{{Short description|American sports executive (1900–1975)}} {{For|subject's grandfather, the former governor of Ohio|Asa S. Bushnell (governor)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
'''Asa Smith Bushnell III''' (February 2, 1900 – March 22, 1975) was the first commissioner (initially titled executive director) of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, serving from 1938 to 1970,<ref>[http://www.ecac.org/about/bushnell/index "History of the Asa S. Bushnell Center"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026172503/http://www.ecac.org/about/bushnell/index |date=October 26, 2009 }} ECAC Web site. Retrieved June 5, 2009.</ref> and was board member (1945 to 1970) and secretary of the United States Olympic Committee, editing, co-editing and/or writing "Olympic Books" at least from 1948 to 65.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Asa%20S.%20Bushnell&page=1 Amazon listings for author.] Retrieved June 5, 2009.</ref> He graduated from Princeton University in 1921, and a prize in his name is awarded to the Ivy League football player of the year.<ref name="PAW1">[http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/columns/under_the_ivy/uti121405.html "A multitasking Tiger: Asa S. Bushnell '21 left his mark on Princeton and amateur athletics"] by Jane Martin, ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'', December 14, 2005. Retrieved June 5, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/article.asp?intID=989 "2000 All-Ivy Football Teams"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115102528/http://ivyleaguesports.com/article.asp?intID=989 |date=January 15, 2010 }} ivyleaguesports.com, November 21, 2000. Retrieved June 5, 2009.</ref>
Bushnell was not an athlete himself, and in college another of his interests was expressed in his editorship of the college humor magazine, The Tiger. In this role, he chose to reject submissions from recent alumnus F. Scott Fitzgerald 1917, "one of his few missteps" according to a later alumni magazine profile, which also said he nonetheless became a friend of Fitzgerald's. Bushnell also edited the alumni magazine for five years (1925–1930) before moving full-time to athletic administration.<ref name="PAW1" />
==Biography== Bushnell was born on February 12, 1900. He won the James Lynah Distinguished Achievement Award from the ECAC in 1959 as an outstanding athletic administrator. He died on March 22, 1975.<ref>{{cite news |title=Asa Bushnell Dies in Princeton. Led College Athletic Association; E.C.A.C. Chief, 75, Revised Football Code. Served on U.S. Olympic Committee |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E15F635581A738DDDAA0A94DB405B858BF1D3 |work=The New York Times |date=March 23, 1975 |access-date=November 15, 2010}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Internet Archive film clip|id=gov.archives.arc.95742|description="Longines Chronoscope with Asa S. Bushnell (March 19, 1952)"}} * {{Find a Grave|34451994}} * {{USOPC Hall of Fame|new_id=asa-smith-bushnell|name=Asa Smith Bushnell|old_id=Asa-Smith-Bushnell|archive=20230720073221}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushnell, Asa}} Category:1900 births Category:1975 deaths Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:American sports executives and administrators Category:Princeton Tigers athletic directors Category:Eastern College Athletic Conference commissioners Category:Princeton University alumni