A way to spread fame all over the city

HAMILTON SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Folks who recognize and appreciate the history of sports surely experienced some warm, fuzzy feelings last week when the idea for the reformatted Canadian Football Hall of Fame was announced.

Instead of continuing to hide the game’s history in a dusty, underfunded building that’s been so widely ignored that Jimmy Hoffa could actually be propped up in a corner and remain undiscovered, it will once again come to life when a pared-down version is moved to Tim Hortons Field.

It’s a wonderful, overdue, inspired move.

With that resolved, it’s time to turn our attention to the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame.

Since the concept of the local hall was launched in 2010, there’s always been a hope that someday it would exist in three dimensions rather than simply as a website. Naming the inductees is great, but having a place for people to peruse honorees’ plaques and check out local sports memorabilia would be vastly better. Is that close to becoming reality? Sort of. Which is a squishy answer because the actual dream for how this will be done is something a little different from the usual hall-of-f ame idea. In f act, it’s something quite unique that actually fits quite nicely with the unusual-yet-creative concept behind the new football hall.

“There needs to be one and ideally multiple locations,” says chair Brian Lewis. That’s right, multiple. Instead of a central hall of f ame that requires an effort to visit — and that doesn’t always work, as the CFHOF has proven — the idea is to have a displays throughout the city.

Put different showcases in the lobbies of hockey rinks, recreation centres, city hall and other public buildings. Perhaps including First- Ontario Centre and Tim Hortons Field. Basically, put something wherever people naturally congregate.

Ultimately, have six, seven or eight different sites in which memorabilia can be shown for a time, then rotated to other sites. Keeping each location fresh.

Even better, add a mobile display that can go to local schools. Lewis says more than 200 Grade 6 classes in town have already used the curriculum developed by the hall that teaches kids about the history of sports in Hamilton. Being able to put the hall on wheels as a visiting museum would enhance that.

Yes, the entire concept is something rather different from the traditional hall of fame model. But it’s also rather clever.

Without a building to call its own, costs would be kept to a minimum. There wouldn’t need to be an admission fee that could chase some people away. There wouldn’t need to be any full-time staff.

Best of all, it wouldn’t require people to come to a hall. The hall would come to the people. This would make it difficult to ignore because chances are you’ll come across a display at some point as you move throughout the city. And, honestly, who doesn’t at least sneak a peak whenever there’s a display case nearby? Curiosity is a great initiator.

This would spread the Hamilton sports history gospel even to people who aren’t diehard sports fans who’d never otherwise make an effort to go to a sports-themed location. At the very least, this would cause many non-fans to get sprinkled with some of the area’s history. Meanwhile, big-time fans could douse themselves i n the stuff. Not just yet, though. Talks have been ongoing with representatives from the city and other community groups for some time now, laying the groundwork for this. Plus, Lewis says the collection of memorabilia the committee has been gathering is growing but isn’t quite at the point of being exhibition-ready. Every time a public plea has been offered for donations, he says, it’s been met with a great response, though. So, at some point soon, it will begin a hard-core drive for stuff. That will be closer to the point when everything else is ready to be put in motion.

“I always hoped it would be within 10 years,” Lewis says.

The hall launched six years ago. That means there are four years left to achieve this. Is that time frame still on track? Could this all be in place by then?

“Yes,” Lewis says. “Absolutely.”