The Great One

Apart from its size (27,878 students), one of the most noteworthy things about U.C.L.A. is its location: Westwood, Calif., which as the T-bird flies is only 81 miles from the corner of Hollywood and Vine. That undoubtedly accounts for the fact that while U.C.L.A. has produced five Rhodes scholars, it also holds the collegiate record for centerfold cuties in Playboy. Everything at U.C.L.A. is strictly widescreen. Its coeds are the cuddliest, its hippies are the hip-est (one commutes in a Continental convertible decorated with fluorescent flowers), and its football team was undefeated in its first four games--thanks mainly to a 21-year-old quarterback who looks like Marlon Brando, talks like Gary Cooper and plays like Our Gang.

Meet Gary Beban, or as he is known to adoring Bruin fans, the Great One. Outside of his bowlegged running style (the better to evade enemy tacklers with) and outsize hands (the better to throw "the bomb" with), there is nothing physically remarkable about Beban; he stands an even 6 ft. and weighs 195 Ibs. Nor is Gary a whiz kid--"It has only been lately that I've taken school seriously," he admits--although he is a B student (major: history) and sometimes complains that "professors ignore me because they know I'm an athlete." It is Beban's flair for the dramatic that makes him 1) the most exciting college football player in the U.S. and 2) an odds-on bet to win the Heisman Trophy come season's end.

SITUATION: the 1965 "big game" with Archrival Southern Cal. U.C.L.A. trails by ten points with only 4 min. left to play. What happens? Sophomore Beban throws a 34-yd. pass for one touchdown, a 52-yd. pass for another, and U.C.L.A. wins, 20-16.

SITUATION: the 1966 Rose Bowl game against Michigan State, the No. 1ranked team in the nation and a 141 point favorite to beat U.C.L.A., ranked fifth. Beban scores two TDs (setting up one with a 27-yd. pass) as the Bruins upset the mighty Spartans, 14-12.

SITUATION: the 1967 season opener against Tennessee. Twice Beban has rallied his team from deficits of 0-7 and 3-13. Now, with 4 min. left, U.C.L.A. again trails, 13-16. The Bruins have the ball, fourth and two on the Tennessee 27, and Coach Tommy Prothro calls Beban to the sideline. "I want you," he says, "to run one more great play." Gary nods. Next play, he tucks the ball under his arm, wriggles to his right, cuts back, outruns five Tennessee linemen, breaks two tackles in the secondary, and scampers into the end zone to give U.C.L.A. a 20-16 victory.

There is more--lots more. In 21 seasons, Quarterback Beban has rewritten the U.C.L.A. record book, passing for 3,126 yds., running for another 1,142 yds., scoring 30 touchdowns. Just two weeks ago, he tallied the winning TD as the No. 3-ranked Bruins squeaked past Penn State 17-15 for their fourth straight victory of 1967. Such heart-stopping heroics have become so commonplace that Coach Prothro admits to a certain ennui: "I've gotten to where I expect so much from Gary that he doesn't impress me any more."

The roster of the unimpressed includes Beban himself, who for anonymity's sake refuses to wear his letterman's jacket on campus. It does not, of course, include the pros. "I don't know anything about professional football," insists Coach Prothro, "and what's more, I don't care to know anything. But do they run the ball? Do they throw it? If they do, Beban should be just the sort of player they are looking for."

They're looking.

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