Dual loyalties empower arch rivals

Friday, November 21, 1997

Dual loyalties empower arch rivals

Students are often affiliated with USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins

By Vytas Mazeika

Daily Bruin Staff

Most people know that Bruins hate Trojans and vice-versa. The
funny thing, though, is that most Bruins could easily have been
Trojans and the other way around.

With both teams residing in the same city, almost every single
player on both teams were recruited by each institution. The fact
that everyone involved in the rivalry knows each other from before
college just adds fuel to this already intense rivalry.

"This is an inter-city rivalry, it’s a good natured rivalry,"
UCLA head coach Bob Toledo said. "You want to beat the other guy
because you know you have to live in the same city for 365 days of
the year. It’s a great rivalry, but the thing that makes it unique
is that Trojans and Bruins work together. Trojans and Bruin players
have played together, and some have even lived together."

The two players that lived together were ex-USC flanker Keyshawn
Johnson (now of the New York Jets) and the ex-UCLA tailback
formerly known as Sharmon Shah (now Karim Abdul-Jabbar of the Miami
Dolphins). So roots exist within families that could tear apart
loving relationships.

Danny Farmer, a sophomore split-end for UCLA, has family and
friends that attend USC. Luckily for him, he is still on speaking
terms with them.

"It’s a great feeling to know that all my family is in the
stands," Farmer said. "(Whether from) ‘SC or UCLA, whatever, they
are all rooting for me no matter what."

Farmer, on the other hand, doesn’t feel the same way as his
friends and relatives do. He has memories of baby blue and crimson
red in his childhood, but he always wanted to come to UCLA. So he
tends to side with his teammates.

"I feel the same way (my teammates) do," Farmer said. "Even
though I have family members that went there, I still feel as much
the same as they do … But it’s not really hatred. It’s an
intensity to beat them."

Senior flanker Jim McElroy was recruited heavily by USC head
coach John Robinson and the Trojans. During these "friendly"
conversations, McElroy admits that the Trojans were very
persuasive.

"They were really hard on me on recruiting," McElroy said. "They
talked bad about UCLA. Like, ‘You don’t want to go there and be at
that sissy school. That sissy college.’"

But McElroy still chose to become a Bruin.

"I think I ended up here because of family," McElroy said. "My
father wanted me to go to ‘SC, but my mother wanted me to go here.
For some strange reason she just loved (UCLA) … I didn’t want to
go to ‘SC because I didn’t feel the atmosphere of the team overall
as a family wasn’t there."

USC players probably would say the exact same thing about UCLA.
They would say USC is the better school and the team feels like a
family to them. That is called team pride and unity — as well as
hatred of your rival.

Bruin senior linebacker Brian Willmer remembers how former USC
head coach Larry Smith walked into his home and a week later
Robinson was calling to make sure USC was still on his list of
possible colleges.

But Willmer chose UCLA. It may have been destiny. Just recently,
Willmer, who was born and raised in Chicago until high school,
found a picture of him around age six and he was wearing a UCLA
sweatshirt.

Now, after experiencing the rivalry for four years, Willmer
hopes that in his fifth and final year he can be the graduating
class to extend the Bruin winning streak to seven.

"I don’t want to be the class that losses to ‘SC," Willmer said.
"There have been some great players before me that started the
streak and just want to help continue it on and see this streak go
on for a long time. In no way do I want the streak to end because
of my class."

Toledo himself has an USC connection. He was an assistant at USC
for three year under John Robinson’s first tenure at the
institution.

If there is one thing that Toledo prides himself in is his
winning percentage in this storied rivalry: 100%.

"I’ve never been on the losing side of this game," Toledo said.
"I don’t want to start now."

No Bruin does. Especially those with Trojan connections.