UCLA athletics pulled off a national championship-Rose Bowl double in 1965, one of the greatest years in Bruin sports history. Two years later, UCLA came very close to repeating the feat. The Bruins were synonymous with heavyweight sports achievement and elite college sports prominence.
“USC restored order on the gridiron with its national championship season in 1967. That was the crown jewel of Los Angeles sports achievements in 1967, highlighted by the epic one-point win over UCLA in the greatest Victory Bell football game of all time. USC’s national title was closely followed in importance (not chronology) by UCLA’s college basketball championship, the first of the three Lew Alcindor titles.”
Losing to USC in football stings beyond description, but even in defeat, UCLA covered itself in glory in 1967. That game against the Trojans will always remain a college football classic, an epic game which is rightly considered a proud UCLA football moment. UCLA quarterback Gary Beban won the 1967 Heisman Trophy. He remains UCLA’s only Heisman Trophy winner, nearly 60 years later. Beban was obviously a tremendous player, but his greatness and legend are magnified by the reality that UCLA football was a true member of the college football elite during his playing days. He wasn’t just great in isolation; his greatness lifted and improved his teammates.
UCLA was the real deal in football in 1967 … and then there was basketball. The first Lew Alcindor championship, won against Dayton in the national title game, launched the greatest dynastic run in college basketball history. UCLA’s seven consecutive national championships from 1967 through 1973 will never be matched. It’s an achievement which is safe for the rest of time, on par with Cy Young winning 511 games as a big-league pitcher.
UCLA beat Houston by 15 in the Final Four national semifinals. The win over Dayton was also by 15. No one touched the Bruins, a sign of their total dominance. The party was just getting started for John Wooden.
1967 was yet another year in which UCLA athletics was at the center of the conversation in both football and basketball. Something special was always Bruin in that era.
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