NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) -Craig Fertig, the record-setting quarterback for Southern California who later became the Trojans’ TV voice, has died. He was 66.
Fertig died Saturday of kidney failure at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, USC athletic director Mike Garrett said.
“He embodied what it meant to be a Trojan,” Garret said in a release. “He was one of the great storytellers and we all loved listening to his anecdotes delivered with his well-known sense of humor. We’ll miss him dearly.”
Fertig was a teammate of Garrett’s in 1963 and 1964, when the quarterback set eight USC passing records. Fertig was also a member of USC’s 1962 national championship team.
Fertig is remembered for throwing the winning touchdown pass in the final two minutes of the 1964 game against Notre Dame to lead USC back from a 17-point halftime deficit and upset the unbeaten, top-ranked Irish.
McKay from 1965 to 1973.
After stints as coach of Oregon State and West Coast talent scout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Fertig in 1992 began an 11-year run as an analyst on cable broadcasts of Trojans’ football.
He was inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
Fertig is survived by his son Marc, mother, Virginia, and sister Trudi Fertig Marinovich.
Information about a memorial service at USC was pending, and the school anticipated a scholarship fund will be started in his name.
Add A Comment