USC Trojans History & Traditions

USC has a proud athletic heritage — and with good reason. From national championships to Olympic medals, USC stands tall as one of the most successful athletics programs on the globe. Consider USC's accomplishments through 2024-25:

Trojan teams have won more national championships, 138 (100 men’s — including a national-best 87 NCAA titles — and 38 women’s), than all but two schools.
The Trojans won at least one national team title in 26 consecutive years (1959-60 to 1984-85).
USC won the 2015-16 Women’s Capital One Cup as the nation’s top women’s athletic program, based on its finishes in NCAA championships (and the women were second in 2016-17 and 2020-21).
USC posted its best-ever finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup in 2024-25, finishing No. 2 nationally in the closest cup race in the award’s history.
he Trojan men won the Knoxville Journal/USA Today’s National College All-Sports Championship six times from 1971 to 1984.
USC has won the Crosstown Cup (formerly Gauntlet Trophy), a yearlong all-sports competition between Troy and crosstown rival UCLA, in 14 of the competition’s 23 years.
Trojan men athletes have won more individual NCAA titles (330) than those from any other school in the nation (the Women of Troy have brought home another 96 individual NCAA crowns).
Troy also has a long tradition of nurturing successful Olympic athletes, boasting more Olympians, medalists and gold medalists than any school. From 1904-2024, 547 Trojan athletes have competed in the Games, taking home 160 gold medals (with at least one gold in every summer Olympics from 1912), 100 silver and 82 bronze.
Four Trojans have won the prestigious Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in America: diver Sammy Lee (1953), shot putter Parry O’Brien (1959), swimmer John Naber (1977) and swimmer Janet Evans (1989).
Two Women of Troy athletes have won the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards’ Honda-Broderick Cup as the top collegiate woman athlete of the year: Cheryl Miller (1983-84) and Angela Williams (2001-02). In all, USC women have won 17 Honda Awards, as the top female athlete in their sport, along with one Honda Inspiration Award winner.
Along with the great accomplishments on the playing fields, USC student-athletes have received 53 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. In addition, USC has had 50 first team Academic All-Americans and four athletes who were Rhodes Scholars.