University of Southern California - El Rodeo Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 25 text:

President Topping happy ,lh alumni during He famous salmon, and the president is reputed to be a mean hand with a clam shovel. But he doesn ' t have the time too often — it ' s been two years since he ' s been able to get up there. He does find time, however, to see his children and grandchildren (age s 5 ' 2 , 4, 2 ' 2 , 9 months and 4 months) about twice a year, no mean feat when they all live back East. The Toppings son Brian, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, lives in Philadelphia with his wife and two children, and their daughter, who at- tended USC, lives in New York City with her husband and three children. The president ' s hard work, perfectionism and pursuit of excellence in his own life mirror, perhaps fittingly, the qualities he demands of the university and everyone connected with it. In his inaugural address he pointed out that Our traditions emphasize the freedom of the in- dividual and, at the same time, his moral responsibility, for these two are inseparable. They emphasize the dig- nity and worth of the individual and the fact that equality of opportunity does not foster mediocrity but gives to the individual an unlimited horizon. On this wide horizon one ' s freedom of choice can determine one ' s career, and eventually success is dictated by the application of ability, sincerity of purpose, inner satisfac- tion in work well done, acceptance of responsibility and finally the desire for excellence in personal endeavor. I sometimes wonder if we pay sufficient attention to these values and if we have been guilty at times of not demanding enough of ourselves. We who set the stand- ards of performance for our youth cannot expect them to aspire to excellence in themselves when they see us willing to accept mediocrity. We need, once again, to dedicate ourselves and our university to a constant search for the ways to attain excellence and to a determination to accept no less. This we shall do. And this Norman Topping has done.

Page 24 text:

This university, like our plant, needs nourishment; and the soil, cultivation; perhaps after careful study, even some pruning might be beneficial. If this is necessary, it must be done, as the physician writes on the patient ' s chart, with TLC — Tender Loving Care. This we shall do. And this he has done, diagnosing the ills of the uni- versity and prescribing its medicine — making personally sure that the medicine is obtained and ingested as quickly as possible. One of his first acts as president was to establish a planning commission of trustees, fac- ulty and alumni to begin studies of what the university was and what it should be that, after two and a half years, resulted in the Master Plan. Nor is Dr. Topping content with this — he is making plans to set up a per- manent board to study the university and make recom- mendations for its further improvement. A seemingly tireless, energetic man, Dr. Topping carries the heavy responsibility of educating 18,000 students with seriousness and care. There is little going on in the ' ' university community about which he is not fully in- formed, and would prefer to know firsthand. It was for this reason, for example, that he established the semes- terly Student Leader Dinners, informal free-for-alls where any student can get up and ask him a question and get a straight answer. And he asks questions too of the students, and he expects them to be as honest and well- informed in their answers as he is in his. If disagreement arises, as it often does, he uses logic and facts to back up his arguments, not blind authority. The students can lose the argument, but significantly, they can also win. The thoroughness Dr. Topping devotes to knowing and understanding the university keeps him busy almost around the clock, tied down with office work, appoint- ments, meetings and other official business. He esti- mates that he ' s gone as long as three weeks at a time without dinner at home,- he gets back to his attractive Hancock Park house almost constantly between 1 1 and 12 every night and is off again before 8. He kids that he sees his wife Helen as often across a banquet table as across their own dining room table. When he finds time, he settles back in a favorite chair to read and catch up with the world, particularly with the world of education. He is also a Civil War buff, in- terested mainly in source material; on his bookshelf are volumes of material dog-eared as only students are sup- posed to do. Ocean racing is another of the president ' s passions, and he brings to it the same hard work and attention to detail that he brings to his job at the university. As a crewman on Trustee Howard Ahmanson ' s 83 sloop Sirius II, he ' s put in more than 10,000 racing hours, most of them soaking wet and always under pressure to conquer the restless swells of the Pacific. In the recent San Diego-Acapulco race, Sirius II sailed in first place, setting a new record of 8 days, 9 hours, 15 minutes and 54-2 5 seconds. We broke the old record by three hours, he recalls proudly. It was the fastest race ever sailed! Winning isn ' t new to the Sirius ' s crew — Dr. Top- ping laughs that he hasn ' t ever sailed with them when they haven ' t been across the finish line first — and that the only race he missed they lost. I think they consid- er me kind of a good-luck charm, he kids. On board, he stands the 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. watches, catching whatever sleep he can in between in a bunk that, likely as not, is as water-logged as he is. He is also the ship ' s doctor, responsible for stocking the Sinus with medical supplies and caring for any crewman sick or injured. The Toppings also have a tiny — 12 ' by 12 ' — cabin on Puget Sound in Washington, at Gamble Bay at the be- ginning of the Hood Canal. In many ways it ' s as primi- tive and rough as ocean racing — the cabin has no run- ning water, no bathing facilities and only recently has been equipped with electricity. They have a little fiber- glass outboard for fishing, particularly for Puget ' s Sound ' s m £J n The President enjoys conquering the restless swells of Time out for a chot with Baseball Coach Rod Dedo the Pacific.

Page 26 text:

IF YOU WILL FORM AND MEAN. . .