Tournament of Roses Vows to Recruit Minorities : Parade: Group dominated by white males promises to form an ‘ethnic diversity’ committee after black leaders protest officials’ comments on affirmative action.

The crusty Tournament of Roses--whose overwhelmingly white male membership has been under attack by black Pasadenans since the 1960s--has agreed to embark on a program of recruiting black and Latino volunteers.

Responding to the latest salvo from black business and community leaders, tournament officials announced that they will form an “ethnic diversity” committee not only to recruit minority tournament volunteers but also to “expand cultural sensitivity” and reach out to community and political leaders.

It is the second consecutive year that planners of the annual floats-and-bands epic have responded to minority critics with a hastily constructed peace offering as the kickoff of the parade drew near.

Last year, on an especially rocky road to the New Year’s Day parade, the tournament appointed a second grand marshal--then-U.S. Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.)--to mollify American Indian groups, who had attacked the selection of a descendant of Christopher Columbus to lead the parade.

Critics said that Spanish aristocrat Cristobal Colon symbolized the genocidal policies of 15th- and 16th-Century Spanish conquerors. Despite the compromise, protesters picketed the parade last New Year’s Day.

This week’s decision to form an ethnic diversity committee came after black community leaders bitterly denounced remarks by tournament officials that affirmative action policies would never be used to advance blacks in their organization.

Promoting minorities who do not have seniority would destroy morale, Tournament President Gary Hayward said in an interview with the Pasadena Star-News earlier this week. “It will never happen,” Executive Director Jack French added.

The remarks were blatantly racist, black attorney Joe Hopkins said. “They’ve signaled that they’re entrenching themselves further in racism.”

Hopkins and others said that the tournament membership should more closely reflect Pasadena, which has a 53% minority population.

“It’s the old-boy network again,” black developer Jim Morris said. “It’s the same thing that continually happens in Pasadena with organizations like this. They say, ‘We control the city and we’ll do what we want. The problems that exist in the city don’t affect us.’ ”

Tournament of Roses officials say they do not keep track of the ethnicity of volunteers, who wear the familiar white suits on the day of the parade and patrol its route along Colorado Boulevard. But they concede that all nine members of the Executive Committee and 28 of 29 committee chairmen are white males. The only exception is former La Canada Flintridge Mayor Barbara Pieper, who took over as head of the Security and Properties Committee in January.

The Executive Committee is composed of the current president, the past president and seven future presidents. Thus, all of the tournament presidents until the year 2000 will be white males.

In addition, because few blacks or Latinos have volunteered in the past, there are none in the century-old organization’s leadership positions, all of which are based on seniority, tournament leaders say.

“The tournament has continually supported a diversity policy,” Assistant Executive Director William Flinn said. “No one’s ever been excluded that I know of.”

But one black volunteer, Daniel Towler, a chaplain at Cal State L.A., said that he has been toiling in the tournament ranks for almost 30 years without a promotion. “I’ve worked on 15 different committees,” said Towler, who was a Los Angeles Rams fullback between 1950 and 1955. “I’ve had great experience.”

Towler said he had no explanation for his lack of upward mobility in the organization. “I don’t explain it,” he said.

Flinn said he could not comment on Towler’s failure to advance. “There are hundreds of volunteers who have been here for 30 years and never chaired a committee,” he said.

But tournament officials have begun to realize that there is a need to recruit more minority volunteers, Flinn said. “We believe that a good way to help is with this committee,” he said, adding that the committee will be formed in late January.

Black leaders were not appeased. Some were meeting this week to plan protests and boycotts of the parade, and a delegation of Pasadenans has reportedly met with corporate float sponsors to ask them not to participate next year.

City Councilman Isaac Richard said the city should use its financial leverage to force reforms in the tournament leadership. “If they don’t like it, they can take it to Glendale and have their little parade on Brand Boulevard,” he said.