Ed Hale founded 1st Mariner Bank in 1995, and he’s been the chairman and chief executive officer since. He’s also the owner of the city’s professional soccer team, the Blast. His family history is rooted in Catholicism and Protestantism, but lately Hale says he’s been more to synagogues than churches. “That’s a little fact my mother wouldn’t like to know,” he said with a smile. The Baltimore native, who will turn 62 on Saturday, has a pad in his 1st Mariner Tower in Canton but calls his farm on the Eastern Shore his real home. Hale is being inducted into the Sparrows Point High School Hall of Fame this week with former Major League outfielder Ron Swoboda. They were teammates in Little League.
What is your coolest piece of sports memorabilia?
I played shortstop for the Edgemere All-Stars, which was a traveling team, when I was 10 years old. I still have my glove in a cabinet in my office. It’s not Brooks Robinson’s autograph or anything, but it’s my glove. I was good field, no hit. I kept it.
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Do you think God cares who wins a sporting event?
Does anybody think that? I don’t. Same thing for wars. Does God care if the Blast beats Rockford? I don’t think so.
You’ll see players drop to a knee or thank God on the field. What’s your take on that?
I’m not into public displays of affection or public displays of religion. To me, that’s a very private thing. Just keep it to yourself. If you feel you have to thank God for a wonderful catch in the end zone, great. That’s your business. [But] keep your religious beliefs to yourself.
Have you ever asked for God’s help in a tight situation?
No. Never. I was in tight situations growing up, and I never said, ‘God, I swear I’m going to go to church on Sunday.’ I just don’t believe in doing that.
Where do you go for inspiration?
My church is the outdoors. I love to fish. I go to the Arctic Circle to fish. And I hunt on the water — waterfowl. I believe in the cause-and-effect theory. There had to be something that put us here. There was something before us. There had to be something supernatural that started this. Sitting in the woods at dark with the sun coming up, watching the smaller birds and the squirrels — I don’t want to sound too sappy — to me, that’s beautiful. You’re seeing the world come alive. That’s my church.
What is your biggest regret?
I wish I had been a better student so I could have been a doctor. I would have loved to have been a surgeon. I always thought I’d be pretty good at that, but I couldn’t pass chemistry.
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Businesswise, because it was so improbable, it was to take over the Bank of Baltimore in a proxy fight [in September 1991]. It was a political campaign. The blue-blooded 1818 bank and me — the guy from the wrong side of the tracks. That’s how they characterized it. And I took it over, made it a good bank and sold it to what is now Wachovia.
How trying has it been in the face of the economic downturn?
You have to dig deep. You have to remind yourself that the sun is going to come up tomorrow, regardless of what you do. You have to make sure you do what you have to do. I talk to my close friends about what’s going on. Everybody’s been affected. You have to look within to keep yourself strong and to keep everyone motivated around you. As a leader, you have to be inspirational. If you’re sullen, everyone’s going to be sullen. You have to be steady, true to your employees and true to your business. It comes from within.