CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Eddie Hayashi, manager of Aloha Stadium, announced his retirement yesterday, effective Oct. 1. Hayashi served as manager for 12 years.

Stadium manager
Hayashi retires

The photos hanging on the wall behind Eddie Hayashi's desk reflect the myriad personalities who have passed through Aloha Stadium during his 12-year tenure as the facility's manager.

From John Elway to Janet Jackson. Celine Dion to Mike Tyson.

At the end of this month, the pictures will come down and the office will soon welcome a new manager to oversee the stadium best known as the home of the University of Hawaii football team and NFL Pro Bowl and a venue for the state's biggest concerts.

Hayashi announced his retirement effective Oct. 1 at a press conference yesterday at the stadium.

"For the last 2 1/2 years I was thinking of retiring and I never could make up my mind," Hayashi said. "People told me when the time comes, you're going to know."

With his duties at the stadium ending, Hayashi, 63, will work as a consultant with the Hawaii High School Athletic Association. He will also continue to serve as vice president of the Oahu AJA baseball league and will work with local filmmaker Edgy Lee on a documentary chronicling the history of the AJA league.

"Baseball has been one of Eddie's true loves," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said. "I knew he was considering retirement, so I suggested he could use his skills and expertise to help further the sport in Hawaii.

"Eddie has a very difficult job (as manager) and he always tried to make the right decisions. I can relate to his job because you can't please everybody all the time. But in the end you have to do what you feel is best for the community as a whole."

Stadium Authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee said deputy manager Kenny Lum will be the interim stadium manager when Hayashi's retirement goes into effect. He said the Authority will discuss the selection process for a new manager at its monthly meeting set for Sept. 29.

"It'll be challenging to find someone who can work with all of the staff and all the workers," Chong Kee said. "You have to get the right person to blend in because it's so mixed. I think it'll be tough.

Chong Kee said the next manager will have to be a strong administrator, "because of the day-to-day operations of the stadium. The stadium runs on what it makes, so they'll have to be really strong with that."

Hayashi's retirement comes at the beginning of a new season for the stadium. The stadium hosts high school football games nearly every weekend and six more UH football games this fall as well as the Hawaii Bowl, Pop Warner playoffs and a marching band festival.

"Obviously, we have a season to go," events manager Scott Chan said. "I think we have people employed here that are capable of continuing on. He'll be sorely missed, but we need to carry on and make sure our clients are serviced properly.

"He's been a great boss as well as a friend and he's done a tremendous job being manager of this facility. It's a big undertaking most people don't understand," added Chan, who declined to comment on whether he might apply for the manager's position.

Hayashi's 12-year tenure as manager is the longest in the history of the 30-year-old stadium. He was appointed to the Stadium Authority by Gov. George Ariyoshi in 1985. Gov. John Waihee later appointed him stadium manager in 1993.

Several who attended yesterday's press conference praised Hayashi for his ability to galvanize the staff at the stadium.

"The big thing is he got the support of the working man," said Carole Kai, founder of the Great Aloha Run and a former Stadium Authority member. "He could mobilize them to work for him. ... He didn't think about them as workers the way other people would; he thought of them as partners."

Hayashi's tenure wasn't without controversy, and he often found himself a target of criticism. He said recent comments from Gov. Linda Lingle critical of his management of the stadium didn't factor into his decision to retire. "The time came not even thinking about that," he said.

He recalled a 1997 conflict involving a promoter who wanted to book the stadium for a Rolling Stones concert just before the Pro Bowl.

The governor's office eventually got involved and the NFL agreed to a compromise that allowed the concert to be held at the stadium.

"To me, I was doing my job. They needed these dates for the Pro Bowl practice," Hayashi said. "I held my ground, but they went a different way and I looked like the bad guy. But in the end, we got the Rolling Stones and we got the football game. I looked bad, but you have to forget about it. The people gained because they had the big concert. ... If you think that way at the end, you can sleep it off."