• Slug: BC-CSN-Giffords Parade. 725 words.
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By Shayan Moghangard
Cronkite News

LOS ANGELES – Arizona State University is unlikely to be playing in the Rose Bowl, but the Grand Canyon State will still be represented.

Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords was named grand marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on Jan. 2. At the Rose Bowl game later that day, she will flip the coin to decide the kicking and receiving teams.

Giffords, a Democrat who represented Tucson and southeast Arizona in Congress from 2007 to 2012, was chosen as someone who fits this year’s parade theme, “Turning the Corner,” because of her courage and tenacity after being shot during a 2011 assassination attempt, parade organizers said. Giffords is now an anti-gun violence activist.

She’s not the first with strong Arizona ties to serve as Rose Parade grand marshal. For instance, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, had the honor in 2006.

Just as O’Connor did, Giffords will ride down Colorado Boulevard and wave to crowds in the 134th running of the parade in Pasadena.

The Rose Bowl usually features a football matchup between the Pac-12 and Big Ten conference champions. The parade and game traditionally take place on New Year’s Day – except when the start of the new year falls on a Sunday, as is the case this year.

The Sun Devils’ football season got off to a rocky start with the departure of head coach Herm Edwards after a shocking loss to Eastern Michigan University just three games into the season and amid an NCAA investigation into the program’s recruiting scandal.

Under interim head coach Shaun Aguano, the team lost to Utah and the University of Southern California, but rebounded against the University of Washington, which was ranked 21st in the nation at the time in the Associated Press poll.

The Sun Devils are currently in eighth place in the Pac-12 with a two-win, four-loss record. The University of California Los Angeles leads as the only undefeated team in the conference.

The last time that ASU appeared in the Rose Bowl was 1997 against Ohio State. The Sun Devils lost 17-20.

In naming Giffords as the parade’s grand marshal, Tournament of Roses President Amy Wainscott praised the former congresswoman for bravery not only in trying to recover from her injury, but also doing so while still in the public eye.

“Almost all of us have the luxury to face our challenges in private, and many of us also have the freedom to overcome or heal on our own timeline. But when one has no choice but to be both vulnerable and strong in public, with the whole nation watching, that calls for a special brand of bravery,” Wainscott said in a statement. Thus, she “is the perfect example of how to turn the corner.”

A gunman opened fire on Giffords outside a Safeway grocery store in Casas Adobes, a Tucson suburb, where she was a part of a “Congress on Your Corner” constituent event. The attack left six dead and Giffords and 12 others injured. Giffords sustained a gunshot wound to the head – the bullet fired from point-blank range.

Giffords went through a lengthy recovery, including being placed into an induced coma and being kept alive with the aid of a ventilator. After waking, Giffords went through intense speech and physical therapy to recover her ability to move and speak. Giffords was eventually able to deliver speeches, including an emotional address to Congress in 2013.

In a statement, she called being named grand marshal “a tremendous honor” and lauded the parade’s theme for “the idea that we all can make a conscious decision to go in a different direction, towards something better.”

“This philosophy of moving ahead is one that I’ve tried to embody both in my personal journey of recovery since being shot in 2011 and in the fight for gun violence prevention that has become my life’s work.”

Following Giffords resignation and recovery, she became a leading gun control and anti-gun violence advocate, founding Giffords, a political action committee, with her husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat who is seeking re-election.

The nationally televised parade, known for its lavish floats, decorated horses and marching bands from around the world, starts at 9 a.m. Arizona time on Jan. 2.

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