The NCAA Hall of Champions is an interactive

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 thes ...

and part of a three-building complex that houses a conference center and the corporate headquarters of both the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and

National Federation of State High School Associations The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. NFHS's headquarters are located in White River State Park in Ind ...

(NFHS) in

White River State Park White River State Park is an urban park in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. Situated along the eastern and western banks of its namesake White River, the park covers . The park is home to numerous attractions, including the Eiteljorg Museum of A ...

in downtown Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, United States. It was constructed as part of the NCAA's headquarters relocation to Indianapolis from Kansas City, Missouri. The complex was designed by Indianapolis-native and postmodern architect,

Michael Graves Michael Graves (July 9, 1934 – March 12, 2015) was an American architect, designer, and educator, as well as principal of Michael Graves and Associates and Michael Graves Design Group. He was a member of The New York Five and the Memphis Gr ...

. The museum contains a 90-seat orientation theater, two floors of exhibition space, and a gift shop. The grand hall honors collegiate athletes representing the NCAA's 24 sanctioned sports across its three divisions and includes the banners of each member institution.

History

The Hall of Champions opened March 31, 2000, ahead of the

2000 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game The 2000 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship Game was the finals of the 2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and it determined the national champion for the 1999-2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, 1999–2000 NCAA ...

held in Indianapolis on April 3, 2000. The opening ceremony was presided over by

Indiana Governor The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the State of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government ...

Frank O'Bannon Frank Lewis O'Bannon (January 30, 1930 – September 13, 2003) was an American politician who served as the 47th governor of Indiana from 1997 until his death in 2003. As of October 2022, he remains the most recent United States Governor to ha ...

and NCAA president

Cedric Dempsey Cedric Warren Dempsey (born April 14, 1932) is a sports administrator who became the third executive director of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 1994 to 2003. Before leaving the post in 2002, Dempsey restructured the organ ...

, with 3,000 dignitaries in attendance.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

astronaut Steven Smith (a two-time NCAA Champion in

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

as a Stanford University student) attended the event, bringing with him a blue ribbon that traveled aboard the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' mission,

STS-103 STS-103 was a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission by Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 19 December 1999 and returned on 27 December 1999. It was also the last Shuttle mission of the 19 ...

. It was used in the ribbon-cutting, with slivers cut and distributed to attendees. The construction project cost $10 million. In November 2007, an electrical fire struck the building, concentrated largely in the " One Shining Moment" portion of the display and areas immediately surrounding it. The Hall was temporarily closed for renovations and reopened on March 12, 2009. Prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the Hall of Champions received about 44,000 visitors annually. In 2021, a six-person panel of

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

(AIA) Indianapolis members identified the Hall of Champions among the ten most "architecturally significant" buildings completed in the city since

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References

External links

International Sports Heritage Association National Collegiate Athletic Association Michael Graves buildings Modernist architecture in Indiana Museums in Indianapolis Sports museums in Indiana *A White River State Park New Classical architecture {{Indiana-sport-stub

History

See also

References

External links