USC’s baseball team formed eight years after the university itself in 1888. Now with 12 baseball national championships, USC has more collegiate titles in the sport than any other university by a large margin. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, it took 60 years for USC to win it’s first national championship. Yes, long before USC baseball had a dozen national championships…they only had one. The year was 1948 and Bob Zuber was a catcher on the USC team. And who did he defeat in the championship against Yale? Only first baseman, and 41st President George H. Bush. As quoted by CSTV.com,

During the championship game against Yale (against first baseman and future President George H. Bush), he made the first out of a game-ending triple play that clinched the title for the Trojans. He led the Trojans in 1948 with a .407 batting average and was a three-time All-CIBA and Pacific Coast Conference selection (1948-50).

After a couple years playing professionally, Zuber moved into the coaching side of the game. He returned to USC as an assistant coach under Rod Dedeaux in 1975 and 1976. His ’75 team went 42-14-1 and won the Pac-8 championship.