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Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Friday, January 7, 1977
Page Four THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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Rose Bowl Parade: The
cain
By PAULINE LUBENS
It almost rained on their parade.
For the first time in 23 years it look-
ed like rain and the Los Angeles area
was buzzing with speculation as to what
the Rose Parade officials in Pasadena
were planning to do. The only sure thing
was that the show would go on. What
would New Years Day be without a
Rose Bowl Parade?
BUT BY FRIDAY afternoon word
came down that the weather would clear
and somewhere in Pasadena a collec-
before
the storm
tive sigh of relief could be heard.
Slowly parade junkies drifted into
town to stake their claims to curb spaces
and sidewalk spots which would serve
as their choice seats in the annual gala
event which this year was to herald the
coming of the battle between Michigan
and the University of Southern Califor-
nia (USC).
The die-hards staged an all night vigil
to hang onto their precious curbside
claims and by early morning, as the
California sun came creeping over the
top of the Rose Bowl stadium, the pa-
rade route was lined with sleeping bags,
cots, lawn chairs and living room chairs
filled with bleary eyed, semi-conscious
survivors. Scratching their heads and
yawning, they squinted as they eyed
latecomers and those who had come
in style clutching $15 grandstand tick-
ets. Some campers lay curled up in-
side their sleeping bags or under blank-
ets, and slept soundly through the parade
after staying up all night to secure a
good seat.
BY 8:30 THE SHOW was on and the
1977 Grand Marshalls of the Tourna-
ment of Roses, Roy Rogers and Dale
Evans, rolled down South Orange Boule-
vard waving to the crowd as they led
the pack of bands and floats which were
to stream down Colorodo Avenue for
the next two hours.
The brightly-colored, flower-filled
floats drew cheers and applause from
the crowd as ;they strode by carrying
smiling young women or famous stars
such as Donny and Marie Osmond.
Roses of all sizes and colors had
been clustered to form everything from
a group of eight bicyclists, which tow-
ered over fifty feet above the specta-
Photography by
Scott Eccker
and
Pauline Lubens
tors, to a music box playing a med-
ley of tunes as dancers kicked up their
heels in time on either side.
BATON TWIRLERS from as far
Indiana grinned and waved as they hurl-
ed their batons in the air while lead-
ing their high school bands down the
street for the hometown folks to watch
on television.
Partisans did their bit as the Michi-
gan and USC bands marched by and
the cheerleaders whipped I the football
fans into a little pre-game frenzy.
At one point early in 'the parade an
uninvited guest was whisked *off the
street by parade ushers after an el-
derly man dressed in an Uncle 'Sam
costume was spotted marching closely
behind a float.
AS THE LAST FLOAT headed down
the five mile long route the bpecta-
tors poured into the street heading for
their cars or lunches and leaving the
area strewn with trash. Chairs, clothing,
paper and food lay scattered along the
curbs and covered the sidewalk, wait-
ing for street cleaners to clear it all
away until, next year.
Parade goers gradually headed over
to the stadium where the meat of the
New Year's Day matter was in Pasa-
dena.
The parade had just been icing on
the cake for most fans.
BUT, BY THE END of the day, the
dark clouds that had threatened to rain
on the parade hung gloomily- over the
Michigan bench. Once again the Wolver-
ines had missed that elusive national
title they seered destined to win at
last. They had taken the big one from
-the guy in Columbus and Pasadena had
at last become a reality. But they never
quite made it all the way.
So close, but yet so far.
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