RIP Paul. Fight On Forever to an all time great Trojan.

Thank you, Mr. Paul Westphal, for well-representing USC basketball program as a player, coach and Hall-of-Famer.
RIP

A noble Trojan Paul Westphal. I too didn't get much pleasure of watching him play at USC cause I was serving in Nam at that time. I hope the school find a way to honor Paul in some way although it is difficult due to the pandemic.

My high school buddy is an in-law of Paul. My buddy's son played for Paul at Pepperdine. The son had the nerve to date Paul's daughter and later married the daughter.

Paul Westphal is the reason I am a Trojan basketball fan. I was a sophomore in HS during that amazing 70-71 season. I was a huge USC football fan at the time, but knew nothing about Trojan basketball other than USC was the only team to beat ucla a pauley. My best friend was a total fair weather fan, loving usc football but also ucla basketball. He was bragging behind me in the lunch line that the bruins were going to win the ncaa title again that year and I said to him, not having a clue what I was talking about, that the Trojans would beat them. So naturally, I started watching the Trojans play. In those days, ucla and use games, both football and basketball, were shown on local TV on tape delay. So at night, I would watch each game as they continued to win game after game. I fell in love with the team, but mostly Westphal and Ron Riley. To this day, I wonder how USC's basketball tradition would have been different if they had held on to that home game against the bruins instead of losing late by 5 points. In those days, if there was a co-champion, the team that had been the longest out of the tournament would get the nod. UCLA got in the first time when they tied CAL, which had a national championship and a runner up under their belt when ucla got the nod. The western region was a walk over for anyone from the Pac-8 during those years. USC would have had a great chance to win the title that year.

Thank you Mr Westphal for making this young fan a Trojan BB fan for life. There have been many highs and lows since then, but I have not regretted a moment of it. RIP Paul

I started going to games at the SA when he was playing. Remember that team with Riley, Layton, Mackey, Nash, Padgett, Schrobilgen and others. Was mad as hell when they had the Bruins down 8 with around 9 minutes to go @home. Died a little each time they missed a shot only to lose again at the end. Paul was ambidextrous and was the first Trojan BB players I idolized. So sad that he has passed...may he RIP..

Along with Bill Sharman and DeMar Derozan, Paul Westphal was one of the three best Trojan basketballers of all time. As Bill Walton says, the Aviation High flash is the only recruit who ever turned down John Wooden to become a Trojan. Just that alone made him one of my all-time favorite Trojans, but he was so much more. The USC 1970-71 squad was the Trojans' best team ever and I will go to my grave believing that only the fact that UCLA was slightly better prevented USC from winning a national championship that year. He and Mo Layton were such a dynamic backcourt and so much fun to watch. In 60 years following USC basketball, that 1971 game against UCLA when the Trojans went dead in the water in the last eight minutes is probably the most memorable and painful loss of all (the game in which James Forrest sank his only three-pointer of the season at the buzzer for Georgia Tech in the round of 32 is a close second). He had a great pro career and was always a class act. RIP Mr. Westphal