However, during the opening game of UCLA's 1941 season (through 1981, both schools used the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for home games), six members of USC's Trojan Knights (who were also members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity[4]) infiltrated the Bruin rooting section, assisted in loading the bell aboard a truck headed back to Westwood, took the key to the truck, and escaped with the bell while UCLA's actual handlers went to find a replacement key.

The bell remained hidden from UCLA students for more than a year, first in SigEp’s basement, then in the Hollywood Hills, Santa Ana, and other locations.

Tension between UCLA and USC students rose as each started to play even more elaborate and disruptive pranks on the other.

[5] The winner of the annual football game keeps the Victory Bell for the next year, and paints it the school's color: blue for UCLA or cardinal for USC.

[8] Before home games, when the bell is in USC's possession, it sits along Trousdale Parkway for fans to ring as they participate in the "Trojan Walk" to the L.A.

The teams played each other twice in the same season in 1943, 1944, and 1945, due to travel restrictions during World War II; of those six, USC won five and tied the other.

[14] From 1929 until 1981, the two teams played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; the Rose Bowl became UCLA's home field in 1982.