Published: March 22, 2008 08:10 pm         

Basketball museum coming to Danville

Exhibit to honor state high school sport

DANVILLE — A project four years in the making will become a reality in downtown Danville in the next 12 to 15 months.

On Saturday, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and the city of Danville announced a partnership to relocate the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame from Normal to Danville.

The sign bearing that name was unveiled Saturday. It will hang over the yet undisclosed-location’s front door. Negotiations with the owner of the proposed site should be completed within the next three weeks, according to officials with the city and Downtown Danville Inc.

City officials and project supporters see the exhibit as a tourist magnet.

“Sports have a great deal of economic impact on tourism,” Jeanie Cooke, executive director of Danville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said just before the Saturday press conference where plans for the project were formally announced.

“The sports traveler has a larger party (than other travelers),” Cooke said. “They spend more money than the average traveler.

“This type of traveler is also not as susceptible to the ups and downs of the economy,” she said.

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer described the future space as “truly a state-of-the-art hall of fame.

“We were inspired by the new Lincoln Museum,” he said. “We want kids to be involved in the exhibits. We’ll have audio, video, displays with lockers and old uniforms. It will be educational as well as interactive.

“The fact that it will be in downtown Danville is one of the most exciting aspects,” he said.

Danville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will staff the new hall of fame location. Their offices will relocate to the new space.

The next year or so will be spent raising funds for the project’s construction from private and corporate sponsors on the local and state levels.

Admission will be about $3 per person, according to Eisenhauer, with special rates for students yet to be determined.

Prior to the plaques and other memorabilia being moved here, they were on exhibit in a hallway of a now-bankrupt hotel in Normal.

“We are now the custodians of Illinois basketball history,” Eishenhauer said.