Trojan Candy was elated that two of my grandsons were able to accompany me to the Football Salute to Troy celebration. My daughter Kelly, son-in-law Gen, and grandsons Zane (10) and Kane (6) flew in from northern California, by way of Honolulu on Thursday night in order to attend the event.
We arrived early and were standing in line by 4:00 p.m. While in line, Trojan Candy saw some familiar faces walking by. It was the 2016 NCAA Championship Women of Troy Beach Volleyball Team. I was able to take a picture of three friends. They posed for this beautiful picture. Lorna Brandt, Sophie Bukovec (3/5/2015) holding the trophy, and Emily Young (5/11/2016) smiled for me before they had to rush off and catch up with the rest of the team. I returned to join my family and proudly showed them the picture. While waiting for the gate to open at 6:00 p.m., we saw and talked to a few fellow "autograph seekers." Luckily, the athletic department opened the gates early at 5:30 p.m. After a mad dash to drop off items at our table, the five of us rushed to the autograph tables and a gate where the football players would enter.
The first player out of the gate was friend Max Browne. He took pictures only with the few children who approached him, because he had to go back inside the gate. Thanks, Max for posing with my two happy grandsons.
As we waited in the shade, looking for more players, Trojan Candy saw a very familiar face. I knew that he was a former quarterback at USC. He smiled at me, and I asked, "Are you Emon?" With a big smile, he said, "Yes." Proud of my memory for faces, especially USC faces, I asked Emon Saee what he is doing now. He said that he is working at Boeing. I would have talked more with Emon, but my two grandsons saw a current football player and ran off. Waving good-by to Emon, I ran off to catch up with Zane and Kane.
The next twelve pictures are of players who signed autographs on a football and a poster for each of my two elated grandsons.
Next, Zane and Kane saw a line of players walking to the autograph tables. There were three lines. Kelly, Gen, Zane and Kane waited in the middle line while I stood in the left line. As I was waiting, good friend and the official USC photographer Pierson Clair (9/23/2010) came over to visit. Trojan Candy has known Pierson since 2007 when we were volunteering in Heritage Hall. Pierson was an undergrad then. We could only visit for a short time....Pierson had to get to work.
There were three players in the left line---JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cameron Smith, and Stevie Tu'ikolovatu. My grandkids joined me just as I made it to the front.
Three friends signed in the right line.
After we finished all three lines, Zane and Kane raced out to get more autographs.
Here are eight pictures of more players whom my grandsons met.
At this point, my grandsons got very hungry, so we all walked back to our table. As Trojan Candy walked around to finally get my dinner, I took more pictures.
Before the program began, Trojan Candy took three more pictures.
After eating only a quarter of a cheeseburger, Trojan Candy was up again to take pictures of the program.
That coverage will be posted in my next article.
