Neal Blaisdell

Neal Shaw Blaisdell served as Mayor of Honolulu from 1954 to 1968. A graduate of Bucknell University, he moved to Honolulu, Hawai'i to become a teacher, high school coach and athletic director. Quarterback of the 1924 Bucknell University football team, Blaisdell was inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

A beloved civic leader, Mayor Blaisdell was memorialized with the naming of the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in downtown Honolulu in his honor. The center is one of the premier multi-purpose complexes in Hawai'i. It has a concert hall, convention center, exhibition hall and sports arena. The concert hall is home to the Honolulu Symphony and several local ballet companies.