The National Debate Tournament was founded in 1947 as the qualification only tournament that would determine the national debate champion. The tournament was hosted by the West Point Military Academy for the first 20 years of its existence and now rotates among hosts across the country.
The Trojans have been a fixture at the NDT since its inception, when the Trojans reached the final round the first national championship. Since that team, USC has qualified in more seasons than any other university. USC also has the longest consecutive streak of qualification in the history of the tournament. Trojans have qualified in every season since 1964. The two teams who qualified in 2016 extend the streak to 53 consecutive seasons.
This is the full list of all of 117 Trojans who have qualified for the NDT.
| NDT Qualifier (years qualified) |
| Actis, Chet (68) |
| Allswang, Dave (60) |
| Anderson, Bill (68, 69) |
| Aquino, Marc (96) |
| Becker, Evelyn (89, 90) |
| Berger, Aron (15, 16) |
| Berggren, Brian (06) |
| Bevan, Greg (96, 97, 98) |
| Bollar, Robert (81, 82, 83) |
| Cassanelli, Jon (77, 78) |
| Clinco, Peter (73) |
| Clough, Larry (75) |
| Clubb, Shelley (84, 85) |
| Combs, Steve (76, 77, 78) |
| Cooney, David (51) |
| Cousans, Pat (79) |
| Croutch, Robert (57) |
| Damus, David (84, 85, 86, 87) |
| Day, John (91, 92, 93, 95) |
| Deacon, John (63, 64) |
| Devlin, Mike (76) |
| Do, Monica (09, 10, 11) |
| Dobkin, Milton (48) |
| Drum, Dale (50) |
| Faith, Ross (03) |
| Faulkner, David (75) |
| Fiori, Nick (05) |
| Flam, Rick (66, 67) |
| Flynn, Brian (91, 92 , 95) |
| Foran, Tom (91) |
| Fox, Alan (60, 61) |
| Fraser, John (59) |
| Garrett, Aaron (01) |
| Gaynor, James (88, 89, 90) |
| Goodman, Geoff (70, 71, 72) |
| Grover, George (47) |
| Haas, Nathaniel (14) |
| Hahn, Melissa (99) |
| Harold, Paul (09) |
| Harrison, Lindsay (98, 99) |
| Henderson, William (52) |
| Hernandez, Sean (10) |
| Higelin, Michael (73, 74) |
| Holland, Erik (02) |
| Hozduk, Tom (73, 74) |
| Hunter, David (51) |
| Hurder, Adam (97, 98, 99, 00) |
| Hurder, Jordan (00) |
| Iftimie, Alex (04, 05, 06, 07) |
| Jansen, Bo (54) |
| Johnson, Glenn (74, 75) |
| Jones, Chris (05, 06, 07, 08) |
| Jones, Michael (07, 08, 09) |
| Kenner, David (65, 66) |
| Kerfoot, Potter (47, 48) |
| Khoe, Willem (94) |
| LaPaglia, Jennifer (93) |
| Larsen, Hex (15, 16) |
| Lawhead, Alan (86, 87) |
| Lazarevic, Mima (08, 09, 10) |
| Lorenzen, Jeff (77) |
| Lucaric, Rene (90, 91, 92) |
| MacFarlane, Chris (00, 01, 02) |
| Maerowitz, Kim (78, 79) |
| Markowski, John (97, 98, 99) |
| Marson, Charles (63, 64) |
| Martin, Jack (75) |
| McDade, Robert (88, 89, 90) |
| McQueen, Jim (75) |
| McVay, Melinda (04) |
| Miller, Mike (57, 58) |
| Mohr, Leo (79) |
| Munoz, Avi (12) |
| Nhan, Brandon (15) |
| Overing, Bob (15) |
| Padrta, Garry (10, 11) |
| Palmieri, Ron (71, 72) |
| Peckosh, Seth (94, 95) |
| Peragine, Alex (81) |
| Purk, Clara (13, 14) |
| Revelins, Armands (96, 97, 98, 99) |
| Richardson, Dale (82, 83) |
| Richardson, Eric (85, 86, 87) |
| Rodgers, G. (52) |
| Rollino, Rick (79, 80) |
| Rush, Bert (67) |
| Sager, Kelli (80) |
| Saiedian, Ideen (13, 14, 16) |
| Scalice, Roger (71) |
| Schofield, King (70, 72) |
| Sharma, Anav (16) |
| Sherman, Les (76, 77) |
| Shortnacy, Michael (94, 95) |
| Silber, Marissa (03, 04) |
| Silverman, Andrew (00, 01, 02) |
| Singal, Sangeeta (92) |
| Smith, James (54) |
| Smith, Michael (05, 06, 07, 08) |
| Solum, Larry (74, 75, 76) |
| Sonnenberg, Paul (58, 59) |
| Stamp, Cary (87) |
| Stegman, Edwin (50) |
| Stein, J.R. (69) |
| Stein, Larry (65) |
| Stetson, Roger (97, 98, 99) |
| Swander, Steve (73) |
| Tanimura, Kirby (85) |
| Thorpe, Mike (61) |
| Turoff, Corey (02, 03) |
| Twigg, Reggie (86) |
| Vail, Kelli (01) |
| Viitzileos, John (14) |
| Walther, Andrew (94) |
| Weitz, Andrew (96, 97) |
| Winston, Dennis (71, 72) |
| Wolnerman, Daniel (03, 04) |
| Wong, Nate (12) |
