One year ago: Harry Hurt

Harry Hurt was an expert on motorcycle crashes.

Hurt, a professor of safety science at USC during the 1970s, was the chief investigator for the Hurt Report, a groundbreaking study that, among other things, found that speed was not a factor in most crashes.

"I don't think [Hurt's] contributions to motorcycle safety can be overstated," said Art Friedman, former editor of Motorcyclist magazine, who in 1990 wrote a column naming Hurt as motorcyclist of the decade.

Hurt rode motorcycles for years and never had a crash, said his wife, Joan.

Hurt died a year ago at age 81. His obituary appeared in The Times on Dec. 2, 2009.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Harry Hurt in 1978. Credit: Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times

 

One year ago: Ray Watt

Los Angeles might look a lot different today had it not been for the work of Ray Watt, pioneer and innovator in the development industry who did much to define the look of modern L.A. He died one year ago.

During his six decade career, Watt built more than 100,000 single-family homes, mostly in the San Fernando Valley, the South Bay and the Westside. He also developed other types of property, including industrial centers.

Among his best-known projects were Watt Plaza, a two-tower office complex in Century City, and Fairbanks Ranch, a luxury housing development in Rancho Santa Fe.

Watt was named Builder of the Year from the Building Industry Assn. of California in 1968. He also became a trustee of USC in 1967 and contributed to the school for years. Watt Hall of Architecture and Fine Arts is named after him.

Watt began his career by taking advantage of the housing shortage after World War II as GIs were coming home. Along with his brother, Don, he built a mobile home park in 1946, working with a small crew and a battered pickup truck.

He continued his work into the 1990s, though he took time out during President Nixon's first term to serve as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

For more, read Ray Watt's obituary by The Times.

--Michael Farr

Photo: Ray Watt

Credit: Los Angeles Times

Dr. John Peters, USC professor who led health study of Southern California children, dies at 75

Dr. John M. Peters, longtime professor at USC's Keck School of Medicine and the principal investigator of a study that examined the health of Southern California children, died Thursday at his home in San Marino of pancreatic cancer, the university announced. He was 75.

Peters was Hastings professor and director of the Division of Environmental Health in the school's Department of Preventive Medicine.

He was born April 24, 1935, in Brigham City, Utah, and received his bachelor's in biology in 1957 and his medical degree in 1960 from the University of Utah. After a surgical residency at Johns Hopkins University and two years in the Army, he earned master of public health and doctor of science degrees from Harvard. He taught at Harvard until 1980, when he came to USC.

Since 1992, the Children's Health Study followed 11,000 children in Southern California, taking a critical look at the ongoing risks of air pollution.

Peters established national research centers at USC on environmental health sciences and children's environmental health. He published more than 150 research papers during his career.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Dr. John M. Peters

Mosi Tatupu's role in USC's victory over Notre Dame in 1974

Many USC football fans remember tailback Anthony Davis' impressive performance against Notre Dame in the Trojans' 55-24 comeback victory over the Irish at the Coliseum on Nov. 30, 1974. 

On Wednesday, after hearing the news that former USC teammate Mosi Tatupu had died at age 54, Davis had only warm memories and kind words for his backfield mate.

"He gave me the key block, one that really sprung me on the 102-yard kick return," Davis told Times sportswriter Gary Klein. 

As Klein wrote in a 2004 story looking back at the game and Davis' role in it, starting with the second-half kickoff that ignited the Coliseum crowd:

"I went to my kickoff-return guys and said, 'Look, I think they're going to kick to me. If I can get one block, we're going to get good field position or I'm going to bring it all the way back,' " Davis said.

Davis fielded the kick two yards deep in the end zone, got a block from Tatupu and others in the wedge, broke toward the left and was on his way to the end zone.

"You could hear the fans go berserk," Tatupu said. "I don't think anyone sat down after that. Nobody wanted to miss anything."

Read the rest of the story after the jump.

-- Claire Noland

Mosi Tatupu: Coke machine, refrigerator, beast

Mosi Tatupu, a former USC fullback who became celebrated for his special-teams play in 13 NFL seasons with the New England Patriots, died Tuesday. He was 54.

The Patriots said Tatupu, a native of American Samoa who grew up in Hawaii, died at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Mass., The cause was not announced.

Tatupu played four years at USC beginning in 1974, when USC won a share of the national championship. An eighth-round draft pick of the Patriots in 1978, Tatupu was a mainstay of New England’s special teams lineups and appeared in Super Bowl XX in 1986, which the Chicago Bears won in a 46-10 rout.

With his stocky 6-foot, 225-pound frame and determined attitude, Tatupu played an important role as a blocking fullback in USC’s I-formation offenses of the 1970s, clearing the way for star tailbacks Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell and Charles White.

"He’s the finest blocking back at USC since Sam Cunningham," John Robinson said while he was coach at USC. "He’s built low to the ground, and he just runs right at you, hits you and knocks you on your wallet.

"He’s also an outstanding runner — about as easy to tackle as a Coke machine."

Reminded of Robinson’s quote on Wednesday, Davis called Tatupu "a refrigerator."

"He didn’t say much," Davis told Times reporter Gary Klein, "but, oh my, he was a beast on the field."

Robinson, who also coached Tatupu in the fullback's final NFL season, had more to say about Tatupu on Wednesday in an interview with Klein.

Rams receiver Leon Clarke and the house afire

The news that Leon Clarke, a leading offensive end for the USC Trojans and the Los Angeles Rams in the 1950s, died Oct. 5 at age 76 brought back memories of the days when the NFL still played here in L.A. on Sundays -- and not just on television.

The Rams drafted Clarke in the second round of the 1956 NFL draft then after four seasons traded him to the Cleveland Browns. But the Clarke family stayed in South Pasadena (yes, instead of moving to Cleveland). Which leads us to the burning bungalow that Clarke helplessly watched from the Browns' bus as it drove to the Coliseum for a 1962 game against his former team.

Click here to read the original Times article.

-- Claire Noland