Victory Bell (USC-UCLA)

Victory Bell (UCLA-USC)
Teams	UCLA Bruins USC Trojans
First meeting	1929
Trophy originated	1942
First meeting	1929 (USC 76–0)
Last meeting	2016 (USC 36–14)
Next meeting	TBA
Series	USC leads, 46–31–7 (2 wins vacated)
Trophy series	USC leads, 40–31–4
Longest streak	UCLA, 8 (1991–1998)
Current holder	USC

The Victory Bell is the trophy that is awarded to the winner of the UCLA–USC football rivalry game. The game continues annually the American college football rivalry between the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans.

The Victory Bell is a 295-pound brass bell that originally rang atop a Southern Pacific railroad locomotive. It is currently mounted on a special wheeled carriage.

The bell was given to the UCLA student body in 1939 as a gift from the school's alumni association. Initially, the UCLA cheerleaders rang the bell after each Bruin point. However, during the opening game of UCLA's 1941 season (at the time, both schools used the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for home games), six members of USC's Trojan Knights (who were also members of the SigEp fraternity) infiltrated the Bruin rooting section, assisted in loading the bell aboard a truck headed back to Westwood, took the key to the truck, and escaped with the bell while UCLA's actual handlers went to find a replacement key. The bell remained hidden from UCLA students for more than a year, first in SigEp’s basement, then in the Hollywood Hills, Santa Ana, and other locations. At one point, it was even concealed beneath a haystack. Bruin students tried to locate the bell, but to no avail. A picture of the bell appeared in a USC periodical. Tension between UCLA and USC students rose as each started to play even more elaborate and disruptive pranks on the other. When the conflict caused the USC president to threaten to cancel the rivalry, a compromise was met: on November 12, 1942, the student body presidents of both schools, in front of Tommy Trojan, signed the agreement that the bell would be the trophy for the game.

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