The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is located in

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...

. It is the largest state

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in the United States at .

Exhibitions

The Hall of Fame houses over of exhibit space broken down into sections including Hall of Fame Inductees,

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

collegiate sports College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games. World University Games The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

, Professional Sports, and Great Moments in Georgia Sports History areas. Interactive exhibits in the

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

include

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

simulator A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

games, and

computer programs A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program i ...

Governance

The Hall of Fame is owned by the state of Georgia and operated by the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame Authority. It is governed by an 18-member Authority appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia.

History

The Hall of Fame portion of the museum was created in 1956 as the Georgia Prep Sports Hall of Fame. In 1963 it was expanded to encompass prep, college, amateur and professional sports. In 1978 the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame was officially created by the Georgia State Legislature. Then, in 1994 the state of Georgia appropriated $6.5 million to construct the Sports Hall of fame museum, and added another $1.8 million in 1996. The total construction of the building and its exhibits cost $8.3 million. The building opened in 1999 and had more than 65,000 visitors during its first year of operations. Yearly operations are partially funded by the State of Georgia and partnerships with local organizations provide in-kind contributions and relationships. Additional fundraising is continued through facility rentals, a 5k walk, and Hall of Fame induction-ceremony table sales.

Meetings

Meetings for the inductions process for the Georgia State Hall of Fame are now all open to the public. While inductee selection was always public, screening meetings only recently became open and it is considered somewhat controversial. To date, over 300 members have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Rentals

The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame has developed extensive rental programs aimed at youth, and area organizations. Youth party possibilities (price varies on number of attendees) include admission to the museum, catering availability, access to chairs and tables, and use of the Georgia room for two hours. Equipment rentals are available for parties including: TV/

VCR A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette, and can play back the recording. ...

, overhead projectors, portable screens and easels. In addition to youth parties, the Hall of Fame also offers rentals of the Conference Room (capacity 15), the Georgia Room (in classroom, banquet, reception or theater style), the Rotunda (Banquet or Reception style) and the Theater (205 capacity)

The Building

The building itself was built to resemble a turn-of-the-century ballpark, with red-brick exterior and green roof. From the old style ticket booths to the brick columns in the rotunda and special lighting the Hall of Fame was created to put visitors into the heart of a sports experience. Over 1,000 artifacts are on display in the building and over 7,000 objects in the Hall of Fame collection. In addition to the exhibits, the building also houses a "Georgia Room" for rentals and receptions, a gift shop, a 205-seat theater, a research center, staff offices and storage space.

Inductees

External links

*
Georgia Lacrosse Chapter Hall of Fame
(

US Lacrosse USA Lacrosse is the national governing body of men and women's lacrosse in the United States. It provides a leadership role in virtually every aspect of the game and has more than 450,000 members throughout the United States, and offers programs a ...

). National Lacrosse Hall of Fame webpage. US Lacrosse website. {{Authority control * Halls of fame in Georgia (U.S. state) State sports halls of fame in the United States Sports museums in Georgia (U.S. state) All-sports halls of fame Museums in Macon, Georgia International Sports Heritage Association Cultural infrastructure completed in 1999 Awards established in 1959 1999 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)