Magallanes Made Waves on Frigid Eastern Fields : Football: He left his surfboard in Thousand Oaks for grinding Philadelphia winters. He’ll return with a college degree and All-Ivy League recognition as a hard-hitting defensive back.

It’s mid-December and downtown Philadelphia doesn’t look very inviting to Jim Magallanes. Dull gray sky, temperature about 28 degrees--perfect weather to stay inside and study.

At times like this, Magallanes--Pennsylvania’s All-Ivy League defensive back--daydreams about the Southern California surf.

There are no waves in Philly. The people are different. And, of course, so is the weather.

Many times over the past four years, Magallanes has wondered whether he picked the right college. But his contemplation always led to the same answer:

Yes.

“People from all around the country come here,” he said. “It’s not just all California people. But I’m from the East Coast. I was born in Virginia. I moved to California when I was 3. I wanted to come back and experience it.

“On days like this, though, you just want to stay inside.”

When he arrived at Penn his freshman year, many of Magallanes’ blazer-and-tie classmates told him his appearance was unbecoming an Ivy Leaguer. His long black hair cascaded down to the middle of his back.

They called him “Surfer Boy” and “Native American”--nicknames Magallanes could hardly dispute.

He has a trace of Native American in his ancestry. And he was quite the surfer boy at Thousand Oaks High, departing at lunch five days a week when a good swell was hitting Zuma Beach.

Said Magallanes: “I had two sets of friends (at Thousand Oaks)--my athlete friends and my surfer friends.”

If decorum were a problem at Penn, the coaches weren’t concerned. In fact, they changed tradition to accommodate the 5-foot-10, 190-pound long-haired kid from California.

“Every year, the older players make the incoming sophomores shave their heads,” Magallanes said. “I went to the coaches and said, ‘Listen. They’re not going to cut my hair.’ ”

Said Penn Coach Al Bagnoli, who arrived a year after the incident: “Everything I hear is secondary, but I heard there was discussion about Jim’s hair. But since I’ve been here, he’s fit in--and he’s had some terrific games.”

The Quakers let Magallanes keep his hair (he wears a ponytail during games) and he won the job as nickel back in 1991. He had 23 tackles that season, four of them sacks. His biggest game came in a victory over Brown in which he had five tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery.

Moving to strong safety in 1992, Magallanes became one of the busiest secondary men in the league with 83 tackles--second-highest on the team. He had 15-tackle games against Yale and Dartmouth. He added two pass deflections and an interception in the Dartmouth game.

But his calling card is the shot he gave receiver Michael Lerch in the Princeton game that season. It caught the attention of ESPN, which highlighted Magallanes in its “Hit of the Week” feature. Lerch had just made a reception over the middle when Magallanes nearly knocked him out of his shoes.

“I was playing a deep zone and I timed it pretty good,” Magallanes said. “I hit him right under the chin.”

But 1993 was a watershed year for Magallanes and Penn. The Quakers finished 10-0, defeated Ivy League opponents by an average score of 29-11 and placed eight players on the all-league first team. Magallanes, who had 67 tackles, two interceptions and forced two fumbles, was one of them.

“He’s the consummate secondary guy you’re looking for,” Bagnoli said. “He started out for us as a cornerback, a coverage guy--a good athlete. When we moved him to strong safety, he became a hitter but he still had the coverage mentality. He was very versatile that way.”

Now, in what figures to be the most interesting football game of his career, Magallanes will accompany the rest of the first-team seniors to Tokyo. There he will face the Japanese national team in the Epson-Ivy Bowl on Saturday. Magallanes hasn’t received any scouting reports about his opponents but he anticipates a big game.

“I know nothing about them,” he said. “Nobody’s told me about their size or anything. But I think we’ll dominate. I just want to go out with a bang. I want some good hits. I love good hits.”

Good hits were Magallanes’ trademark in high school, especially during a senior season when he was named All-Valley and All-Southern Section. He helped Thousand Oaks advance to the Division II semifinals before losing to Muir in overtime, 10-3.

Stanford and UCLA expressed interest in him but eventually backed off. In the end, Magallanes had two options: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Penn. He decided on Penn for several reasons: its academic reputation, the fact that former Thousand Oaks free safety Matt Young played there and to be a part of a program that started in 1876.

He participated in an historic moment at Franklin Field in the 100th-anniversary game against Cornell, a season-ending 17-14 Quaker victory that capped a perfect season.

“It’s nice that I’ve got to experience all this,” he said. “But I’m really exhausted.”

Magallanes has had to budget his time. Penn does not give scholarships, so he was forced to squeeze a part-time job into a schedule that included football and a heavy academic load. During the fall, he left practice at 6 p.m., worked until 8 then studied from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. At 9:30 the next morning, he was up and headed to class.

“You have to discipline yourself, but it’s worth it,” he said.

Magallanes, a mechanical engineering major, will complete his undergraduate work in four years. He recently took final exams in the following courses: Advanced Strength of Materials, Thermal Design, Senior Design Project, Senior Engineering Lab and Chemistry Lab.

Slated for his final semester are Electrical Engineering--Systems and Circuits, Finite Elements, Energy Engineering, Senior Lab and Senior Design Project.

His final month at Penn also should be memorable. He and the eight other members of his Senior Design Project class will have designed, assembled and raced a solar-powered automobile by then. And he will receive his Ivy League championship ring and get his diploma.

Then it’s back to Southern California to find a job. But first he might do some surfing.