The Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, located in the

Hawthorne Race Course Hawthorne Race Course is a racetrack for horse racing in Stickney/Cicero, Illinois, near Chicago. The oldest continually run family-owned racetrack in North America, in 2009 the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating syst ...

, in Stickney/

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

, near

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, honors sports greats associated with the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

. It was founded in 1979 as a trailer owned by the

Olympia Brewing Company The Olympia Brewing Company was a brewery in the northwest United States, located in Tumwater, Washington, near Olympia. Founded in 1896 by Leopold Friederich Schmidt, it was bought by G. Heileman Brewing Company in 1983. Through a series of co ...

parked at

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since 1 ...

in Chicago. The

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...

took over the exhibits in 1983. From 1988 the exhibits were displayed in

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

's restaurant until the restaurant closed in 1991. The

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 ...

moved to the

Maryville Academy Maryville Academy is a child care organization rooted in Catholic teaching. Located in Des Plaines, Illinois, Maryville was founded in 1883. History Originally known as St. Mary's Training School for Boys, the facility was the vision of Chica ...

in Des Plaines in 1996 and has operated under the guidance of Father John P. Smyth since that time. As of 2008, it was operating at Hawthorne. Directors include Smyth, former

Superintendent

Ed Kelly Edmond Kelly, also known as "Ed" or "Eddie" and nicknamed the Silver Fox (born October 24, 1948 in Dublin, Ireland), is an Irish-American former soccer player. He played in the American Soccer League and one season in the North American Socc ...

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

Athletic Director Jean Lenti-Ponsetto, and former

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

tight end

Emery Moorehead Emery Matthew Moorehead (born March 22, 1954) is a former American football tight end and wide receiver in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and the Chicago Bears. He won a Super Bowl ring as the starting ...

. The honorees include high-school athletes, such as Babe Baranowski who quarterbacked the 1937

Leo Catholic High School Leo Catholic High School is a private all-male, Catholic high school in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Archdiocese of Chicago and home to a predominantly African–American student bod ...

team in the Prep Bowl football game in

, viewed by a record 120,000 spectators, high-school coaches, college athletes from as far away as the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

and the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

, as well as professional and

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 ...

athletes associated with Chicago. Their sports include everything from baseball, basketball, football, and hockey to bowling, fishing, golf, and horse racing. Two special awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the

Ray Meyer Raymond Joseph Meyer (December 18, 1913 – March 17, 2006) was an American men's collegiate basketball coach from Chicago, Illinois. He was well known for coaching at DePaul University from 1942 to 1984, compiling a 724–354 record. Meyer ...

Coach of the Year Award may honor non-Chicagoans.

Honorees

References

External links

Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame
{{Cicero, Illinois Cicero, Illinois Chicago metropolitan area Museums in Cook County, Illinois Halls of fame in Illinois Sports museums in Illinois All-sports halls of fame Awards established in 1979 1979 establishments in Illinois

Honorees

See also

References

External links