House-Swarming Party for Trojans

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- A soft ocean breeze wafted through the grounds of USC’s posh beachfront hotel here Thursday night as the Trojans checked in for an eight-night stay in the lap of luxury.

USC’s Orange Bowl headquarters feature all the amenities typical of a four-star resort, including three opulent swimming pools, soft 10-layer beds, championship golf and tennis facilities, a spa and marble floors and accents throughout.

Those accouterments, however, cannot duplicate the simpler comforts of home.

And if home is where the heart is, then the heart of this season’s Trojan team resides in a creaky but comfortably collegiate 106-year-old house in Los Angeles’ historic West Adams district.

Co-captains Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu are among eight players who live in the two-story house that has been converted into a five-bedroom abode affectionately known to all Trojans by its street address, “Ten-Thirteen.”

1013.

The number is as recognizable to USC players as the No. 3 stitched on the jersey of their Heisman Trophy winning quarterback.

Palmer, a fifth-year senior, and running back Malaefou MacKenzie, a sixth-year senior, were among the five original Trojan tenants who answered an ad in the campus newspaper and moved into the house three years ago. The current lineup also includes Polamalu, flanker Keary Colbert, offensive linemen Lenny Vandermade and Norm Katnik, quarterback Matt Cassel and senior receiver Grant Mattos.

But the house, located about a mile from campus, serves as a hangout and crash-pad for any player who drops by.

“The house seems to be the epicenter of the whole team,” Polamalu said.

Like the house, the Trojans’ 10-2 season was built on a strong foundation. Vandermade calls 1013 “a beehive of leadership,” though no one follows, much less knows, the rules of Parliament.

Camaraderie developed during domino games on the wraparound porch that features a couch, a couple of easy chairs and a two-seat swing. Nightly video-game battles in the living room honed competitive skills. On occasion, players even retired to a front-yard rose garden for contemplative conversation.

“It’s not a big party group, just a good group of guys,” Colbert said. “We’ve got someone living there from almost every unit. So if something is said at home that needs to be brought to the team, it’s easily done.”

The house, built in 1896, is one of 11 Victorian- and Craftsman-style homes in the West Adams area owned by Edward and Ann Dorr. The Dorrs, fourth-generation USC alumni, buy distressed properties, revitalize them and then rent them to USC students.

One address, four example, houses drama students. Engineering students live in another. Then there’s 1013, located right next door to the Dorrs’ landmark Victorian.

“They’re a nice group of kids,” Ann Dorr said of her neighbors. “They had a great big party there a few years ago and about 150 people showed up. But other than that, there’s never been a problem.”

Not outwardly, anyway.

Before this season, residents at 1013 endured trying times on the field and also at home.

“We went through some serious stuff at the house,” Palmer said.

Palmer, MacKenzie and former Trojan fullback Charlie Landrigan, linebacker Zeke Moreno and receiver Matt Nickels were the first football players who lived at 1013.

“I remember one night, I was home alone and I heard this sound coming from the kitchen,” Landrigan recalled. “I got up and poked my head in there and saw a rat.

“We had a few of those. There’s nothing funnier than seeing a bunch of football players refusing to pick up a full rat trap.”

Today, the living room -- or the half of the room that was not turned into Palmer’s bedroom -- features a big-screen TV for sporting events and a smaller set exclusively for video games.

It wasn’t always so cozy.

After the 2000 season, bill paying lagged because Moreno moved out and none of the players was certain about who was responsible for utilities. Or, as Landrigan said, “We kind of got caught up in other things.” The result: residents at 1013 played all of last season without heat or hot water, circumstances that continued through last winter.

The temperatures, combined with hardwood floors and thin window panes, produced chilly conditions.

“It was freezing in there -- I don’t think anyone in the house had lived like that,” said Colbert, who grew up in Oxnard and moved in a year ago, after the Las Vegas Bowl. “We all came from decent homes, decent families.”

Said Palmer, whose family lives in Laguna Niguel: “We always had hot water and we didn’t have rats. It was definitely a change for me.”

As winter turned to spring, Katnik could no longer take the cold air and water temperatures.

“Finally, I said, ‘The heck with it,’ and put it in my name.”

With one signature, the fortunes of the house changed.

“That was the big turnaround for 1013,” Cassel said.

For the Trojans as well.

Warmed in body and spirit, USC put together its best regular season since 1988 and earned its first berth in a bowl championship series game.

Almost two weeks ago, seven residents of 1013 gathered in the living room with more than a dozen teammates and other friends to watch the Heisman Trophy announcement.

On the big-screen TV, they saw Palmer sitting nervously in the front row at the Yale Club in New York.

When Palmer was announced as the winner, the reaction shook the walls and the rafters at 1013.

“We just dog-piled right there in the middle of the room,” Katnik said.

The reaction reverberated across the country. A few hours after winning the award, Palmer was asked where he planned to keep the one of the most famous statuettes in sports.

“Probably 1013,” he said.

The trophy wound up at Palmer’s parents’ house, but Colbert said the legacy of the player who won it would live on at 1013 after he leaves to begin his professional career.

Teammates are already jockeying to replace Palmer, Polamalu, MacKenzie and Mattos when there is a vacancy.

“We’ve helped restore some of the tradition to the USC program this season,” Colbert said. “I guess we have to keep it going at 1013.”

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*--* ROSE BOWL Washington State (10-2) vs. Oklahoma (11-2) at Pasadena Wednesday, 2 p.m., Channel 7

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*--* SUGAR BOWL Georgia (12-1) vs. Florida State (9-4) at New Orleans Wednesday, 5:30 p.m., Channel 7

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*--* FIESTA BOWL Miami (12-0) vs. Ohio State (13-0) at Tempe, Ariz. Jan. 3, 5 p.m., Channel 7

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