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Thursday January 11,199\ Vol. CXXVII, No. 1
Welcome Back Trojans!
Headlines
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USC looks for respect after win
After Northwestern received all the media coverage before the Rose Bowl, the USC football team took the glory with a 41-32 over the Wildcats and earned the respect it didn't get.
Sports, page 32
'Scream'ing hits of music video
Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson top the list of the best music videos of last ear, followed closely by adonna and Bjork. Lest we forget 1995's worst videos, with another Jackson clip.
Diversions, page 16
The line between news and views
The distinction made . between news and editorial was recently breached in the Los Angeles Times in its coverage of the Rose Bowl, says editorial writer Christian Cooper.
Viewpoint, page 9
M
F.Y.I.
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Newspaper of the University of Southern California
Troy Witt / Daily Trojan
Senior John Stonehouse covets the Rose Bowl Trophy following a 41-32 win over No. 3 Northwestern. Senior wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson set a Rose Bowl record with 216 yards on 12 catches and a touchdown in USC’s first appearance in the bowl since 1990.
Trojans win 20th Rose Bowl crown
By Christian Ewell
Sl,iff Writer
PASADENA — On the first day of 19%, the USC football team ended its 1995 season with a Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern University, 41-32 in front of a crowd of 100,102 people.
USC needed a 46-yard field goal by Adam Abrams and a 2-yard touchdown run by Delon Washington to cap the 9-2-1 season, which moved the team to a 12th ranking spot in the final Associated Press football poll.
With a 12-catch, 216-yard performance by wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson and 391 yards passing from quarterback Brad Otton, Robinson picked up his fourth career Rose Bowl victory in only the third season of his latest stint at USC, three seasons removed from a 1992 effort that ended with a 24-7 loss to Fresno State in the Freedom Bowl.
USC's quick ascent from what was perceived as ashes was the main theme among those who projected USC to fin-
ish high in the national rankings, including Sports Illustrated, which picked USC to win the national championship.
But that prediction became irrelevant after a midseason 38-10 loss to Notre Dame. Northwestern, predicted to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten football standings, finished the season with only one loss and became the story of college football in 1995.
At the final Rose Bowl press conference on Dec. 30, Robinson sat inconspicuously unoccupied as Coach Gary Barnett fielded the majority of questions from the media.
Slights like the one endured by Robinson were obvious to USC's players, particularly the seniors, who had lost to both Notre Dame and UCLA; the Bruin defeat resulted in sharing the Pac-10 Championship "co" label with Washington.
USC's players were booed as they came on to the field at the Rose Bowl. Over a period of thirty days, the play-
(Sec Win, page 10)
Students die in iyestside apartment
Police say students were found after overdosing on black-tar heroin last Fall
By Christian Cooper
Staff Writer
Two USC students died of a heroin overdose last month in Santa Monica. The bodies of Tony Howard and Pat Sparr were found in their apartment by a friend, said Sgt. Gary Gallinot of the Santa Monica Police Department,
On Dec. 4, the students' friend, Craig Roth, went to their apartment because they had not been heard from since Dec. 2. Roth called the police, who forced entry into the apartment and found the two.
"At first, we thought they were engaged in a fight (because) one was lying over the other," Gallinot said. "(However) they were both dead on the scene."
The two students were apparently using an especially dangerous form of tne drug known as black tar heroin.
A memorial service was held on Dec. 14 in the University Religious Center.
Friends and professors of the two students spoke at the service, according to Jed Hammel, a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity who was a friend of Howard.
"His professors spoke very highly of him at the memorial service," Hammel said.
Howard, who was a fifth-year senior majoring in environmental engineering, was to graduate in December.
Though he was an inactive member of the fraternity, he sometimes came over to the house, Hammel said.
"We were hanging out with him two nights before," Hammel said. "We all went out with him and partied with him. He was honestly the happiest person when he came over. He was a friend to everyone that he knew."
"They were both fun-loving guys," said Jake Ulman, a friend of both Howard and Sparr, who graduated from USC last May. "Tony was probably one of the brightest guys at school. Not book smart, just smart."
Deputy Chief Bob Taylor of the Department of Public Safety said, "Both of the students had pretty good academic records. It was really a tragic event."
"A lot of us will miss him," Hammel said. "It really made us realize what's going on at this school. Heroin's a strange drug, but drugs are on
(See Overdose, page 11)
Alumnus wins coveted piano prize
by Nate Akiva
Staff Writer
When the curtains closed on the Second International Prokofiev Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, alumnus Robert Thies emerged triumphant.
Tnies, who graduated last May with a masters degree from the School of Music, was awarded the $10,000 grand prize and a gold medal in a formal ceremony at the end of the grueling competition, held Dec. 1-14.
He is the first American in almost 40 years to win first place in a Russian international piano competition. Van Cliburn won the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in the 1950s.
"This is the first international
This is the first international competition in which I participated. I had been in smaller local competitions, but nothing of this nature.
-Robert Thies
competition in which 1 participated," the 24-year-old Thies said. "I had been in smaller local competitions, but nothing of this nature."
Thies played 13 pieces in three rounds of competition; the most difficult pieces included a concerto and a sonata by the competition's namesake composer Sergey Prokofiev, "Gaspard de la Nuit" by Maurice Ravel and "Petrouchka" by Igor Stravinsky.
"All of the pieces were extremely difficult to learn, even though 1 had played some of them before," Tnies said.
Professor Daniel Pollack, who was a mentor to Thies, said his former student mentioned the competition, but did not decide to participate in it until the last minute.
"The Russians prepare for the competition for years," Pollack said. "By the time Rob made up his mind to enter, he had six
weeks to prepare. At that point, I urged him to forget about it, but the spark had been lit and there was no turning him around."
Thies had to be invited to play in the competition after completing a difficult application process. Of the 65 applicants worldwide, 26 were asked to participate.
All participants in the event were required to prepare and memorize four hours of music.
"It was an intense two weeks, and, in retrospect, it was a great experience," thies said.
The musicians played in front of a jury of ten world-renowned pianists. Pollack, winner of the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1958, was one of the judges but exempted himself from judging Tines’ performances.
(See Prize, page 3 )