Shane Doan, the retired Arizona Coyotes captain, was named the next grand marshal for the Fiesta Bowl Parade on Monday.
In a press release, Doan stated, “The Fiesta Bowl Parade is an Arizona icon and I’m honored to serve as this year’s grand marshal. During my playing career, I never had the chance to experience the Fiesta Bowl Parade and, for my first one, it’ll be incredible to lead the way.”
The PlayStation Fiesta Bowl Parade is scheduled this year to take place on Saturday, December 30th.
Doan is in good company as a part of prominent Arizona sport figures that have served as grand marshal of the parade. This list of noteworthy athletes includes Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson and Phoenix Suns forward Charles Barkley.
Another notable grand marshal of the parade has included the first American to orbit the Earth and former U.S. senator John Glenn.
The Fiesta Bowl executive director, Mike Nealy, stated in the release, “Doan has been a first-class ambassador for the state of Arizona throughout his career, both on and off the ice. He is the perfect choice to be grand marshal for this year’s parade as he represents the values of the Fiesta Bowl organization.”
Doan was with the Coyotes for his entire 21-year hockey career prior to the team chose not to resign their captain during the offseason in June of this year.
The way Doan was let go by the team was criticized and owner Andrew Barroway later apologized for the way he handled the situation.
Doan had several National Hockey League teams interested in him but decided to retire from the game late last month. In an interview with 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro, he told he didn’t want to relocate his family somewhere else to probably play a smaller role on the ice.
The former captain plans on spending time with his family and has some things in the works now that he is not on the ice that includes pursuing a job within the NHL.
Doan also plans on continuing to cheer for the team he previously led.
On the Burns and Gambo show on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station, he said, “We are legitimate fans … The guys they brought in, I’m excited to see what they do.”
Doan retired from the Coyotes as the team’s all-time leader in assists (570), games played (1,540), game-winning goals (69), goals (402), power-play goals (128), points (972) and shots (3,945).
