Joe Gandolfo - Class of 1939

            Joe Gandolfo was born on December 12th, 1920, in Fallon, Nevada to Josephine and Thomas Gandolfo. His parents were immigrants from Italy, and they lived through the First World War. Joe lived on a ranch with his aunt and uncle in Wadsworth, Nevada for most of his childhood. He had two brothers: John, who recently passed away from cancer, and Frank, who died in Hiroshima in World War II. Joe and his brothers took a train every day down the valley into Sparks where they attended school at Robert Mitchell Elementary School and Mary Lee Nichols Middle School. Later, Gandolfo attended Sparks High School and graduated in 1939. His involvement in school activities was limited due to the fact that he was always needed to help on the ranch.

            Mr. Gandolfo attended two years of college at UNR but decided that school wasn’t for him, so he went directly into working on the Railroad; he worked for Southern Pacific railroad Company until 1944, and, after that, he worked at Stanford Tractor and Equipment Company for three years. He was also a Volunteer Fire Fighter for many years.

            Joe was married to Dorothy Pearl on May 21st, 1944; they met at a rodeo in Yerington and were married for forty-six years. They have three children (Roseanne, Joe, and John), six grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. Sadly, Dorothy passed away on October 14th, 1990.

            Mr. Gandolfo won the Fire Fighter of the Year Award for the City of Sparks I 1967. He worked on and off in the rodeo all of his life, putting on a rodeo for children at the fairgrounds every year, where upwards of 300 youths showed up to learn and participate in rodeo. Thanks to his efforts in putting on youth rodeos, twenty-seven cities now have a youth rodeo of one form or another. Gandolfo was part of the Sparks Rodeo Club and also the Washoe County Rodeo Club, and he is still a Liaison in the Reno Rodeo today. He considers his legacy to be the Gandolfo arena constructed in 1980, the children that practice and perform there as well as his own children, grandchildren, and family.

Inducted 2013