Welcome to the 125th Rose Parade

Welcome to the 125th Rose Parade®!
N
ew Year’s Eve may belong to Times Square but New Year’s Day is all California’s
and Pasadena’s with the Tournament of Roses Parade®! Welcome the New
Year with AYSO by watching the annual Rose Parade and delight in the tradition
and pageantry of magnificent floral floats, high-stepping equestrians and spirited
marching bands.
AYSO and the City of Torrance, the birthplace of AYSO, have joined together to
celebrate AYSO’s 50th anniversary with a float in the parade that kicks off the next
50 years of enriching lives through soccer!
Over 40,000,000 people will watch the parade
on TV (that’s more than watched the Academy
Awards!) and 700,000 people will line the five
mile parade route. So grab a cup of coffee, a
glass of juice, some breakfast snacks and get
the family together to watch this unique
extravaganza. What a wonderful way to launch
the New Year!
Here is AYSO’s A to Z Family Viewing Guide to the Rose Parade® and the 50th
anniversary of AYSO soccer. Enjoy!
A
nniversary. AYSO celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014! The
Rose Parade® celebrates its 125th anniversary this year as well.
Balanced Teams, Open Registration, Positive Coaching, Good
Sportsmanship and Player Development!)
F
utboleros. The Futboleros are “the Harlem Globetrotters of
soccer” who have created a new and unique way to entertain
the soccer world. A dozen Futboleros will be the “outwalkers” for
the AYSO float, performing soccer tricks and juggling skills for all
five miles of the parade route.
B
ob Eubanks is a television/radio personality and former host
of the famed Newlywed Game. Bob
has served as lead broadcaster of the Rose
Parade® for over 25 years and will again
host the presentation of the Tournament
of Roses Parade® for 2014. For Southern
California viewers, he and longtime
sidekick Stephanie Edwards will appear on
KTLA-TV and for the rest of the nation,
you can watch their broadcast, commercial-free, on the Hallmark
Channel. Fun note, Bob’s son is an AYSO player!
C
G
D
H
obi Jones is one of the most recognizable American soccer
stars in history and is serving as host rider of the AYSO Rose
Parade® float. Cobi is the all-time leader in
appearances for the U.S. National Team and
a member of the National Soccer Hall of
Fame. He signed as one of the first players
in Major League Soccer in 1996, beginning
an 11-year playing career with the LA Galaxy. Today Cobi is a television broadcaster
and you’ll see him calling soccer games on
a variety of networks. He started playing AYSO soccer at 5-yearsold in Westlake, Calif. And in 2014, his son Cayden Jones, will
turn 4-years-old and start his first season in AYSO!
reams Come True. That’s the
2014 theme for the 125th
Rose Parade®. According to the
Tournament of Roses, the theme
is a reminder that not only is it
possible to attain the seemingly
unattainable through extraordinary focus, effort and belief in the
probability of success, but that it
has been done!
E
veryone Plays®. A registered trademark for AYSO, Everyone
Plays® is the first of AYSO Soccer’s Six Philosophies and the
theme of the 2014 Rose Parade® float. AYSO’s goal is for kids to
play soccer, so every player must play at least 50 percent of every
game. It’s no fun to spend the game on the bench and that’s no
way to learn soccer! (The Six Philosophies are: Everyone Plays®,
ame. The first Rose Bowl game was played in Tournament
Park (Cal Tech’s current athletic field) in 1902. The University of Michigan beat Stanford University, 49-0. The Rose Bowl is
actually 25 years younger than the Rose Parade and was conceived
as a fundraiser to support the parade.
onor. We are honoring 50 years of AYSO soccer. Today it has
50,000 teams from New York to Hawaii and over 500,000 players.
I
nstagram. Follow the AYSO float on Instagram
@AYSO_Soccer to see fun pictures from AYSO
on the day of the Rose Parade®. Join in the fun and
post pictures of your family’s ‘Breakfast at the Rose
Parade’ viewing party.
J
oin in.Join in the conversation at #AYSORoseFloat with your
tweets about the Rose Parade® and add your Breakfast at the
Rose Parade® recipes, pictures and posts.
K
errygold. The winner of the AYSO’s Breakfast at the Rose
Parade® Kerrygold recipe contest is receiving a year’s worth
of cheese and butter. Kerrygold USA
is the U.S. and Canadian home of
Kerrygold natural Irish butter and
cheese, made from the milk of grassfed cows on Ireland’s dairy farms.
Have you met Fiona, the soccer
playing Kerrygold cow? Listen to her
podcast here (ayso.org/kerrygold)
L
ogo. AYSO has a unique 50th
anniversary logo that is appearing
on AYSO uniforms across the nation
from fall 2013 through fall 2014. And
you’ll see the commemorative logo on
both local and national websites, t-shirts,
banners, and so much more! Keep an eye
out for it!
O
ranges. Fruit on the sidelines has been an AYSO
tradition since 1964. Today,
bringing fruit to the game is
more convenient than ever with
Dole Fruit Bowls and Fruit
Squish’Ems. They make halftime tasty and nutritious!
P
arade. AYSO’s first ever Rose Parade® float was in 1979.
M
onrovia Town Band. This band became the first musical
group to ever perform in the Rose Parade® in 1891. In 2014,
over 15 amazing marching bands from around the nation will
appear in the parade.
Q
ueen. This year’s Rose Parade® queen is Ana Marie Acosta.
The first ever Rose Queen was named in 1905 – Hallie
Woods. The 1988 Rose Parade® queen Julie King went on to
become a passionate AYSO mom with three sons that played in
AYSO into their teens. The coronation of the Rose Queen and
her Court is an annual tradition that culminates months of
competition to select the final queen. Ana will make over 100
appearances during her reign.
N
ine teams played the first season of AYSO soccer. A
group of devoted soccer enthusiasts decided in 1964, that
America’s kids were in desperate need of soccer. This group of
guys chased their dreams and established the American Youth
Soccer Organization (AYSO) out of a garage in Torrance, Calif.
Sigi Schmid, head coach of the MLS Seattle Sounders played
on one of those first AYSO teams and today is the honorary
editor of the AYSO Alumni Connection newsletter. You can
subscribe to this monthly newsletter at (ayso.org/alumninewsletter).
Stay in touch with the many famous AYSO alumni, including
Alex Morgan, Derek Jeter, Josh Groban, Cobi Jones, Jake &
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kim Kardashian, Landon Donovan and
many, many more.
R
oses. If you’ve ever wondered how many flowers it takes to
decorate one float, the simple answer is: a lot. Exactly how
many depends on the size of the float, but to give you an idea,
it takes about 20 daisies, 30 roses or 36 marigolds to cover just
one square foot. All of the floats together take approximately 18
million flowers.
S
W
hite Suiters - During the Parade, many Tournament
members will be wearing white suits with red ties, name
tags, membership pins and official ribbons. The famed white suits
are worn only by the longest serving volunteers and it is a badge
of honor. These prestigious volunteers are commonly referred to
as “White Suiters.” AYSO has its own “White Suiter” in Regional
Commission Steve Bickle of Region 13…Pasadena!
unny Slice™. Sunny is AYSO’s official 50th
anniversary mascot and No. 1 spokesorange!
T
X
U.
Y
V
Z
orrance, Calif. Is the birthplace of AYSO. The City of Torrance and AYSO have partnered on this year’s Rose Parade®
float. But Torrance is truly a Rose Parade expert
as this is their 100th anniversary since having
their first float in the parade! The Torrance Rose
Float Association has organized over 700 AYSO
and Torrance volunteers to decorate the float.
(which starts on Dec. 26 and finishes on Dec. 31.)
7-UP. To make fun, rose-colored drinks, put a little grenadine
in any clear soda (i.e. 7-Up)! For more Breakfast at the
Rose Parade® recipes, check out AYSO’s Pinterest board
(ayso.org/pinterest).
in Scully. The 2014
Tournament of Roses
Grand Marshal. Vin Scully is
a Hall of Fame broadcaster, an
icon in American sports history
and has been “the voice of the
Los Angeles Dodgers” for 64
years. He was elected the top
sportscaster of the 20th century
by the non-profit American
Sportscasters Association in
2000. Expect a five-mile long
standing ovation for this icon
of the sports world!
marks the spot! AYSO’s float has
a lot of fun float-riders standing in their designated spots on
the float, including a Ride the Float
contest winner! Matha Lopez and
her daughter Angie Lopez were our
contest winners. Look for them waving from their spaces on the float!
outh. The Vision of AYSO is to provide world-class youth
soccer programs that enrich children’s lives. AYSO would not
exist if it wasn’t for children’s love and passion for soccer!
one. The Rose Parade will be broadcast in approximately eight
different time zones, all over the world. 13 percent of all U.S.
households will be tuning in!