UCLA Bruins Quarterback
Beban, known as "The Great One", excelled in both academics and athletics, majoring in European history while quarterbacking the Bruins across three straight victorious seasons. As UCLA quarterback, he was named to the all-conference team three times, and led the Bruins to a 24-5-2 record. His school record for total offense lasted for 15 years. As a sophomore, he threw two touchdown passes in the last four minutes to rally the Bruins over crosstown arch-rival, USC, 20-16. In the 1966 Rose Bowl, Beban scored both UCLA's touchdowns in the Bruins' 14-12 victory over #1 ranked Michigan State.
In his senior year, Beban played in the 1967 USC vs. UCLA football game, widely regarded as one of the best college football games of all time. The game pitted #4 AP/#2 UPI ranked USC, and their Heisman Trophy candidate running back O.J. Simpson, against the #1 ranked Bruins and Beban -— also a Heisman Trophy candidate -— with both the AAWU and national championships on the line. Badly injured with torn rib cartilage and in great pain, he still threw for over 300 yards and two touchdown passes to lead the Bruins in scoring. Although USC eventually won the game 21-20 on a blocked PAT, and went on to the Rose Bowl, Beban would go on to win the Heisman Trophy. Both Beban and Simpson were featured on the cover of the November 20 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. Commenting on Beban's heroic effort playing through injury, famed L.A. Times columnist Jim Murray wrote that if "Gary Beban wins the Heisman Trophy, they ought to fill it with aspirin"
In addition to the '67 Heisman, Beban was unanimously named to the All-America Team, won the Maxwell Trophy (given annually to the college football player judged best in the United States by a committee of college head coaches, sportscasters, sportswriters and members of the Maxwell Football Club), and was awarded the Washington Touchdown Club Trophy and the 1967 W.J. Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. He was also named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete and received the Dolly Cohen award, given to the player best combining academic and football achievement.
UCLA became the first school to have a winner in both basketball and football in the same year, with Gary Beban winning the Heisman Trophy and Lew Alcindor winning the U.S. Basketball Writers Association player of the year award in 1968. For one week in November 1967, UCLA had the #1 ranked football and men's basketball teams, with the chance of landing national championships in both sports, an unprecedented feat until Florida actually collected both crowns in 2006. UCLA did ultimately garner the 1968 basketball championship.
Beban was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1991. He is a charter member of the UCLA Hall of Fame, and his uniform number 16 has been retired.
Although the UCLA football program has turned out dozens of highly successful NFL players through the years, including Troy Aikman, Bob Waterfield, Mel Farr, Billy Kilmer, Jay Schroeder, Freeman McNeil, Steve Bono, John Sciarra, Jamir Miller, Donnie Edwards, Jerry Robinson, Kermit Alexander, Dave Dalby, Jonathan Ogden, Cade McNown, Carnell Lake, Ken Norton Jr, Kenny Easley, Tommy Maddox and Maurice Jones-Drew, Gary Beban was — and remains — the only Bruin to win the Heisman.
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