Gary Beban
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Position: | 1968 / Round: 2 / Pick: 30 | ||||
Career history | |||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||
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Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||
Gary Joseph Beban (born August 5, 1946) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons with the Washington Redskins. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, where he won both the Maxwell Award and the Heisman Trophy in 1967.[1] He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
Early life
The son of an Italian-born mother and a first-generation Croatian-American father,[2] Beban graduated from Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California.
College career
Beban, known as "The Great One", excelled in both academics and athletics, majoring in European history while quarterbacking the Bruins across three straight winning seasons. As a quarterback at the University of California, Los Angeles, 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 their crosstown arch-rival, USC, 20–16.[3][4] In the 1966 Rose Bowl, Beban scored both UCLA's touchdowns in the Bruins' 14–12 victory over No. 1 ranked Michigan State.[5][6][7]
In his senior year, Beban played in the
In addition to winning the Heisman, Beban was unanimously named to the All-America Team,[12] won the Maxwell Award, and was awarded the Washington Touchdown Club Trophy and the 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 player of the year winner in both basketball and football in the same year, with 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 No. 1 ranked football and men's basketball teams, with the chance of landing national championships in both sports. 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
Professional career
After graduating from UCLA, Beban was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the second round (30th overall) of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft.[13] He was the third quarterback taken, after Greg Landry and Eldridge Dickey,[14] ahead of Mike Livingston and Ken Stabler.
His draft rights were traded to the Washington Redskins on June 14, 1968, after failing to agree to terms on a contract with the Rams, in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 1969 (the Rams used the pick, tenth overall, to select split end Jim Seymour).[15] Beban signed a reported three-year contract worth $200,000 three days later.[16] He played for the Redskins in 1968 and 1969, under new head coach Vince Lombardi. But, sitting behind veteran quarterback and future Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen, Beban was given little game time, and the professional stardom portended by his college career was not forthcoming. Released from the Redskins on September 8, 1970,[17] Beban signed with the Denver Broncos after the 1970 season,[18] but was waived on August 5, 1971, and retired from professional football afterwards.[19]
Later life
In 1971, Beban joined the Los Angeles office of
In 2009, UCLA scheduled a special "Throwback Jersey" day in Beban's honor for the UCLA-Washington homecoming game at the Rose Bowl, where the team dressed in the powder-blue and white shoulder-stripe jerseys with pure gold helmets (without decals) of UCLA's 1965–66–67 seasons, uniforms first devised by the coach Red Sanders for his teams of the 1950s, including the 1954 National Championship team. Fans were able to purchase Beban's number 16 jersey to wear en masse that day.
References
- ^ Prugh, Jeff (November 29, 1967). "Gary Beban Wins Heisman Trophy". Los Angeles Times.
It all began on an asphalt playground in San Francisco and it culminated Tuesday afternoon when UCLA's Gary Beban was voted winner of the 1967 Heisman Trophy, which is awarded annually by New York's Downtown Athletic Club to the nation's most outstanding college football player.
- ^ Croatian Chronicle Network 35 Pacific Northwest Croatian Athletes
- ^ UCLA Athletics: 1964-1965 Archived June 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine UCLA.edu
- ^ L.A.'s greatest moments 100 greatest #35 1965: Bruin sophomore Gary Beban heaves fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Dick Witcher and Kurt Altenberg to stun USC and Heisman Trophy winner Mike Garrett, 20-16.
- ^ Wolf, Al (January 2, 1966). "Bruin Crowd Brimming With Joy...It's 'Everybody's Win'". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Sharkey, Larry; Olender, Ben; Kennedy, Joe (January 2, 1966). "Bruins Perform Surgery on Spartans' Line". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Bruins Won It Easily". Los Angeles Times. January 2, 1966.
- ^ Bonfante, Jordan - The Technocrat - Sports / Gary Beban is the Master of Cool Football Life Magazine, November 17, 1967, pg 90A
- ^ USC VS. UCLA: SHOWDOWN IN L.A. - Sports Illustrated November 20, 1967 (Cover) Archived June 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Article:The Great One Confronts O.J. Sports Illustrated, November 20, 1967, Volume 27, Issue 21
- ^ Murray, Jim (November 28, 1967). "The REAL Gary Beban". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ 1975 UCLA Media Guide, UCLA Athletic News Bureau, 1975
- ^ Kale, Gary (January 29, 1968). "Rams Get Gary Beban". Times-News. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ "Tantalizing names available in second day of grid draft". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. January 31, 1968. p. 21.
- Toledo Blade. June 14, 1968. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ "Gary Beban Signs Redskins' Contract". The Pittsburgh Press. June 18, 1968. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ "Gary Beban cut from Redskin roster". The Bulletin. (Bend, Oregon). UPI. September 9, 1970. p. 9. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ Johnson, Bob (April 6, 1971). "Beban on Hand, Too". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 15. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ "Broncs Cut Gary Beban; He's Done". The Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. August 6, 1971. p. 21. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
- ^ Myers, Bob (November 4, 1971). "No Football for Beban; He Succeeds in Business". Reading Eagle. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
External links
- Gary Beban at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Gary Beban at Heisman.com
- Career statistics and player information from NFL.com · Beban.htm Pro Football Reference