Throwback Thursday: Gary Beban

I caught up briefly with UCLA's only Heisman Trophy winner, Gary Beban. Beban remains a devoted UCLA fan, though he cannot follow the team as closely as he'd like from Chicago, where he works in global real estate.

Here's a little more on Beban: Gary Beban

In your Heisman Trophy campaign, you had just 156 attempts. For comparison, Kevin Prince has 167 in just six games. Talk about the differences between passing in 1967 and in 2009 and how offenses have progressed:
"I'm not sure they've progressed. We had a very balanced attack. The pass was used more for really quick scores. All the way through the three years we had wonderful receivers; we were really able to use the pass to go downfield, to try to score instead of a West Coast offense where you're trying to score first downs. Watching Oregon against USC, that Oregon offense would've been right up my alley.
"I think that with Pepper and Tom Prothro as coaches, we had more of a balance and used the pass for longer gains, rather than the small ones."

Do you still follow UCLA closely?
"It's very hard to do that from the Midwest. If you play past 3 o'clock we don't even know you played! It's a little hard to stay close on a game-to-game basis. I might check in on the big games, and I know there's been some struggles this year."

How can UCLA turn things around?
"I came into a program that had been puttering around for quite a while as well. My sophomore year was a very polarized team. Seniors who had lost a lot, sophomores who had never lost, and in the middle a handful of juniors who were very talented. A great coaching staff that Prothro had, made good players a great team. I don't know what that chemistry was. I don't know how that happened. We never thought twice about losing. Now, how we gain that confidence and that momentum has a lot to do with the coaches putting the right offense in for the players they had. The one thing I think that could have been a trait of those three years is we didn't make a lot of mistakes. I know that's been part of the story this year. I think the players have to commit to play that way. They have to make that commitment to themselves and their teammates."

Can things turn around quickly?
"Without having spent time with coaches or players for that matter, I don't think you can get caught up on what happened two or three games ago. I think you need to get caught up on the last game. What were our mistakes? Correct those, make sure you don't do them again. We always talked about not making the same mistake again."

Is it a matter of talent?
"My senior year, USC had nine first-round draft picks. My tight end was a dentist, my wide receiver became a police officer. We didn't have the talent like the other side of the ball, but we made it a ball game. As players you have to make this commitment that you're doing everything in your power to play at the highest level."

Talk about your Heisman Trophy season, what was the high point?
"I'm not sure that my award was a "year" award. I've made a comment - when voters looked at Gary Beban at UCLA, I think voters looked at three years. We were in contention for three years. We never lost on California soil until (losing to USC by one point in 1967). We didn't lose very often. And I think my award was more of a career award than a season award.
"The highlight was playing in that USC game we lost. It was a highlight because it was what we for shooting for, to play for a national championship. I think everybody left whatever they had on that field that day."

Does the team need another Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback?
"I don't think that any team needs a Heisman Trophy candidate. You need good players who believe in themselves and are coached well, and when I say coached well, that means coaches adjust their system to the talent they have. Then the players have to make the commitment that when all is said and done, what happens on the field is their responsibility."

Also, here's more on the epic 1967 battle between UCLA and USC: Game of the Century

And Beban's 'My UCLA Moment': Beban Video