PASADENA, Calif. — For 100 years, the Rose Bowl has been hosting some of the biggest events in the world.

In 2022, the stadium celebrates its centennial birthday.

From the first national broadcast of a college football game back in 1952 to Olympics games and sold-out concerts, the Rose Bowl stadium is dripping with history making moments.

When he looks at the Rose Bowl sign, CEO and General Manager Darryl Dunn thinks 100 years of tradition, passion, strength and history.

"It’s an iconic symbol of sports and entertainment, in Pasadena and in families," he said.

As the Rose Bowl celebrates a century, Dunn has had a front row seat to every major moment for the last 27 years and has helped to put them on. He watched in 2006 as Vince Young scored the winning touchdown against USC in what is considered the greatest college football game of all time.

He remembers the iconic U2 show that set a U.S. record for highest attendance by a single headliner. His first event as general manager was the historic World Cup where Brandi Chastain took off her jersey after scoring the winning goal against China in 1999.

"One of the greatest moments in our 100 year history. That is impossible to forget," Dunn said.

He showed a statue to commemorate the moment and another to honor legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson, widely regarded as the voice of college football and a dear friend of the stadium.

Jackson nicknamed the Rose Bowl game the “Grandaddy of them all,” a designation that still holds today. Before he passed away, Spectrum SportsNet got a sense of what this stadium meant to him.

"The place talks. It talks to you. And if you don’t believe it, if you ever have a chance, somewhere in this maze of seats, sit down," Jackson said. "No conversation. Just you. And just sit there and listen and see if you don’t hear something, but you feel it.”

It is an electricity Dunn feels on one of his last times walking to the field as the CEO. He is retiring in June but said he's confident he will be leaving this rare gem, owned by the city of Pasadena, on solid ground with the support it needs to stand the test of time. 

They always knew SoFi Stadium was coming to Los Angeles, he said, so they invested $180 million in upgrades here and extended their agreements with the Tournament of Roses and UCLA until the mid-2040s.

"You’ll always have to make it better, you always do." Dunn said. "I think Pasadena and our stakeholders have done an amazing job of dong that in the first 100 years, and you have to continue that.”

It's a commitment to preserve the past while staying ahead of the future.

To celebrate its 100 birthday, the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation is hosting the first event of its kind this summer called the “Party of the Century."

It will be a Roaring ‘20s theme to celebrate the decade when the stadium was built. For more information, visit here.