ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
YOU DIDN'T KNOW the state has a Sports Hall of Fame? That's one of the problems the shrine is battling.
It is found in the Olde Town section of Portsmouth, and maybe that location says more about the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame than anything.
The state Hall of Fame installs six new inductees, including Lanny Wadkins and Ralph Sampson, at its annual dinner Friday night. The Hall's problem isn't that even some of the state's foremost sports fans don't know who's in it or recognize many inductees' names.
Some don't even know there is a Hall of Fame.
``We might be the best-kept secret in the state,'' said Eddie Webb, the Hall of Fame's new executive director. ``It isn't the location some people aren't aware of. The fact we even have a Hall of Fame in Virginia, I'm sure a lot of people don't know that. What we have here is definitely a hidden treasure.''
Webb, a longtime college basketball assistant coach - his father is Hall of Famer and former Old Dominion and Randolph-Macon coach Paul Webb - is trying to change not only the ignorance about the Hall, but its image as well.
The shrine, located at 420 High Street, only a few blocks from the Elizabeth River and just across the water from The Waterside in Norfolk, has inducted about 149 Virginia sports personalities since 1972. The museum's 5,000 square feet occupy the former clerk's office location in the old Norfolk County Courthouse row.
Webb was selected as the Hall's second executive director after serving on an interim basis since Herb Simpson, the only director the shrine has had, retired at age 80 in September. Webb's job is to sell and revitalize the Hall, which is a non-profit corporation, but not a Portsmouth city agency.
The Hall received a state appropriation of $50,000 for this year, and has been recognized by the General Assembly as the commonwealth's ``official'' sports museum. Webb knows, however, that will not bring in visitors - although having no admission charge should help.
``We have to get out and promote the Hall of Fame,'' said Webb, one of three full-time employees at the shrine. Portsmouth has a plan, Vision 2005, to redevelop the city's waterfront. We need to make ourselves a priority to the city. We also need to get out in the state and tell people what's here.''
The numbers tell Webb how far the Hall has to travel. Less than two blocks down High Street from the Hall, the Children's Museum of Virginia and its planetarium attracted more than 200,000 visitors last year. The Hall of Fame, open six days a week year-round, only had about 40,000 come through the doors.
Increasingly, however, over the years, the Hall has gotten the reputation as little more than an old-boys' network, although the inductees' displays are impressive.
``It's been,'' said one former board member who didn't want to be identified, ```You take care of getting my guy in and I'll take care of yours.' I think Eddie is trying to change that.''
Webb admits there are recent enshrinees whom ``the younger generation has no idea who they are. I'm not saying those people don't belong in the Hall of Fame. They do. However, there are a lot of people who have been overlooked, people who deserve to be in the Hall.''
The inductees include Bill Dudley, Arthur Ashe, Nancy Lieberman-Cline, Sam Snead, George Preas and Lefty Driesell. However, there are too many notable absences, like retired Ferrum football coaching legend Hank Norton, or former Virginia Tech and ABA hoops star Glen Combs, a Roanoke resident.
Webb knows the Hall of Fame isn't going to change overnight, and he also realizes the shrine has a less-than-superb reputation in Southwest Virginia, where many with sports connections feel like their stars haven't received equal consideration with those from the Charlottesville-Richmond-Norfolk corridor. Clintwood's Ralph Cummins, who holds the state high school record for football coaching victories, will become the 42nd inductee with roots southwest of Staunton when he's enshrined Friday night.
Cummins will be the first Southwest Virginian to be inducted since 1991.
There also has been confusion about just who is where in the Hall. That's because the shrine also had a ``Wall of Fame'' to which names were enshrined from 1972-93. The Wall ``was done away with,'' Webb explained, although it still exists in the Hall. One misconception about the wall was that someone who received that status was thought to be ineligible for the Hall. That's no longer the case.
``Some people aren't in,'' Webb said, ``for the simple reason they haven't been nominated. That's what I mean about increasing the awareness.''
Webb, 42, spent much of the winter lobbying state legislators, selling the Hall of Fame as a state agency. In researching state sports shrines, he found that ``in every other state from Virginia down to Florida and then over to Texas, the state Hall of Fame was either a state agency or received a large sum of money as a state appropriation. The least amount any received, outside Virginia, was $100,000.''
The Hall was organized 30 years ago, but it didn't induct its first class until six years later. There are days when Webb feels like progress is still that slow. He has spent many hours traveling to state meetings, discussing the future plans for the Hall. He has spoken to the Blacksburg Sports Club and Salem Rotary, among others.
With the help of board member Dan Wooldridge of Roanoke and Jack Prater of Blacksburg, the Hall has organized a fund-raising golf tournament for an October weekend when Virginia Tech has a home football date. The Hall also will be more aggressive in trying to sell tax-deductible memberships that range from $25 to $2,500.
``We need to come up with some kind of satellite concept, some type of display in other parts of the state, or maybe regional dinners to get people involved and make them familiar with the Hall of Fame,'' said Webb, who realizes those plans also might help with fund-raising. ``There's only one direction we can go with this.''
Webb, who spent the past 10 years as a basketball assistant at Virginia Commonwealth, also has worked with the board of directors to put more flexibility into the induction process. In the past, Hall bylaws require that its Honor Court enshrine four living inductees and two deceased. The rule has been changed to state that ``no more than two inductees'' annually shall be deceased.
``We also had a rule that you had to be retired for five years before a person could be considered for induction,'' Webb said. ``We've done away with that. A guy like Lanny Wadkins has accomplished so much. Why should he have to wait to be inducted?''
The new board also has created a special wing of the Hall to honor members of the state media. A few with media connections, including the late Roanoke World-News sports editor Bob McLelland and former Virginia Tech sports information chief Wendy Weisend, are on the Wall of Fame.
``The best thing we could do is get more people to see just what's here,'' Webb said. ``I think some people would be shocked. We just need to make people more familiar with the Hall.''
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE. 1. Eddie Webb, executive directorby CNBof the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, says the museum might be the
best-kept secret in the state, and he's working to improve the
shrine's exposure to the public. 2. Ralph Sampson and Lanny Wadkins
will be among the latest inductees to the Virginia Sports Hall of
Fame, which is located in Portsmouth. color. Graphic: Chart.