The iconic broadcaster will also toss the coin for the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl game.
It's time for Dodgers baseball, or at least the voice of it, at the 2014 Rose Parade.
Famed Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully will be parade's grand marshal, Tournament of Roses officials announced Thursday.
"Vin Scully is incredibly accomplished and yet still so down to earth," Tournament of Roses President R. Scott Jenkins told the crowd at the Tournament House in Pasadena. "His own life is one in which many dreams have come true and even more importantly, he has been at the microphone describing for listeners everywhere the dreams of others coming true.
"I know his fans everywhere are cheering right now." Scully will ride in the 125th Rose Parade on Jan. 1 and toss the coin at the start of the 100th Rose Bowl game later that day.
"I am deeply humbled and greatly honored to be the grand marshal of the ... Rose Parade," Scully said. "I look forward to sharing this wonderful moment with my wife, Sandy, and the millions who will be watching."
"I would like to take this moment to congratulate the executive council for selecting me on a year where it looks like the Dodgers will win the (National League's) Western Division," Scully said to a round of applause. "Timing, they say, is everything."
Scully -- who will celebrate his 86th birthday Nov. 29 -- recently agreed to return to the Dodger broadcast booth for a record 65th season in 2014, again calling all home games and road games in California and Arizona.
Scully has broadcast the team's games since 1950, when it was based in Brooklyn.
Scully's many honors include the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball" and being named the greatest sportscaster by the American Sportscasters Association.
A ranking system devised by author Curt Smith for his 2005 book "Voices of the Game" determined that Scully was baseball's greatest announcer, giving him a perfect score of 100, based on such factors as longevity, language, popularity and persona.
Either on the team or NBC broadcasts, Scully has called such memorable moments by the Dodgers -- or their opponents -- as Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, the Brooklyn Dodgers only World Series title in 1955, Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965, New York Yankee pitcher Don Larsen's perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series and Hank Aaron's then-record-setting 715th home run in 1974.
Written by City News Service
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