LITTLE ROCK, AR (Nov. 21, 2005) -- Members of the Arkansas sports media today got their first look at the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum, still under construction and expected to open in April. Located on the west side of ALLTEL Arena in North Little Rock, the 15,000 square foot facility will showcase Arkansas sports memories through exhibits, displays, video and audio programs.
The Museum is impressive, but it can be even more so if Arkansans support the facility by making financial contributions. On top of money already raised for the design and fabrication of exhibits, approximately $300,000 to $400,000 is still needed. A total of $2.1 million has been spent on the facility shell. The total capital campaign goal is $3.2 million.
Among its many highlights are an 88-seat-theatre where a video presentation of Arkansas sports memories will be shown and Arkansas sports legends will provide lectures on special occasions, an interactive broadcast booth where visitors can record their own play-by-play broadcast of a sporting event, and a gift shop where Arkansas sports novelties can be purchased.
Opening exhibits will include football, baseball, basketball, racing, tennis, golf, and the Olympics. There will be a salute to Arkansas coaching legends, a historical look at sports in Arkansas, one of Mark Martin’s first race cars, and a display honoring the over 250 inductees into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame since its formation in 1958.
Vibrant colors of purple, green and yellow will provide exciting décor. Booths will be arranged so that visitors walk through inviting areas, many of them interactive and all with a story. Inductees and sports fans from throughout the state have donated sports memorabilia that will be displayed and changed out.
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) Executive Director Ray Tucker says the Museum is designed to be “an Arkansas sports fan’s field of dreams.”
It signifies the role sports has played and is playing in our state’s history; it defines the impact of sports as an economic development and tourist attraction; and it provides a lasting and much-deserved salute to Arkansas sports heroes of the past, present and future.
The Sports Hall of Fame Foundation Board has been careful to design the museum to appeal to a huge fan base. They visited Sports Hall of Fames in Mississippi, Missouri and Alabama for ideas.
“There is hardly an Arkansan whose life has not been touched by sports. We will have permanent and changing displays. Arkansas’ sports legacy, one that covers a wide assortment, will be revealed in educational and highly creative exhibits,” Tucker added.
Truly An Arkansas Facility
The Sports Hall of Fame Museum has been made possible through private donations, all from Arkansans, native Arkansans or Arkansas corporations, making it truly an Arkansas facility. Chairing the capital campaign has been attorney Buddy Sutton, an honorary inductee into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and a former Arkansas Razorback football player. We got off to a great start with major gifts from Jerry Jones and Jim Lindsey.
A number of prominent Arkansas companies and individuals have provided sponsorship and naming rights. Among them are: ALLTEL Pat Summerall Broadcast Booth; Arkansas Christian Athletes Theatre, sponsored by Team Affiliated, Crain Automotive Basketball Display; Betty and Brick Lile Coaching Legends Display; John Ed Anthony Racing ; Regions Bank Football, the Bob Russell Entrance, Cabe Foundation, Olds Foundation, the Stephens Family, Entergy, Simmons Bank, U-S Bank, Blue Cross, Floyd Sagely, Jerry Lamb, Floyd Kyser, and Elizabeth Pruitt.
Naming rights are still available. They include an Educational Center where value-added information and statistics are available on Arkansas sports legends; a Baseball Display; a National Championship Room saluting the state’s many national titles; a Future Hall of Famers Exhibit featuring current athletes whose performances make them practically destined for the Sports Hall of Fame and an Olympics display honoring Arkansans who have reached the zenith of their careers by being Olympians.
An Ideal Location & Time
The Museum’s location off Interstate 30 and on the banks of the Arkansas River made it appealing from a logistics and aesthetics standpoint. Being attached to ALLTEL Arena provides proximity to the ideal venue.
Timing is perfect, too. The Sports Hall of Fame will become a tour stop for Central Arkansas that is reaping huge benefit from attractions such as the Clinton Presidential Center. Its presence in North Little Rock strengthens the city’s evolution into one of the state’s sports Meccas. There is ALLTEL Arena with Arena Football 2 (Arkansas Twisters) and the RimRockers NBA Development Team; there is the new baseball field that in 2007 will be home for the Arkansas Travelers and soon, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Hours of operation and admission costs are being finalized, but initially the Museum will be open seven days a week. It is expected to be a tourist attraction that already has Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, North Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, and Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission officials smiling.
Administrative offices of the Sports Hall of Fame will be moving to the new location in early December as the final stages of construction are completed.
Southwest Museum Services of Houston has provided guidance and counsel in the Arkansas project. It has provided support for the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas A&M Sports Hall of Fame, the Buddy Holley Hall of Fame, the Boy Scouts Hall of Fame the National Vietnam War Museum, and other halls.
Museum architect is Taggart Foster Currence Gray Architects of North Little Rock. General contractor is Kinco Construction.
Financial contributions can be mailed to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Museum at Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, #4 Shackleford Plaza Drive, Suite 207, Little Rock, Arkansas 72211. The ASHOF is a non-profit 501 “c-3” organization and financial contributions are tax-deductible. More information can be obtained by calling 501-663-4328, or by e-mailing jwashof@alltel.net.
The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame has dues-paying members from throughout Arkansas. Open to anyone, members of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame have voting privileges for Sports Hall of Fame inductees. The ASHOF induction ceremonies for the class of 2006 will be February 24.
