Some people laugh, knowing it's been a long day of drinking for some. Lisa figures right away her diabetic father needs some food. Sandy asks him if he's OK, and as soon as they prop him up, Ron falls the other way toward Brady.
"The whole section goes quiet, and it's obvious it's not some old drunken fool who has fallen down," Sandy says. "I'm standing there about to lose my cool because they're trying to find a pulse and can't, 90,000 people and I'm yelling they can't find a doctor. Then this man looks at me, he's got a Michigan sweatshirt on, and he says, 'I'm a doctor.'
"The paramedics and firemen arrive, they're trying to revive Ron and the doctor in the Michigan sweatshirt steps back and says, 'I did all I can. I'm an obstetrician.' "
It's hard not to laugh the way Sandy tells the story, and she appreciates that. "I had exactly the same reaction," she says. "He probably thought I was insane, but 90,000 people and I get an obstetrician. If I had asked for a lawyer, I would have been swarmed."
The paramedics work on Ron. Three sections over, Patrice notices the commotion and figures Lisa's boyfriend has probably gotten into a fight. Everyone else just stands and watches. Sandy says, "But God bless those paramedics the way they worked. They never stopped. Never."
*
THE GAME ends, the USC celebration on the field starts and officials close a tunnel so Ron, medics and his wife can get to an ambulance.
"I'm still thinking he will come around," she says, although five attempts to shock him fail to get any movement. "I'm such a Pollyanna, I think once we get to the hospital magically things are going to get better. But two seconds after we're there ... [it's over]. I'm expecting an adrenalin shot to the heart, a glucose shot, and I'm thinking, what's the matter with these people, you don't have any needles?
"This man just turned 53. He's at a football game, he loves USC, he's having the best weekend ever with his family, he's feeling fine and he drops dead."
She's told it's sudden cardiac arrest, and it's sudden, all right. "If someone told me I would be going to the Rose Bowl and coming home a widow, I would never have believed it."
*
SANDY AND Patrice return from White's Funeral Home in Azusa, dropping off the clothes Ron will be wearing for Monday's viewing.
They are going to have Ron dressed in the USC shirt he bought at the Rose Bowl -- under his white shirt and suit. Sandy is also putting one of his favorite USC hats in the casket along with a copy of Tuesday's sports section on the Rose Bowl.
