University Of Southern California

One of USC's top track athletes, who set state records as a high school sprinter in Long Beach, is in the hospital after being shot three times in the legs a few blocks from the school, police said. Bryshon Nellum, 19, was walking out of a restaurant at Vermont Avenue near West Adams Boulevard with a few other people about 2 a.m. Friday when several men drove by in a car. One of them may have yelled a gang slogan before opening fire, Los Angeles Police Officer Sam Park said Saturday.

Two look-alike oil paintings hang side by side in an alcove of the Fisher Museum at USC: one in an intricate gold frame, the other pinned to the wall like a memo. To the untrained eye both are the work of French painter Charles Émile Jacque, but USC senior Jayme Wilson points out a handful of flaws in the unframed painting. The lighting is off, details such as the animals and house are warped, and there are color variations. It turns out the pinned-up painting is a replica. The sociology and art history student had discovered that at least two museums claimed to own the same painting.

TIME stands still at Oakridge. The stone house on the Northridge hilltop is locked. Through its darkened windows can be glimpsed empty rooms that for nearly a half-century echoed with the laughter of comic actor Jack Oakie and a nonstop flow of Hollywood buddies. Its curving driveway, circling an ancient oak, is cracked. The back lawn, where Oakie and his celebrity friends lazed away summer days by the pool, is overgrown and brown.

To the cognoscenti, Edward H. Fickett was the award-winning architect behind the Port of Los Angeles, La Costa Resort & Spa, Edwards Air Force Base and tens of thousands of airy, affordable tract homes throughout Southern California. To Better Homes & Gardens, he was the "Frank Lloyd Wright of the '50s" -- a visionary who designed mansions for the likes of Joan Crawford and Groucho Marx, and more modest accommodations for regular folks. But to Joycie Fickett, he was Eddie, the handsome, life-of-the-party husband who greeted her each morning with an original love song and breakfast in bed. "We laughed every day of our lives together," she said.

The University of Southern California held its 102nd spring graduation ceremony Friday in USC's Alumni Memorial Park. Degrees: 6,700 students, including 2,750 undergraduates, 2,800 master's degree candidates, 400 doctoral candidates and 650 professional degrees. Speakers: Simon Ramo, co-founder and director of TRW Inc., predicted that the nuclear arms dilemma would be solved by the year 2000.

Would a reasonable person confuse a USC logo on a garnet-and-black ball cap in Columbia, S.C., with the same letters on cardinal-and-gold sportswear worn by a Trojans fan at the Coliseum? Apparently so, a federal appeals court has decided in rejecting a petition from the Palmetto State to use the letters on baseball team clothing for the University of South Carolina Fighting Gamecocks. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld a decision last year by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office review board to recognize the University of Southern California's century-old claim to the logo letters.

What do you give as a 90th birthday present to a man who survived a plane crash into the Pacific Ocean during World War II, only to endure unspeakable horrors as a prisoner of war, who admits he was "an alcoholic, chain-smoker, rotten, lowdown stinker" before he found redemption in his religion and never looked back? Who set a track record for the scholastic mile at Torrance High that lasted 20 years, and a collegiate mile record at USC that stood for 15 years.

In a long-awaited response to allegations that former basketball star O.J. Mayo received improper cash and gifts while in school, USC will penalize its team by forfeiting victories and money, forgoing postseason play and curtailing recruiting. "When we've done something wrong, we have an obligation to do something about it and that is exactly what we are doing here," Athletic Director Mike Garrett said in a statement on Sunday. The action comes as USCalso faces allegations that two prominent football players -- current tailback Joe McKnight and former tailback Reggie Bush -- accepted improper benefits.

Pamela McGee spent two days dressed down in an orange jumpsuit in a jail cell in Sacramento. There was no Nike swoosh on this outfit. It was January 1998, years removed from when Pamela and twin sister Paula helped USC win the 1983 and '84 national championships in women's basketball. Her private block in the civil section was across the hallway from a conglomeration of alleged criminal offenders.

The Santa Monica businessman who owns a sport utility vehicle that USC tailback Joe McKnight has been observed driving says he is a University of Washington fan who has "nothing to do with agents, marketing players or representing athletes." USC is investigating McKnight's use of the vehicle, which may constitute a violation of NCAA rules that prohibit student-athletes from accepting benefits from marketing representatives or agents, or "extra benefits" from anyone based on their athletic ability.

C. L. "Max" Nikias, USC's provost and second-in-command, will become its next president, succeeding Steven B. Sample on Aug. 3 at the helm of the 34,000-student university, school officials announced Thursday. Nikias, a Cypriot-born electrical engineer with expertise in radar and sonar, was long mentioned as the leading candidate to become USC's 11th president, so much so that some trustees reportedly argued against conducting a national search. But the board went ahead, considering 75 other educators before returning to a man well-known and well-liked on campus.

A husband and wife pleaded no contest Thursday in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a USC student and severely injured another as they walked home last year from a fraternity party near campus. The incident generated outrage after witnesses reported seeing a passenger in the couple's car hauling the body of the injured student out of the vehicle's broken windshield and dumping him onto the sidewalk before the car sped off. Authorities alleged that the couple's sedan ran a red light and struck Adrianna Bachan and Marcus Garfinkle in a crosswalk near campus on March 29. Bachan, 18, died from massive head injuries.

Senior day tradition dictates that Mom and Dad will cry, so pack extra tissues. Chin up, chest out, dry eyes only. "I'm not going to cry," USC guard Dwight Lewis said. "It won't hit me until after." That's when Lewis will lose his cool, when the final buzzer sounds after USC's game against Oregon State on Saturday. That's when he'll join parents Rosa and the elder Dwight Lewis. They'll cry, hold each other and smile. It won't be the Lewis most people see, the laid-back player with the Southern drawl that rolls off his tongue like a smooth jazz tune from Bourbon Street.

Help, USC needs somebody . . . Help, not just anybody . . . No, to be specific, only help from California and Arizona State would do now for the Trojans -- that is, if they want to end their tumultuous season with an improbable league title win following Thursday's 54-44 loss to Oregon. Before the loss, USC needed just to win out and have California lose one game to be assured at least a share of the title. But now, the Trojans (16-11 overall, 8-7 in Pacific 10 Conference)

USC can beat the best, but not the worst this season. The Trojans are 7-1 versus the Pacific 10 Conference's top six teams and 1-5 against the current bottom four. USC Coach Kevin O'Neill's quick explanation was "most of those [losses] came on the road." USC's losses to Oregon, Oregon State and Stanford all came on the road, while Washington State beat USC both home and away. "The important thing," O'Neill continued, "is that we've been in every game with a chance to win it."

Coaches sell their idea on how to win all the time. If players believe, they buy. If not, they move on. When USC hired Kevin O'Neill last June as its basketball coach, his pitch was clear: "We're going to be a great defensive team," he said. Not "try to be." Not "strive to be." But "going to be," as if no other option existed. "He demands it," USC guard Mike Gerrity said. "And if you want to play, you're going to buy into the system. If you're not playing defense, you're not going to be on the floor."

USC is the winningest team in Rose Bowl history. Michigan is the winningest team in college football history. When the traditional powers play today in the 93rd Rose Bowl game, it will mark the eighth Rose Bowl meeting between the schools. USC leads the Rose Bowl series, 5-2. Michigan won two regular-season games against the Trojans, in 1957 and 1958. A look at each Rose Bowl game: JAN.

Todd McNair could not wait to finish. Tim Floyd cannot wait to start. So it goes for USC, which is scheduled to complete its three-day hearing before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions on Saturday. McNair, the Trojans' running backs coach, appeared relieved late Friday afternoon after enduring two days of grilling from the 10-member committee during the closed-door proceeding in a hotel ballroom. Floyd, who resigned as USC's basketball coach last June, had hoped to appear Friday.

USC walked into Bank of America Arena as if it owned the joint Thursday, made itself comfortable, then bullied and bloodied the Washington Huskies before stealing a rare road win it nearly gave away. Mike Gerrity hit a clutch jumper with 15.2 seconds left to put USC up 65-61. Following a timeout, two Washington players missed desperation shots, and Dwight Lewis grabbed a key rebound and secured the 67-64 win with two free throws. For USC (16-9 overall, 8-5 in Pacific 10 Conference)