EL SEGUNDO HERALD November 10, 2016 Page 5 Trojans, Bruins Headed in Opposite Directions By Adam Serrao Both the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins headed into this year’s regular season highly regarded. The Bruins, more specifically, were “The Trojans will look to continue doing special things but will truly be tested coming up.” Business credit lines. Cash management services. Commercial RE, construction and equipment loans. Ed Myska Senior Vice President 310.321.3285 emyska@grandpointbank.com 1960 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 1200 El Segundo, CA 90245 grandpointbank.com Five-Star Superior Rating by Bauer Financial even projected to win the Pac-12 South outright. Now that a few games have been played, the rightful standings of the teams are beginning to shake themselves out. The Trojans may have started the year off slowly, but they are quickly putting all of their talent together to help score victories. The Bruins, on the other hand, have taken preseason projections and greatly disappointed, heading in the complete opposite direction of the Trojans. With last week’s victory over the Oregon Ducks, the USC Trojans brought their winning streak to five games in a row, clearly hitting the highest gear that they have been at all season on offense. Over their last five games, the Trojans, behind starting quarterback Sam Darnold, have averaged 40 points per game while completely annihilating opponents in the process. The way that the team looks now is in stark contrast to how they started off the year. USC lost three of its first four games, bringing grim feelings to all those who root for the Cardinal and Gold in Southern California. Darnold had 309 yards passing and two touchdowns against Oregon, leading his team to victory. As good as the quarterback has been playing recently though, he may not even be the MVP on the team. After rushing for a careerhigh 223 yards against Cal two weeks ago, USC running back Ronald Jones broke loose with four rushing touchdowns against Oregon. The mark tied a school single-game record. “I hold my breath every time he touches it because I know there is a chance he can go all the way,” Trojans head coach Clay Helton said. “Between himself and a very effecting offensive line, they are doing some special things right now.” The Trojans will look to continue doing special things but will truly be tested coming up. A matchup against No. 5 in the nation, Washington, looms this week before they finish the year off with rivalry matchups against UCLA and Notre Dame, respectively. UCLA has had the exact opposite season that USC has had. After beginning the year winning two of their first three games and three of their first five, the Bruins have run into a wall. Four straight losses while giving up an average of 30.5 points per game has seen UCLA slip into fifth place in Pac-12 South standings, above only Arizona. A season that began with such high hopes has now taken a turn for the worse as the Bruins will look to finish the season off on a positive note against Oregon State, USC and Cal. The Bruins latest loss was last Thursday night against Colorado. It was an extremely sloppy game mired with penalties and turnovers and at the end of things, there was a UCLA loss. Thirteen penalties for a total of 96 yards and a total of just 210 yards on offense for the night capped off the disappointing loss for the Bruins. To add insult to injury, it was announced before the game that UCLA starting quarterback Josh Rosen would miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury. With their recently slumping record and a four game losing streak, the 3-6 Bruins will have to win out in their final three games of the season to even qualify for a bowl game. While the Trojans certainly still have much to play for, the Bruins may be best served to focus their attention on their Week 11 rivalry matchup with the Trojans. In a season that has been lost and filled with discontent, a win against your biggest rival can certainly do a lot to sooth some pains. Naturally, without Rosen, the task of taking out the Trojans may be even more difficult than originally planned. Dating back to last season, the Trojans still lead in the all-time series between the two teams with a 45-31-7 record. While the Trojans hold the advantage, though, the Bruins have won three of the last four matchups. USC won last year by a final score of 40-21. Two teams that began the season with such high expectations have clearly failed to live up to what everyone thought they would be. While USC began the season on the wrong foot and fell victim to a hard schedule, the Bruins came out of the gates looking good. Recently, things have turned themselves completely upside down. Neither the Trojans nor the Bruins have any hopes of a National Championship, but with all of the momentum that USC has been gaining lately, they may just find themselves in a big bowl game at the end of the year. UCLA, on the other hand, has only one big game remaining on their schedule and that’s against the Trojans next week. While neither team may be taking home a trophy this year, there will still be much intrigue surrounding the coming three weeks. • Honoring a Historic Site and Top Athletes By Gregg McMullin El Segundo is known for many things including Chevron, Douglas Aircraft, Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Wyle Laboratories and the Aerospace Corporation. It has one of the most photographed high schools in the country. On the sports scene, El Segundo can claim bragging rights to numerous World Series championships at the Babe Ruth League level. There have been six former Major League baseball players and one umpire, one NBA and one ABA player, three who played in the NFL and one in the NHL. But did you know there is another group of special athletes from El Segundo that are rarely spoken of? Twenty-four former El Segundo High School alumni were Olympic athletes. The sports they participated in were basketball, swimming, water polo and volleyball. As if that isn’t enough history how about the state of the art swim stadium that 19 of those former El Segundo Olympic athletes called home. It might not be one of Southern California’s best swim stadiums in its current stage but it once was. In November of 1941, it was named one of the most modern swim stadiums on the West Coast according to an article published in the Nov. 13, 1941, edition of the El Segundo Herald. Over the years, this 75-year-old iconic landmark has gone through repairs to just about every internal area of the building and pool. So what better way to celebrate the 75th birthday of an icon of a building than honoring it along with five Olympians. Friday night at 6 p.m. The community will have the opportunity to go back in history and view photos and listen to Olympic athletes and those well connected to the aquatics program and the future of The Plunge and the new pool being constructed at the new Wiseburn school. These five who graced the water of the building, that opened to the name of the El Segundo Plunge, is now named The Urho Saari Swim Stadium. The celebration for this grand old building, that opened on Nov. 13, 1941, was the state of the art swim building for that time. It was designed and built by John Austin and was said to be well ahead of its time. There was two pools constructed, one for adults and a smaller one for children not yet ready for the big pool. The massive pool held over 250,00 gallons of water and was heated by an automatic steam plant. The steam generated supplied to the fan propelled heating units throughout the building to storage tanks for hot showers and heat for heating both pools. It was the first pool built on school grounds in California. It was built with concrete footings while the roof was covered with pressure treated lumber to prevent fungus decay. The eight swim lanes and two diving boards (a one meter and a three meter) along with seating for 450 people met the standards to host National Championship competitions. The celebration of the Urho Saari Swim Stadium will allow attendees to view photos of The Plunge and its history. Also included in the $40 ticket will be hosted hors d’oeuvres and refreshments, a commemorative souvenir and an opportunity to meet five of the Olympians who swam and played water polo in this iconic pool. From the 1952 Olympic water polo team Bill Dornbalser and accompanied by his wife Rosalie, Jim Norris and his wife Lynn, Pete Stange and his wife Louise from the 1964 Olympic water polo team Ned McIlroy along with his wife Mary and Ned’s brother Chick McIlroy and his wife Mary. The list of athletes is impressive and includes four water polo players who were on El Segundo High School’s first ever CIF championship in any sport in water polo in 1947. So lets run down the list of former Olympians from El Segundo and start with those who have passed away first; the number in prentices is their graduating year. George Durkos (1931) and Frank Booth (1929) both attended ESHS and swam in the 1932 Olympics on a relay team. Sam Balter played on the 1936 Olympic basketball team and was said to have been benched against the team from Germany because of his faith. Bob Hughes (1948) was one of the top swimmers and water polo players in California. Hughes helped the Eagles to their first CIF championship in any sport in water polo in 1947. He competed in both 1952 Olympics on the water polo team and in the 1956 Olympics playing on the water polo team and swimming in the breast stroke competition. Harry Bisby (1946) was nicknamed “Bisbutt” and was on the 1952 Olympic water polo team. Bill Lake (1951) won a CIF championship in swimming and may have been one of the youngest players on the 1952 Olympic water polo team. Paul McIlroy (1955) competed with his two brothers on the 1964 Olympic water polo team. McIlroy went on to be one of the top L.A. County lifeguards in the state. Tony Van Dorp made the 1964 Olympic water polo team and went on to a successful career as an L.A. County lifeguard. Roy Saari (1966) was perhaps one of the most recognizable athletes on the 1964 Olympic See Historic Site, page 16
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