Born in Santa Monica, California, Vataha lettered in four sports at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove; he was a quarterback in football and graduated in 1967.
[1] Vataha made the transition to wide receiver at Golden West Junior College in Huntington Beach,[1] then transferred up the coast to Stanford of the Pacific-8 Conference in 1969 under head coach John Ralston and became one of quarterback Jim Plunkett's favorite receiving targets.
Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy and was the first pick of the 1971 NFL draft; Stanford climbed to eighth in the final AP poll with a 9–3 record.
[11] Vataha was nicknamed "Rabbit" for his moves on the field and worked one summer at Disneyland in costume as one of the Seven Dwarfs (Bashful).
He is now the president of Game Plan LLC, a company that specializes in the buying and selling of professional sports teams.