KAER AND 1926 USC PAGE 13. By Ray Schmidt

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1 PAGE 13 KAER AND 1926 USC By Ray Schmidt It s a fairly common storyline in the history of college football An outstanding team of the past takes a small slip on the path to football immortality, and today it might not even rate a footnote in the school s gridiron history books. Such is the fate of the 1926 Trojans of Southern California. Under the direction of the legendary coach, Howard Jones, this was a team that featured speed and power; a devastating offense and a rugged defense. Yet by the mere margin of two points this magnificent gridiron machine has been relegated to the dust of time; forgotten even by the school s historians. By 1926 Southern Cal had come to expect outstanding football teams, as the decade of the Roaring Twenties had brought mostly successful seasons. Jones had taken over the coaching reins in 1925 with an 11-2 record, and it was with great anticipation that he welcomed a squad of 50 players to the first drills at Bovard Field in September of With at least two full elevens of equal strength, the Trojans were loaded and everyone looked for them to seriously challenge for the Pacific Coast title. On a team loaded with outstanding football players, the big guns were expected to be in the backfield in the persons of Morley Drury and Mort Kaer. But there was an unknown speedster in the 26 USC backfield who was ready to stun West Coast football fans. His name was Manuel Laraneta. The Trojans opened their 1926 campaign with a crushing 74-0 romp over little Whittier at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The scoring parade was led by Kaer, who the sportswriters were calling the Red Bluff Terror, with four touchdowns, with quarterback Don Williams tacking on another three. Kaer s tallies included a dazzling 60-yard punt return through the entire Whittier team.

2 PAGE 14 The second week of the season brought a matchup against Santa Clara, directed by ex-notre Dame gridder Adam Walsh, and a tougher test was expected as the Broncos had just been edged out by California 13-6 in their season opener. But it was not to be, as the Trojans unleashed an offensive attack that trampled the Broncos on the ground, and then finished them off with a surprisingly effective passing attack good for 124 yards on nine completions in 12 attempts. The Los Angeles Times sportswriter Braven Dyer wrote that USC fashioned its 42-0 win by crashing up and down the field in one sensational smash after another, executing forward passes which completely bewildered their opponents and exhibiting a stonewall defense. Drury scored a pair of touchdowns, and also led the blocking for Laraneta s dazzling 41 yard TD gallop in the first quarter. Week three brought the first serious challenge for 1926 USC in the form of Washington State, led into Los Angeles by its outstanding quarterback Butch Meeker. The game turned into a bruising struggle, and the Trojans were stopped no less than three times inside the Cougars five yard line in the second quarter alone. A blocked punt had finally given USC a 2-0 lead at halftime, and in the third period the Trojans opened up their aerial attack to garner TD s on passes to Drury and Morris Badgro, for a hardfought 16-7 win. But it had come at a high price as Drury suffered a serious knee injury. On the following Monday at practice Jones gave his squad a thorough tongue lashing, and began conducting harder practices. Next up was a scrappy bunch from Occidental, under coach Albert Exendine, and Jones was so confident that the Trojans were left in the hands of assistant coach Bill Hunter, while Jones traveled up to Berkeley to scout the Cal vs Oregon State game. The well-coached Tigers of Oxy held USC four times inside the ten yard line, but Kaer eventually broke loose for three TD s, including a 46-yard dash, to pace the 28-6 win. Laraneta set-up another score with a sensational 65-yard bolt up the middle. The Trojans then headed north to tangle with arch-rival California, USC not having defeated the Golden Bears since Jones was emphasizing defensive preparations in the week s practices, while Cal coach Nibs Price was referring to USC s nationally ranked #3 scoring attack as the doddering herd. As it turned out, it was Cal that was doddering along the route to a 3-6 record. In the second quarter Kaer sliced through left tackle for a 36-yard run, that set-up his 10-yard gallop to paydirt moments later. Then in the third period, the dazzling quarterback broke loose on a winding 48-yard sprint to the touchdown that made it In the final stanza Laraneta swept around end and set sail on a broken field dash good for 53 yards, to set-up his short TD pass to Don Williams Another scoring pass tossed by Williams rounded off the 27-0 romp for USC, on a day when the Trojans piled up 608 yards of total offense, including completing 12 of 17 aerials for 120 yards.

3 PAGE 15 Next up was the long-anticipated showdown against Stanford, and things got off on the wrong foot for the Trojans with the news that Drury would not be able to play because of his injured knee. Then coach Glenn Pop Warner of Stanford tried to create a controversy with his accusation that the shift plays used by the Trojans were in fact illegal plays. Warner charged that the USC linemen shifting into position could not possibly be set, given the quickness of the snap of the ball. As the Trojans employed a shift on all their plays, Warner contended that a penalty should be called each time. Jones simply refused to comment on the matter. It was a hot day on October 30, 1926 as the two teams took the field at the Los Angeles Coliseum before a crowd of approximately 80,000, which included several thousand who had crashed through a gate to get inside, and proceed to stage one of the greatest games of Pacific Coast history. In the words of Braven Dyer of the Los Angeles Times: The very tenseness of the titanic struggle seemed to permeate the atmosphere from the very moment that the game started. From the start the game was a ferocious struggle, with USC having a bit of an edge as Kaer and Laraneta ripped the Stanford line to shreds, often dragging two or three tacklers for a few extra yards. It finally paid off late in the first quarter as the Trojans staged a 60-yard scoring drive. The big play of the march was a pass from Kaer good for 30 yards to Jess Hibbs, who made a leaping catch and took the ball away from two defenders. Kaer then swept around end for the last few yards to the TD, and when Laraneta missed the PAT, it was 6-0 USC. It was early in the second quarter when Stanford had the ball around midfield. Biff Hoffman slashed into the line, but the ball came flying out and right into the hands of USC s Lloyd Thomas. With Bert Heiser leading the blocking, Thomas bolted up the field for a 50-yard gallop to the touchdown that made it 12-0, since Laraneta again missed the kick for the extra point. HIBBS-L.T.-CAPT. Stanford came fighting back with its own scoring drive behind the running of George Bogue and Hoffman, and Hoffman s touchdown made it 12-6 at halftime. In the third quarter Stanford again began to threaten behind the running of Hoffman, but the first march ended with a missed 38-yard field goal attempt by Bogue. Just minutes later a short punt by Kaer gave Stanford the ball at midfield On the first play Hoffman dropped back and fired a deep pass to Dick Hyland, who made the reception in stride and continued on into the end-zone to finish off the 50-yard scoring play. Bogue then drilled the PAT and Stanford led In the fourth quarter USC got a final shot at winning, when Jeff Cravath recovered a fumble by Hoffman on Stanford s 25 yard line. But instead of using the powerful Trojan running attack against the tiring Stanford line, Williams took to the airways but a pass was intercepted by John McCreery of Stanford and that was the game. At the finish everyone in the massive LA Coliseum was spent from the excitement. Kaer had rushed for 114 yards and Laraneta added 67, while USC piled up a edge in total offense yards with a 14-7 lead in first downs. Paul Lowry of the LA Times wrote that This pulsating battle saw attacks and counter attacks, thrilling forward passes, spectacular runs, desperate line play, throbbing touchdowns and all the other elements that go to make the American game of football the best game in the world. Braven Dyer wrote: No football game in these parts has ever been marked by more intense effort.

4 PAGE 16 In the post-game comments, Warner said that Kaer is as good as any halfback I have seen in a number of years. Jones of USC observed that I don t know where the margin of superiority was, but I only know we lost. A hard battle. On Armistice Day USC was in Portland, where they handed Oregon State a 17-7 defeat in a contest played on an extremely wet and muddy field that stalled the ground game of Kaer and Laraneta. But Kaer did manage to toss a TD pass to Laraneta, and then carried the ball himself for 60 yards on five plays to the clinching TD in the fourth quarter. Over the next two weeks, the Trojans beat Idaho 28-6, as Howard Elliott scored three touchdowns while Kaer sat out with a charley horse injury; followed by a 61-0 stomping of Wild Bill Kelly and Montana. Laraneta and Elliott each scored three touchdowns while Williams added two more. Then on December 4 Knute Rockne brought his Notre Dame eleven out to Los Angeles to begin one of the great inter-sectional series of college football history. Despite a shocking loss to Carnegie Tech while Rockne was away at the Army-Navy game, Notre Dame had been initially established as a heavy favorite, but as game time approached it became an even money bet. Eddie Anderson of Iowa and Howard Jones With over 75,000 fans jammed into every cranny of the LA Coliseum, the two teams fought through a scoreless first quarter. But early in the second stanza Notre Dame got moving and staged a scoring drive of 74 yards to take a 7-0 lead But the Trojans came right back, as Kaer ripped off a 30-yard run, and followed that up with an aerial to Al Behrendt good for 41 yards to the Irish one yard line. Kaer plunged in for the TD, but the PAT attempt was missed this time by Brice Taylor. Then late in the third quarter, after Kaer had been knocked out of the game by a hard tackle, Laraneta paced a 57-yard USC march, with Williams scoring the touchdown. This time the PAT was missed by Drury, who was supposed to be a good kicker. Finally in the waning minutes of the game, Notre Dame came up with a pair of long pass plays to move to the touchdown that gave the visitors a win. Braven Dyer wrote that it was a football battle that has never been excelled for brilliance, thrills and pulsating drama. After the game Rockne observed that Kaer was every bit as good as the reports said he was. He compares highly favorably with Harry Wilson of Army, who is the best running back I have previously seen this season. Later in the Trojans dressing room Rockne told Kaer that: You re a great player, Kaer, and you can play on my team any time. For the 1926 season USC finished with a record of 8-2-0, and a #6 national ranking in the Dickinson Ratings. Kaer led the team in scoring with 12 touchdowns; while Williams tallied seven TD s. From the six play-by-plays located to date, the Trojans have a total offense figure of yards per game (234 rushing and 78.5 passing). A post-season article in the LA Times credited Laraneta and Kaer with yardage figures of 1,140 and 1,113 respectively, although these have not yet been proved. Kaer, of course, was named a First Team All-America halfback on every major team except the United Press.

5 PAGE 17 Jeff Cravath was named Second Team center by INS and the A-A Board. For the success of the 1926 USC Trojans, coach Howard Jones was immediately awarded a three year extension on his contract by the Board of Athletic Control at USC. The first golden age of Southern Cal football was at hand. Paul Lowry wrote in the Los Angeles Times that 1926 USC had everything - speed, power, deception, wonderful forward passing, ball carriers of great brilliance. What the Trojans didn t have in 1926 was a reliable placekicker, and the price they have paid is their rightful place on the roll of college football s greatest teams of the past.