Big Ten Sees Its Float Defeated Too

The Big Ten’s floral float honoring conference champion Iowa took an abrupt detour off the Colorado Boulevard parade route Wednesday when Tournament of Roses officials spotted a suspicious device on the back of the float.

Pasadena Police Sgt. Mike Guerin said the float, carrying five Iowa cheerleaders, had just passed the reviewing stands east of Orange Grove Boulevard at the beginning of the parade route, when a tournament volunteer saw someone apparently place an object on the float. Police officers checked the rear of the float and found a six-inch box from which wires were protruding.

The cheerleaders were taken off the float, which was diverted north to St. John Avenue near Union Street to await the sheriff’s bomb squad, Guerin said. An inspection there determined that the device was most likely part of the float.

“It could have been there all along,” Guerin said.

The float, undamaged, never completed the parade route, but was towed to the post-parade area for viewing.