As a senior at Milwaukie High School, Ecklund was named to the Metro all-star team at fullback.

In his second season, World War II erupted and Ecklund joined the Marine Corps.

He played for the Naval Air Station football team in Jacksonville, Florida for two years, before being dispatched for overseas duty at Okinawa.

He passed up a contract offer from the Green Bay Packers, choosing to join the upstart All-America Football Conference's New York Yankees for more money.

He stayed with the team after the AAFC-NFL merger, through its sale and relocation to Dallas, then signed with the Baltimore Colts.

Having achieved that career milestone, he quit the team and returned to Oregon to coach high school football.

He jumped to the NFL in 1960, where Tom Landry hired him for the Dallas Cowboys inaugural season, becoming the first offensive line coach in franchise history.

A member of the Screen Actors Guild, having earned a role in the movie North Dallas Forty, Ecklund also did some acting in TV commercials and appearances as John Wayne's look-alike while residing in Los Angeles.