Ed Hale

With Ed Hale retiring as First Mariner's CEO and chairman, I only hope that Baltimoreans realize the importance of retaining this man in our area ("First Mariner's Hale steps down," Dec. 24). I've known Ed for several decades and he is a true Baltimorean, a philanthropist, a very good tennis player and a great moral leader. He is a true treasure. James A. Holechek, Baltimore

It took a half Saturday night for the Blast to play the top-notch style of indoor soccer it had displayed throughout the 2012-13 Major Indoor Soccer League season, but it was worth the wait for the home team. Overcoming a shaky start, the Blast relentlessly attacked the goal against the Missouri Comets to overcome a halftime deficit in the second game of the MISL Championship Series. After Adriano Dos Santos scored in the fourth quarter and rookie Lucas Roque followed shortly after with another goal, the Blast was able to confront the Comets' final stand with its signature defense to come away with an 8-6 win and a two-game sweep in front of an announced 8,704 at 1st Mariner Arena . "They've been tremendous all season long, only five losses, and a couple of those we probably could have won," coach Danny Kelly said.

Baltimore Blast Owner Ed Hale will be one of three inaugural inductees into the MISL Hall of Fame, the United Soccer Leagues announced Tuesday. Hale, who has owned the Blast for 17 years, has been instrumental over the years in keeping the team in the city and keeping the league afloat.  The Hall of Fame Class of 2011 will be inducted at the USL Hall of Fame Banquet on Dec. 16 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach (Fla.). In addition to Hale, long-time Milwaukee Wave Coach Keith Tozer and former Dallas Sidekicks and Wichita Wings player Tatu will be inducted into the MISL wing of the Hall of Fame.

Ed Hale knows what a championship team looks like. After all, he's seen the Blast bring home five of its six Major Indoor Soccer League titles since he became owner of the team. So he's not hesitant in laying out his expectations for a Blast squad that's hoping to bring home its first MISL championship since 2009 on Saturday night against the Missouri Comets. "We fully expect to win," Hale said. "No ifs, ands or buts about it. " After winning the first game of the series in Missouri on Thursday, 21-12, the Blast could accomplish that task with a victory Saturday.

He is successful by any measure: a self-made multimillionaire, a world traveler, a fine athlete, a man who counts among his friends a senator, a governor, a mayor.So why was Ed Hale so nervous at a recent charity auction? Why, for a few unsteady moments, did he find himself deploring his decision to put himself on the block to benefit the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Central Maryland?"I can't describe the feeling when they say the big event of the evening is a night out with Ed Hale," he reflected a few weeks after the fact, sitting in his office with its antique furniture, Oriental rugs and huge bay window overlooking not only the Port of Baltimore, where his trucking and shipping businesses are centered, but all of the city.

An article in Sunday's Business section misreported the ownership position of Legg Mason Inc. shares of Baltimore Bancorp.A mutual fund directed by Legg Mason owns about 540,000 shares, and Legg Mason customers hold about 700,000 shares in individual accounts. The shares in the individual accounts are voted, for purposes of electing Baltimore Bancorp directors, by the individual clients. Legg Mason's fund managers vote the shares in the mutual fund.The Sun regrets the error.In the parking lot of the Anchorage marina, Edwin F. Hale Sr. pops open the trunk of his navy-blue Lincoln and tosses his tennis bag inside next to his fishing equipment and shotgun.

The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a six-month extension of naming rights for 1st Mariner Arena . The spending panel awarded the temporary extension to Arena Ventures LLC, which is run byEdwin F. Hale, the former CEO of 1st Mariner Bank. The extension was listed as a "month-to-month" deal that begins June 30 and ends Dec. 31. Arena Ventures has been in charge of advertising at the arena since 2002 and selected 1st Mariner as the arena's title sponsor. The extension allows the city more time to issue a request for proposals for naming and advertising rights, once Arena Venture's contract expires at the end of the month, officials said.

In the lobby of the Anchorage Towers in Canton, someone's swept the coins at the bottom of a burbling fountain into the shape of an anchor. Clearly that's not where Ed Hale's been throwing his money. Fourteen flights up in the penthouse, Hale, chief executive officer of 1st Mariner Bank, developer and owner of the Baltimore Blast professional soccer team, has used more than a little of his spare change to create a swank bachelor pad with breathtaking views of the city he has literally worked his way to the top of. But Hale wants to cash out and trade up. To move just feet down Boston Street into the top of a 17-story office tower he's building there, Hale is selling the condo he spent a decade molding to fit his definition of man-about-town luxury.

This is the second time around for Ed Hale, indoor soccer team owner. And this time, he says, things are going to be different.In fact, even as Hale attempts to recreate the popularity of the 1980s Blast, which played to near capacity at the Baltimore Arena, things are already different.This time, Hale goes into a Blast season knowing he won't lose money. Already, sponsorship packages totaling more than $1 million have been sold.This time, Hale has gained influence in the business community and is using his business savvy to make a success of his franchise.

It was dusk when 1st Mariner Bank chairman Edwin F. Hale Sr. left a meeting in his Canton office to drive west across town to the Baltimore civic arena that bears his bank's name. The official unveiling of 14 giant billboards on the arena's exterior was only two days away, and the gray-haired banker, in jeans and a navy Polartec jacket, watched closely as workers in cranes smoothed wrinkles on the ad promoting his professional indoor soccer team, the Baltimore Blast. He wanted to be sure that the Times Square-style signs looked good, because plenty of people were upset about them - including Peter Angelos, the prominent attorney and Orioles owner who has redeveloped property just blocks away on the city's west side.

Edwin F. Hale Sr., the Baltimore developer and former CEO of First Mariner Bancorp, filed a $5 million lawsuit Monday against the operators of 1st Mariner Arena , alleging they are improperly using billboards that belong to him. Filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Hale's suit names as defendants arena operator SMG Holdings of West Conshohocken, Pa., and the advertising firm that replaced him at the arena, Legends Sales and Marketing of...

I would like to clarify some of the statements made in your article about Hale Properties and the Baltimore Blast leaving the Clarence H. Du Burns Arena ("In dispute with city, Hale moves businesses out," Feb. 28). The management fee to run the Du Burns Arena mentioned in the article has been declining over the years. In fact, the last agreement, which ended on January 21, included no management fee to be paid to Hale Properties to operate Du Burns Arena. Hale Properties was also responsible for paying all the operating expenses of running Du Burns Arena, and the Blast paid a rental fee to the city for use of office space there.

Veteran Blast goalkeeper Sagu, a member of three championship teams in his eight seasons playing in Baltimore, announced he would not be returning to the team Monday. After being named the Major Indoor Soccer League's Goalkeeper of the Year for a second straight season, Sagu, 39, had planned to play one more season for the Blast. But the native of Brazil will instead step down now to pursue an assistant college coaching job in Dallas, where he began his professional career in the United States.

The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a six-month extension of naming rights for 1st Mariner Arena . The spending panel awarded the temporary extension to Arena Ventures LLC, which is run byEdwin F. Hale, the former CEO of 1st Mariner Bank. The extension was listed as a "month-to-month" deal that begins June 30 and ends Dec. 31. Arena Ventures has been in charge of advertising at the arena since 2002 and selected 1st Mariner as the arena's title sponsor. The extension allows the city more time to issue a request for proposals for naming and advertising rights, once Arena Venture's contract expires at the end of the month, officials said.

With Ed Hale retiring as First Mariner's CEO and chairman, I only hope that Baltimoreans realize the importance of retaining this man in our area ("First Mariner's Hale steps down," Dec. 24). I've known Ed for several decades and he is a true Baltimorean, a philanthropist, a very good tennis player and a great moral leader. He is a true treasure. James A. Holechek, Baltimore

The United Soccer Leagues has announced that Blast owner Ed Hale will be one of three inaugural inductees into the Major Indoor Soccer League Hall of Fame this year. Hale has been instrumental in keeping indoor soccer in Baltimore and in keeping the entire league afloat. He and the rest of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2011 will be inducted at a banquet on Dec. 16 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach. Honorees were chosen through a vote of current Hall of Fame members and USL teams. Hale first owned the club from 1989 to 1992.

As a retiring professional athlete, Blast captain Lance Johnson already has plans to sharpen his golf game. It's not to pass the time or fuel his competitive drive, but more out of necessity as he prepares to move full time into his next playing field - the world of banking. "What I've been told, when you're out golfing, people tend to let their guard down a little bit. So it's not so much a business meeting as it is two friends playing a round of golf - that's where you can create some good business opportunities," he said.

Blast owner Ed Hale has been named the Advertising and Professional Club of Baltimore's Civic Citizen of 1991. He received the award during a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency yesterday.Gov. William Donald Schaefer said that in purchasing the Blast two years ago, Hale helped "save downtown Baltimore," because the Blast brings people downtown.Mayor Kurt Schmoke sent a proclamation declaring May 1 as "Edwin F. Hale Day" in the city, but Major Soccer League commissioner Earl Foreman upstaged that when he said:"Over the last two years, Ed Hale has made the single biggest contribution to the sport of soccer in this country, bar no one."

Baltimore Blast Owner Ed Hale will be one of three inaugural inductees into the MISL Hall of Fame, the United Soccer Leagues announced Tuesday. Hale, who has owned the Blast for 17 years, has been instrumental over the years in keeping the team in the city and keeping the league afloat.  The Hall of Fame Class of 2011 will be inducted at the USL Hall of Fame Banquet on Dec. 16 at the Hilton Clearwater Beach (Fla.). In addition to Hale, long-time Milwaukee Wave Coach Keith Tozer and former Dallas Sidekicks and Wichita Wings player Tatu will be inducted into the MISL wing of the Hall of Fame.

In many past summers, Blast owner and Major Indoor Soccer League chairman Ed Hale was confronted with two frustrating questions as a new season approached: Which franchises are coming and which are going? Before last year, three teams left the league - including then-defending league champion La RaZa de Monterrey and the Blast's longtime rival Philadelphia KiXX. Added to the fold were franchises in Missouri, Omaha and Chicago to form a five-team league which also included the mainstay Milwaukee Wave.