MARTINSVILLE — Indiana has long been known as a sports destination in the United States, and has been the home of a number of athletes who have competed at the highest levels.
Morgan County is no stranger to Hoosier greatness either, evident from all the locales named after John Wooden or Branch McCracken.
Given that history, perhaps it is fitting that a hall of fame honoring Hoosier athletes is set to open here in Martinsville by the end of the decade.
The Indiana Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted its first class of athletes, coaches, broadcasters and more in 2020, will finally have a place to call home. The future building is planned to be built a mile north of the Liberty Church Road exit on the east side of I-69.
Last week, the McDaniel family agreed to sell their 10-acre property to the Greater Evansville Baseball Hall of Fame, which was founded and is led by Tim Turpin. Turpin is spearheading the effort to build a museum honoring athletes from across the state involved in a number of different sports.
The building that will house the museum is planned to be 40,000 square feet, and will include exhibits honoring Indiana High School Athletic Association athletes, NCAA athletes from Purdue University, IU, Notre Dame and other colleges, professional athletes from the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers, Olympic athletes, race car drivers and more.
Additionally, the building will have a banquet space with a 225-person capacity. Outside the building will be a whiffle ball field, pickleball courts and picnic shelters.
“We think this will give Martinsville a boost,” Turpin told The Correspondent last week. “A lot of pennies, nickels and dimes will be dropped in the town when people come to visit the hall of fame.”
Turpin said the Martinsville location was chosen after great deliberation, and that the hall of fame also looked at potential locations in New Albany, Terre Haute, Bloomington and Indianapolis, among others.
Turpin said the decision not to build the hall in Indianapolis was made due to a variety of factors, including the fact that the Colts, the Pacers and IndyCar all have their own museums in or near the city. Moreover, Martinsville was perceived as a safe location that sees a lot of traffic from people traveling to and from Bloomington.
Martinsville will get some love inside the museum as well: John Wooden, who grew up in Centerton and coached the UCLA Bruins to 10 NCAA national titles in basketball, will have his own exhibit inside the hall.
Attending the museum will be affordable for students and families. Turpin projects that adults will be able to get into the museum for $10, while students and seniors can get in for $5.
Another source of revenue for the museum will be its banquet hall, which will be available to rent for special events.
As for what residents can expect, the hall of fame will offer more than enough to see. Turpin shared a rendering of the planned exterior of the museum on social media, with the facade being decorated in the colors of its various exhibits: Checkered flags for motorsports, blue and yellow stripes for the IHSAA, and so on.
Inside the building, patrons can expect to see exhibits decorated with jerseys, photos, equipment used in games and more. Inductees into the hall of fame don’t necessarily have to be from Indiana, but all had to have at least played here or made some important contribution to Hoosier athletics.
For example, this year’s class includes athletes like Oakland Raider and IU football star Fernando Mendoza, as well as Indiana Fever point guard Caitlin Clark, neither of whom were born in Indiana but have nonetheless put Indiana in countless national headlines since they began playing here.
Now that the hall of fame has at long last found its location, the next step will be raising money for the building, a process that Turpin said he thinks will take two years. Turpin projects that the cost of erecting the building will be somewhere between $4-5 million.
On Monday, Turpin announced on Facebook that the hall of fame is looking to organize two committees that will be instrumental in getting the hall of fame off the ground: The South Central Indiana Sports Association (SCISA), and the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame (ISHOF) Advisory Committee.
Both groups will be comprised of people living within a 50-mile radius of Martinsville.
The SCISA will oversee the building project and eventually be in charge of the hall’s operations. The ISHOF committee will help with the hall’s fundraisers and will have input on the hall’s community projects and causes.
Those interested in being on either of the committees can call or text 812-430-2725 or email timturp15@aol.com.
The Indiana Sports Hall of Fame is projected to open by mid-2029.
