Members of UCLA’s 1965 football team, its first to win a Rose Bowl, will serve as honorary co-captains for today’s Pac-12 Conference game against Colorado at the Rose Bowl.
The group will also be honored during a break in play during the first quarter.
Gary Beban, UCLA’s only Heisman Trophy winner, and fellow College Football Hall of Fame member Terry Donahue will be among the team members expected to attend, along with Jim Colletto, Purdue’s coach from 1991-96, John Richardson, Don Manning, Norman Dow, Dallas Grider and Bob Stiles, a UCLA athletic department official said.
The 1965 team was nicknamed the “Gutty Little Bruins” because of its success despite an undersized defensive line.
UCLA lost the season opener to Michigan State, 13-3, under first-year coach Tommy Prothro, then upset Syracuse and Penn State and tied Missouri.
The Bruins then won their next five games, including a 20-16 victory over archrival USC, to win the championship of the Athletic Association of Western Universities to receive the Rose Bowl Game berth.
UCLA was a 14-point underdog in the Rose Bowl Game against top-ranked and undefeated Michigan State. The Bruins, who had lost in each of their first five appearances in the Rose Bowl Game, capitalized on recoveries of a muffed punt and onside kick to take a 14-0 second-quarter lead.
The Spartans scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but missed two-point conversions both times and UCLA won the game, 14-12.
