Obituaries
Former Baldwin Park Football Star Remembered
Baldwin Park native Jim Conroy was a two-sport athlete who excelled in baseball and football at the University of Southern California.
Former star athlete Jim Conroy, who played football and baseball for the University of Southern California (USC), died at the age of 73 in Ottawa, Canada, according to the FindAGrave.com Web site.
Born and raised in Southern California, Conroy played quarterback for USC in 1956-57 when the Trojans defeated Notre Dame and UCLA, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
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The Baldwin Park athlete also pitched for the Trojans' national champion team, which captured the College World Series in 1958.
Bob O’Billovich, Conroy's former teammate and lifelong friend, told the Ottawa Citizen that the star athlete "was one of the toughest 205-pound linebackers who ever played in the CFL (Canadian Football League)."
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“It was like seeing Superman go into a phone booth and get out of his suit, hang up his clothes, and go through a transformation,” O’Billovich told the Ottawa Citizen.
Conroy was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the first American Football League draft, but he moved instead to Ottawa in 1960 and played in the CFL for nine years.
He is survived by his wife, Carol, daughters Jennifer, Joan and Julie, step-daughter Debby and three brothers, according to the Trojan Alumni Football Club.
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