After arriving at Stanford in 1955 on a basketball scholarship, Arrillaga became an all-conference player. He then spent the next six decades helping shape the university’s overall athletic program into a national collegiate role model. A pioneering Silicon Valley developer, Arrillaga used his resources and expertise to build state-of-the-art sports facilities. He funded hundreds of scholarships while offering wisdom and moral support to Cardinal athletes. A signature feat was his 2006 construction of Stanford Stadium in less than nine months. He passed away in 2022.

John Arrillaga was posthumously inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in 2024.