Aramis Dandoy was born in Long Beach on Oct. 21, 1932 to Ernest G. Dandoy and Esther M. Gingrich. Soon afterward, the family, which included his brothers, Ernest and Dale, moved to 235th St. in Torrance, where Dandoy grew up.
He started attending Torrance High School in the fall of 1947, and it quickly became apparent that he was a gifted natural athlete. He participated and excelled not only in football and basketball, but also in baseball and track and field. He set several track and field school records during his days at Torrance High.
He garnered the most attention for his exploits on the gridiron. He quickly established himself as a star running back for the Tartars. As a junior, he was named the Bay League’s outstanding football player of the year by the Scholastic Sports Association sportswriters group.
During his athletic career at Torrance High, Dandoy won a total of 11 letters in football, baseball and track and field, in addition to several all-league honors in those sports.
As his high school career was coming to an end, Dandoy received one final honor from the school in May 1951 when he became the first-ever recipient of the Torrance High Athlete of the Year award. His name was the first one etched on a large trophy, an honor that is still given out annually at the school.
The USC Trojans recruited Dandoy successfully, and he played in his first game for their JV team in late September 1951. Already a third-string halfback as a sophomore, he got into the 1953 Rose Bowl and played very well.
On July 25, 1953, he married former Miss Torrance contestant Maureen Matthews at Nativity Catholic Church in Torrance. He would remain married to her for the rest of his life.
The feat for which Dandoy is most remembered happened during the 1955 Rose Bowl, featuring USC and heavily favored Ohio State. Pasadena was being drenched by a driving rainstorm that day, which had soaked the morning Rose Parade and kept the game crowd down to about 90,000 instead of the usual 102,000.
It was only the tenth time it had rained in the city on New Year’s Day in the game’s history, and it remains the most recent time rain has fallen on the Jan. 1 festivities. Parking lots around the stadium became a muddy mess, much like the field itself during the game; Dandoy’s wife Maureen was among those caught in the resulting traffic mess.
Legendary coach Woody Hayes was coaching in his first Rose Bowl, and he was appalled by the field’s condition. After the game, he exploded in anger to reporters over the marching bands being allowed to tear up the field even more during halftime.
Future L.A. Rams star running back Jon Arnett rushed for 123 yards for the Trojans, but became a footnote to Aramis Dandoy, even though Dandoy rushed for no yards from scrimmage during the game.
With the rain pelting the field during the second quarter, Dandoy was sent in to return a punt. The kick hit the 14-yard line with a splat, and Dandoy picked it up out of the mud. He eluded a couple of Buckeye tacklers, then saw that he had one last man to beat.
He couldn’t tell until getting closer to the smiling man that it was his teammate, Eddie Fouch, and he knew he would safely score. It would end up being the only touchdown USC scored during the team’s 20-7 loss.
The 86-yard scoring play was a Rose Bowl record, and it’s one that still stands 70 years later as the longest punt return in the annual bowl game’s 111-game history.
After his successful USC career ended, Dandoy was drafted by the Cleveland Browns of the NFL, but failed to secure a permanent slot on the team. In 1956, he played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League until a broken collarbone ended his stint there.
He continued to be involved in sports locally, playing for various semipro teams and coaching a variety of youth sports teams.
He settled in Lomita in the late 1960s. He and his brother Ernest had worked for the family glass firm, Dandoy Glass, which his brother Dale began running on Arlington Ave. in Torrance in March 1948. Aramis and Ernest later decided to start their own firm, A & E Brothers Glass, on Western Ave. in Lomita.
His life changed when doctors discovered a 95 percent blockage on the left side of his heart. He underwent surgery in April 1973, which saved his life.
He lived in Lomita for almost two more decades. On the night of Oct. 1, 1992, he was driving his pickup truck when he apparently suffered a heart attack and collided with several parked vehicles near Cabrillo Ave. and 220th St. in Torrance.
He died from his injuries later that night at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance. He was 59. His funeral was held at St. Margaret Mary Church in Lomita.
Dandoy was survived by his wife, Maureen, four sons and a daughter, seven grandsons, four brothers and a sister. And a Rose Bowl record that has stood the test of time.
Sources:
Daily Breeze archives.
Los Angeles Times archives.
Torrance City Directories database, Torrance Public Library.
Torrance Herald archives.
