Asa S. Bushnell was the founding director and first ECAC Commissioner, serving from 1938-1970. He was also a board member and secretary of the U.S. Olympic Committee, where he was responsible for editing, co-editing and writing many of the “Olympic Books.”
Bushnell was a 1921 Princeton graduate, where there is now an award in his name presented to the Ivy League Football Player of the Year. As fourth editor of the Princeton Alumni Weekly and first Athletic Director, Bushnell left his mark on Princeton and amateur athletics in many ways.
Assuming the position of the Athletics Director during the Great Depression, the brilliant administrator not only managed to keep 42 Princeton teams afloat, but reduced the budget by $100,000 while improving many of the facilities. Bushnell is known for keeping the peace during the alumni battle over tickets in the 1930’s and for creating the Princeton Invitational Track Meet.
In his 32-year career at the ECAC, Bushnell would see it grow from a small affiliation of Eastern colleges to one of the dominant athletic associations in the country. He served as lead negotiator for TV rights for the NCAA, paving the way for today’s mega million-dollar deals. Also under Bushnell, the ECAC Holiday Festival was born and since 1952 has become one of the great traditions in men’s college basketball. He also initiated the origination of ECAC Division III Hockey in 1961 and over the course of the past 55 seasons; ECAC Division III Hockey has grown from a single league without a conference tournament into a five-league power that administers five conference championships each season.
Throughout his career, Bushnell nurtured enough young talent that the ECAC named its most prestigious internships after him, and the Cape Cod Headquarters was also named in his honor.