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SUN BOWL ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2024 GRAND MARSHAL AND CONTRACT RENEWAL WITH GLASHEEN, VALLES & INDERMAN INJURY LAWYERS November 14, 2024

EL PASO, Texas – The Sun Bowl Association and Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers announced the renewal of their partnership to put on the Annual Sun Bowl Parade and announced that El Pasoan and former Sun Bowl Association Board President Wayne Thornton will be the Grand Marshal for the 88th Annual Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers Sun Bowl Parade.

The parade, which Thorton will lead, is set for Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, at 10 a.m. (MT) on Montana Avenue in El Paso, Texas. Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers have renewed their title sponsorship through 2025, which will fund the resources needed to host the parade.

“We are extremely excited to renew the relationship and title sponsor for this great event and great El Paso tradition,” said Executive Director Bernie Olivas. “This is turning into a long-lasting relationship and we hope to continue to host the Glasheen, Valles and Inderman Sun Bowl Parade for many, many years.”

Wayne Thornton, the SBA President in 2005, remains on the Board of Directors for the association and retired from the City of El Paso Parks and Recreation Department in February of 2020, concluding a 43-year career with the department.

“There are few people who represent the El Paso community as well as Wayne [Thornton] does,” said Olivas. “What he has done for us here at the Sun Bowl Association is tremendous! From helping with the Charm Camp to the Basketball Skills Camp, Wayne is more than deserving of this honor.”

Thornton has made such an impact in El Paso that he had a building renamed after him in February of 2023. As his name was already known in the El Paso community for decades, from his weekly column in the El Paso Times to his involvement in local sports, the City of El Paso honored him, making his name known for years to come, proudly presiding over the old Grandview Community Center.

“I’m beyond honored to be able to lead the Sun Bowl Parade as the Grand Marshal,” said Thornton. “It’s especially neat as I will get to experience this parade as a participant as I typically volunteer and help on parade day.”

Thornton grew up on Fort Bliss where his father was stationed and attended Burges High School.

One of the things Thornton is most known for is his coaching in women’s intramural basketball at UTEP. He then moved over to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department in 1978, where he started at Lincoln Recreation Center under the Spaghetti Bowl and stayed for 28 years.

“I knew coaching was not my forte and that I could reach more lives through Parks and Recreation,” he said.

Thornton served on many boards, from the YWCA to the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers and, as already mentioned, the Sun Bowl Association.

Although, according to Thornton, the single biggest thing he was ever part of was the Junior League’s Midnight Basketball program, which he helped start in 1994 at a time when El Paso faced problems with street gangs and drive-by shootings.

“We had kids playing in the league that couldn’t play a lick of basketball,” Thornton said. “They were terrible. But they could open your locked car door in three seconds.”

Midnight Basketball caught on, taking hundreds of young men off the streets at night for practice and for weekend games during the trouble times between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Midnight Basketball ran from 1994 until 2003, the time by which the El Paso Police Department had a handle on the sharply declining rate of gang violence. Times have changed, and El Paso is not the city it was in the ‘90s, but Thornton said, “There will always be a need to help our troubled youth.”

Thornton is currently the point of contact and takes the lead on the Sun Bowl Basketball Skills Camp as well as the Sun Bowl Cheer Camp, events that coincide with the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational and Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl game.

This year’s Glasheen, Valles and Inderman Injury Lawyers Sun Bowl Parade will be on Thanksgiving morning, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024 at 10 a.m. (MT) on Montana Avenue and will be televised on KTSM News Ch. 9.

This will be the fourth parade with Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers as the title sponsor.

ABOUT GLASHEEN, VALLES & INDERMAN INJURY LAWYERS
Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers was recently voted the Best Law Firm in El Paso by The City Magazine readers. The injury attorneys in El Paso are here to protect your rights and get justice for those injured in El Paso and the surrounding areas. Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers have worked for years and gained the expertise, network, and resources to properly and effectively represent our clients who have been injured in an accident. The injury attorneys in El Paso work tirelessly for those they represent. Plus, throughout the legal process, the client will never pay one penny unless the case is settled, and the client gets the money deserved. Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers understand that every case is different; that is why the firm provides free consultations, so the injury lawyers can hear the client’s story and evaluate the case to see if Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers would be the right option to represent you. The injury and accident lawyers in El Paso, as well as the staff members, will lead clients through the legal process and work tirelessly to get justice.

If an injury has affected the lives of you or a loved one, no matter where you live, our accident lawyers in El Paso will gladly provide you with a free consultation and hear your story, so we can evaluate your case. For immediate contact, call Glasheen, Valles & Inderman Injury Lawyers directly, 915-301-9441 or go to GVILAW.COM