at the SGV Trojan Club dinner raised over $1,800 for the women's basketball team. Thanks to Sean Kennally and the club for putting on such a great event.