Mackay Yanagisawa (1918–2000) was an American sports promoter. Known as the "Shogun of Sports," he created the

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first st ...

and was a co-organizer of the

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Mackay ...

, two collegiate-level football games in Hawaii, United States.

Early life

Yanagisawa attended McKinley High School where he played football. After graduating, he became a salesman at a sporting goods company. He was of Japanese descent.

Career

In 1962, Yanagisawa became part-owner of the

Hawaii Islanders The Hawaii Islanders were a minor league baseball team based in Honolulu, Hawaii, that played in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League for 27 seasons from 1961 through 1987. Originally an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, the Islanders played ...

baseball team while managing Hawai‘i’s

Honolulu Stadium Honolulu Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Moiliili district of Honolulu, Hawai'i, at the corner of King and Isenberg Streets. Opened in 1926, it was the primary sports venue in Hawaii preceding Aloha Stadium. During its final y ...

. After witnessing the

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University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

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messaged Yanagisawa asking him if he would be interested in sponsoring a college football All-Star game. By 1946, Yanagisawa and Paul Stupin co-organized a college football All-Star game in Hawaii titled "the

". The Bowl was sponsored by charities with the understanding that all financial gain went back to them. However, due to poor weather causing a lack of attendance, Yanagisawa was forced to re-mortgage his house three times to keep the event running. Eventually, television revenue from the Bowl allowed him to gain financial stability without a mortgage. During this time, he was inducted into the

Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame The Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame and museum in the U.S. state of Hawaii. According to the hall's official website, it servers as the "state museum for sports history in the islands," and "is best described as an educational ...

. As a result of the Hula Bowl, Yanagisawa became known as the "Shogun of Sports." In 1948, Yanagisawa arranged a United States tour with a Hawaiian baseball team and the

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. He owned the Asahi Baseball Team which played in the Hawaii Baseball League until 1955 when he sold it to Angel Shiro Maehara. Yanagisawa would later sell the Hula Bowl in 1974 to Gannett Corp and founded the

. It was originally named the Pineapple Bowl but was renamed after a drop in sponsors. In 1981,

Aloha Airlines Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport (now Daniel K. Inouye International Airport). Operations began on July 26, 1946, and ceased operations on March 31 ...

signed on as a sponsor, spurring the name change to the Aloha Bowl. However, this bowl too struggled financially and as executive director, Yanagisawa gave an estimated $200,000 to keep the Bowl stable. By

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, the Aloha Bowl drew a crowd of 41,777 for a game between SMU and Notre Dame. A few years later, Yanagisawa was inducted into the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

's Hall of Fame. In 1995, Yanagisawa was the recipient of the University of Hawaii's Regents' Medals of Distinction. Yanagisawa died shortly thereafter at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanagisawa, Mackay 1918 births 2000 deaths Sportspeople from Hawaii American sportspeople of Japanese descent College football bowl executives