Early life Villanueva is a Mexican-American who grew up in
Calexico and attended
Central Union High School in California's
Imperial Valley.
Football player Villanueva accepted a football scholarship to play for the
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), over offers from the
University of Arizona and
Arizona State University. Villanueva played
halfback and
defensive back for coach
Henry Russell Sanders's
UCLA Bruins from 1952 to 1954 and was known as the "Calexico Kid". He was a member of the
1953 Bruins team that played in the
1954 Rose Bowl and the
1954 team went 9–and was named
national champions by the
FWAA and the
United Press International (UPI). In a nine-game season, Villanueva led the 1954 Bruins in total offense with 886 yards—486 yards rushing and 400 yards passing. He also had 106 yards on punt returns, 80 yards on four kickoff returns, and 21 yards on two pass interceptions. and was named a second-team
College Football All-American by the
United Press. In January 1955, the Southern California Council of Mexican-American Affairs honored Villanueva at its first testimonial dinner. After graduating from UCLA, Villanueva played professional football for the
BC Lions of the
Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1955 to 1960. In September 1956, Villanueva took over as the Lions
quarterback and led BC to an 11–1 win over the
Edmonton Eskimos—breaking an eleven-game losing streak against Edmonton.
Restaurateur In 1959, Villanueva opened a Mexican restaurant, Primo's Mexican Grill, in
Vancouver, British Columbia. After his first restaurant became a popular and successful Vancouver establishment, Villanueva opened additional restaurants in
Calgary,
Edmonton(1970), West Vancouver, North Vancouver, and
Richmond.
Family As of 2006, the
Los Angeles Times reported that Villanueva was living in
Surrey, British Columbia with his second wife, Phyllis. Interviewed in 1962, Danny Villanueva recalled playing football with Primo as a boy: Danny says his mother used to listen to their high school game on the radio back home in
Tucumcari and lock them out when they played poorly. ==References==