Dick Wallen Dick Wallen ( born c . 1936 ) is a former American football player who was a consensus All - American at the end position in 1957 while playing for UCLA . He was awarded the 1957 W . J . Voit Memorial Trophy as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast . He was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 . Early years . A native of Alhambra , California , Wallen won 11 letters at Alhambra High School , including letters in football , tennis , track and basketball . He was also voted the prep Player of the Year in the Pacific League . Wallen enrolled at UCLA in 1955 . He was converted by UCLA coach Red Sanders from a wingback to an end . Wallen was a three - year starter at the end position for UCLA in 1956 , 1957 , and 1958 . As a sophomore , he caught 23 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns . Consensus All - American in 1957 . Wallen ' s greatest success as a football player came in his junior year in 1957 . That year , Wallen caught 20 passes for 303 yards . He was also a star on defense , intercepting four passes and recovering six opposition fumbles . Wallen led the UCLA team in minutes played , playing 399 minutes out of a possible 600 . UCLA coach Sanders praised Wallen ' s skills : " ' Wallen ' s got the best hands I ever saw in college ball , ' says Sanders , ' and that includes fellows like Don Hutson when he was at Alabama . He ' s a natural born receiver ; you don ' t learn those finger - tip haul downs Dick makes . His hand aren ' t big either . But he just has an instinct for catching a football , plus intelligence , quick judgment and perfect balance . It ' s a joy to coach a kid like that because he ' s eager to learn and never makes the same mistake twice . " Opposing coaches also praised Wallen . Stanford ' s Coach Joe Ruetz said , " Dick Wallen is as fine a receiver as I ' ve ever seen . " After an October 1957 game against Washington , " Los Angeles Times " sports writer Dick Hyland called Wallen a " Giant on Defense , " writing as follows : " Wallen was much more than a pass receiver . True , he again jumped in the air and duplicated his Illinois game stunt of making an unbelievable one - handed catch of a ball thrown over his head . . . . His big contributions , however , were on defense . Twice , acting with the quickness of a cat , the 175 - pound Bruin junior backed away while rushing Washington Quarterback Al Ferguson and intercepted the latter ' s short lob passes aimed to go well over Wallen ' s head . " For his performance in 1957 , Wallen received numerous awards , including first - team All - American designations from the Associated Press , American Football Coaches Association , Football Writers Association of America , Newspaper Editors Association , and Walter Camp Football Foundation . He was the only junior selected to the 1957 AP All - America Team . He also received the American Legion Trophy as UCLA ' s most valuable player , and the W . J . Voit Memorial Trophy , awarded each year by the Helms Athletic Foundation to the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast . Wallen was only the second junior to receive the Voit Trophy and received 60 votes in the balloting , double the total of the second highest vote recipient . 1958 season . As a senior in 1958 , Wallen ' s eligibility was limited to five games under Pacific Coast Conference rules . He had one of his finest games in an October 1958 loss to Florida . Wallen caught two touchdown passes ( UCLA ' s only touchdowns ) in his final home game , prompting Mal Florence to write the following : " Florida won the ball game , but Bruin end Dick Wallen won the acclaim of everyone in the Coliseum who witnessed his spectacular pass - catching exhibition last night . Wallen , a five - game senior playing his final local game , was the talk of both dressing rooms . Bob Woodruff , whose Gators triumphed 21 - 14 , said following the game , ' There ' s no pass defense against a great receiver like Wallen . ' " The restriction on Wallen ' s playing time as a senior caused him to fall short of breaking UCLA ' s all - time pass receiving records . In October 1958 , the " Los Angeles Times " noted : " Had the Pacific Coast Conference not limited him to five games this season though , Wallen perhaps would have swept the slate clean . " Wallen finished his collegiate career at UCLA with 62 receptions for 822 yards , nine touchdowns and an average of 13 . 3 yards per reception . Wallen the " Model Collegian " . Wallen excelled in the classroom as well as the football field . A 1957 profile of Wallen in the " Los Angeles Times " bore the headline : " MODEL COLLEGIAN : Wallen Tops on Campus as Well as Gridiron . " Wallen was a physics major who expressed no interest in playing professional football , stating his intent instead to attend law school and become a patent attorney . He spent his summers working in a patent law office , and the author of the " Times " profile opined that " if they were picking an All - America of model college students , this 21 - year - old junior from Alhambra might be named captain of the first team . " Wallen was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 .