Background
A native of San Bernardino County, California, he grew up in Redlands and played college football at the end position for the University of Southern California Trojans football team from 1929 to 1931.
A native of San Bernardino County, California, he grew up in Redlands and played college football at the end position for the University of Southern California Trojans football team from 1929 to 1931.
He was selected by the Newspaper Enterprise Association and the New York Evening Post as a first-team end on the 1930 College Football All-America Team. He was also selected as a second-team All-American by the Associated Press. Arbelbide also played college baseball at University of Southern California from 1930 to 1932 and professional baseball as an outfielder for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1933.
He later served as the head coach of the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football team from 1937 to 1939, compiling an 8–17–2 record.
Arbelbide also served in the military during World World War II and worked as a teacher and rancher. He died in a Sacramento hospital in 1983 at age 72.
He was posthumously inducted into the University of Southern California Hall of Fame in 1999.