Jack Duane Ellena (October 27, 1931 – March 23, 2012) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player. Ellena played offensive tackle for coach

Red Sanders Henry Russell "Red" Sanders (May 7, 1905 – August 14, 1958) was an American football player and coach. He was head coach at Vanderbilt University (1940–1942, 1946–1948) and the University of California at Los Angeles (1949–1957), compili ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

from 1952 to 1954. He was a member of the Bruins team that lost the

1954 Rose Bowl The 1954 Rose Bowl was the 40th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Friday, January 1. The third-ranked Michigan State Spartans of the Big Ten Conference defeated the #5 UCLA Bruins of the ...

and was named that year's FWAA & UPI national champions. That same year, Ellena was named to the

College Football All-America Team The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. The original use of the term '' All-America'' seems to have been to the 1889 College Footbal ...

and won the UPI Lineman of the Year. In addition to playing football for the Bruins, Ellena wrestled heavyweight at UCLA. He was a two-time Pacific Coast Intercollegiate heavyweight champ (1953, 1954), and placed fourth at the 1953 NCAA wrestling championships at Penn State, earning All-American honors. Ellena was selected in the 19th round (228th overall) of the

1953 NFL Draft The 1953 National Football League Draft was held on January 22, 1953, at Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Selections made by the folded Dallas Texans were assigned to the new Baltimore Colts. This was the seventh year that the first o ...

by the Los Angeles Rams. He played

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

and

nose guard A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

for the Rams from 1955 to 1956. He was cut by the Rams in 1957 and was unable sign with any teams in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. After his football career, Ellena ran

Mountain Meadow Ranch Mountain Meadow Ranch (MMR) is a family-owned two-week summer camp for boys and girls aged 7–17, located near Susanville, California, United States, on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, 75 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada. It boasts one of ...

, a

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

located near his home town of Susanville, California. In 1987, he was inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.

References

1931 births 2012 deaths All-American college football players American football offensive linemen American football linebackers Los Angeles Rams players UCLA Bruins football players People from Susanville, California Players of American football from California {{Offensive-lineman-1930s-stub