The Sincerest Form of Flattery

O.J. Mayo was playing in a cardinal-and-gold Trojans jersey long before he came to L.A. Occasionally people will confuse the USC with the University of South Carolina, and more rarely with the Troy State Trojans. Coincidence? Of course.

But how about this one ... USC Trojans, meet the USC Trojans.

That would be the Utah Southvalley Community Private School. The school refers to itself as USC. Its sports teams are the Trojans. The school colors are cardinal and gold.

When I first read this article, I was pretty sure the April 1 date explained everything. Turns out, it's an honest-to-goodness high school in Utah. I made a call to Principal Steve Marsing, who confirmed that it opened about a year ago and is breaking ground on a new campus this week.

As a private school, it has an "owner" (at least in practical terms) named Bob Jones. He's modeling the campus on architecture from the movie "Troy." A message left for Jones wasn't immediately returned, but we're guessing that he's a Trojans fan -- of the Southern California variety. According to the Salt Lake Tribune,

If the former college athlete gets his way, his cardinal-and-gold-clad high school athletics teams - they're called the "USC Trojans" - would practice in facilities akin to its namesake, the University of Southern California.

Principal Marsing emphasized that the school hopes to excel with academics (targeting a 15-1 student-teacher ratio), but the newspaper buzz is focused on the school's desire to become an elite sports academy. Since these Trojans haven't been formally accepted into the local athletic association, they played football games this year as far away as Canada.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this, but, heck, there are plenty of high schools named Notre Dame ... it couldn't hurt to have one named USC.

Thanks to Da Wiz for the tip!

Comments

[Bobak]

That is bizarre, thanks for sharing the information on that.

[karen]

Wouldn't be surprised if USC's lawyers are already on this. It defends its colors and name with a wicked vengeance. And somehow I don't think the argument that it is an "homage" would cut any ice if in fact it turns out to be illegal.

[Gamecock]

The University of South Carolina is the USC.