Terry Madigan has held a role in nearly every aspect of the Tournament of Roses, an organization he has volunteered with going back 33 years.

He’s led the host, judging, parade operations and special events committees and been vice chair for float entries and post parade. As a committee member he’s worked on community relations, decorating places, equestrian, formation, parade operations, post parade and TV/radio.

However, the 61-year-old San Gabriel Valley native, who this week took over as the Tournament of Roses president for the 2027 Rose Parade, said his first and most unsung Tournament role put him on the path to the role of president.

A teenage Madigan, then a student at South Pasadena High School, drove his city’s Rose Parade float entry in the 1981 and 1982 parades. He experienced first hand the value of giving someone an opportunity and plans to bring that leadership style to the Wrigley Mansion.

“The core of what I know about leadership and leading a volunteer organization I learned at 15 on that South Pas float, so I think that’s a bit of a different perspective,” Madigan said. “I kind of came up from that part of the parade rather than coming as a business executive in town it really grew out of that love for the parade that goes back 46 years.”

He officially took over as president Thursday, Jan. 15, followed by a ceremony where he unveiled “Welcome” as his hand-picked theme for the 2027 Rose Parade. The presidency rotates each year to a different member of the Tournament’s executive committee, so Madigan has had years to think about stepping into the role.

“Welcome” and the Rose Parade have been intertwined for Madigan going back to his float driving days. He was new to South Pasadena and looking for a chosen family. Madigan found it on that float and it’s continued to this day.

His more than three decade commitment to the Tournament is the longest of his life, Madigan said, even longer than with his husband of 31 years Kevin Sommerfield.

In the week leading up to his becoming president Madigan said he’s been thinking a lot about his mother. A huge fan of the parade, Madigan’s mother would set up shop on Orange Grove Boulevard every New Year’s Eve, thermos of coffee by her side, watching the floats go by.

She continued the tradition until the year she passed in 2000.

“That’s where 14, 13, 12-year-old Terry goes back to,” Madigan said. “Those memories of just how much my mother loved this parade and I think how proud she would be today to see this opportunity.”

Madigan made history this week as the first openly gay president of the Tournament of Roses. In his 30 years in the organization Madigan said he’s seen many firsts and is proud of how far the organization has come.

“I don’t know that anyone ever saw me coming,” Madigan said. “Thirty years ago that was not in the cards.”

While he hopes he’s remembered as a Tournament president who happened to be gay, he’s aware that the likely shorthand associated with him will be, “first gay president of the Tournament of Roses.”

Madigan knew in 2018 when he joined the executive committee that he would one day be president. The first letter he received after joining the committee was a laminated copy of the story about his announcement in the South Pasadena Review with a note.

“We’ve never met, but I wanted to congratulate you on your appointment in the Tournament of Roses. As an older gay man and a Fuller graduate I was thrilled that you and your husband were mentioned in this article,” the letter read. “You are history in the making with the Tournament of Roses. All the best to you, it will be here before you know it in a blink of an eye.”

Madigan has kept it the letter ever since and said on Friday morning following the theme announcement he would be sending the man a signed copy of the 2027 theme poster.

“The visibility is not lost on me and that’s what I hear the most from people,” Madigan said. “The importance of someone in this visible a role being a gay man.”

Madigan said one of the bands in the 2027 parade will be a composite band made up of 35 local Pride bands from 20 states. He said the impact on young people around the country struggling with their sexuality, who may also be part of a band, watching the parade is what he’s proudest of.

“That’s the family that’s welcomed them in and seeing 250 open and proud musicians come around that corner, that impact is going to be unmeasurable for those kids’ lives and that’s what I’m proudest of,” Madigan said.

In reflecting on his fondest Rose Parade memories he recalled the foggy morning of the first Rose Parade following the Sept. 11 attacks. Organizers were not sure what to expect in terms of attendance. As part of his duties that day, Madigan walked from the Tournament House up Orange Grove. As he approached the grandstands he saw they were packed full of people.

He said in that moment he realized the importance of the Tournament of Roses.

“You can dismiss it as a parade and a football game, but it’s really important to people,” Madigan said. “The chance to come together, build those memories with all the generations in the family at once are really what have kept me going for 33 years.”

Madigan takes over as president during a year that started with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents returning to Pasadena spreading fear throughout the immigrant community. Madigan acknowledged it being a difficult time for everyone, but hoped the Tournament could be beacon that offers respite from the surrounding world.

“One of the things that I love most about the Tournament and love most about this theme is that acknowledgment that we do need safe places to just be who we are,” Madigan said. “Have people meet us who we are, where we are.”