How Rose Parade’s 2026 grand marshal was chosen: Timing, wordplay and more than a little Magic

It was sheer Magic.

It just had to be for Tournament of Roses President Mark Leavens, after that day in April when he read about NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson paying a surprise visit to the Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena, smack dab in middle of the Eaton fire footprint.

Johnson had already been making public overtures of wanting to help victims of the fires in the ‘Denas, and Leavens, who as president gets to pick the grand marshal for the mammoth annual parade — and experience as YMCA basketball coach — was tuned in.

“When I read that, I went to our staff that helps arrange for the grand marshal, I said, ‘I don’t care if he says no, but we have to ask Magic first,” Leavens said after a wide-ranging keynote speech at the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce’s annual President’s Breakfast at the Hilton Pasadena Thursday, Dec. 4.

The event, complete with its renewed introductions of the Rose Queen and her court, has emerged over the years as an annual reminder, like clockwork: The Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game are imminent, with all the pomp, buzz and branding that go along with it.

It’s also a reminder of the economic impact of the parade and bowl game. The chamber’s Marketing Director Frank Girardot shared recent numbers. New Year’s Day events in Pasadena…

• Brought $245 million in spending to city and the region in 2025 — more than $150 million was related to the Rose Parade and $119 million from the Rose Bowl game;
• Reeled in $153 million in spending by non-local visitors alone;
• Generated $35.7 million in local, state and federal tax revenue; and
• Accounted for the equivalent of 2,166 full-time jobs in the region.

But as choreographed and tradition-steeped as the parade and game are each year, it was clear on Thursday, as Leavens spoke to the large audience gathered, Leavens acknowledged the deadly wildfires and the community’s recover efforts have made an indelible impact on his planning efforts.

Exhibit A: the tragic circumstances — thousands of structures reduced to rubble, 19 dead — that drew the attention of people worldwide, including Hall of Famer and entrepreneur Johnson’s.

Never mind that there were already some big names on the list, names of well-known difference-makers who were already engaged in the then nascent recovery from the disaster.

Leavens, who grew up in Monrovia, said Thursday that they would have great grand marshals in their own right.

But Leavens — a volunteer at the Tournament Association since 1995 who ascended to an array of key leadership roles over the years — was convinced the basketball legend turned businessman turned philanthropist/activist just had to be grand marshal.

After all, by then, the Tournament of Roses theme had already been established by Leavens, before the fire: “The Magic in Teamwork.” The theme reflect his admiration of the collaboration of partners that makes the parade and the Rose happen each year.

The theme would prove to be even more poignant in the weeks following the massive fires and the colossal communitywide effort to recover from the tragedy.

And Johnson himself also helped launch LA Rises, a private-sector recovery initiative that directs “significant resources” toward rebuilding such communities as Altadena.

“I just said, we’ve got to get Magic,” said Leavens, who worked for Nestle USA from 1989 through 2022 in management and marketing communications.

The Tournament reached out to Johnson’s team in May.  And bingo! By June, Johnson said he’d be very interested, Leavens said.

As Johnson himself has said, growing up in the Midwest, the Rose Parade was a part of his family’s New Year’s Day tradition, but he never imagined that he’d one day go on to be the parade’s grand marshal.

“When he found out what it entailed, he said yeah, he wanted to do it,” Leavens said.

“I was ecstatic,” Leavens said after Johnson said yes. “I said, ‘how soon can we announce it?’ I just wanted to get it out there, so he wouldn’t change his mind.”

By October, a smiling Johnson was introduced as grand marshal amid a shower of applause and confetti at Pasadena’s Tournament House.

“I’m just lost for words,” Johnson said at the time. “Normally Magic is not lost for words, but I am lost for words.”

Leavens, with a laugh, offered Thursday the “light bulb moment” in his decision.

“Magic’s name,” he said, “is in the theme!”