Not Another Day at the Office?
The Orange County Sports Hall of Fame, padlocked within an office building at Edison Field, is searching for a new home, where its collection of memorabilia can be dusted off and displayed once again.
The collection could move down the street, into the Anaheim Convention Center, or into a proposed new museum in downtown Anaheim, or merge with a private sports museum in Newport Beach.
The collection includes the first Olympic gold medal won by an Orange County resident (Fred Kelly, high hurdles, 1912), the Heisman Trophy presented to former Mater Dei football player John Huarte in 1964, the size-20 shoes worn by former Cypress College and NBA center Mark Eaton and, amid a display of Mighty Duck memorabilia, the blissfully optimistic sign, “This case reserved for the Stanley Cup.”
In its current home at Edison Field, the collection is virtually invisible.
“It’s not a very good location for a hall of fame,” said Ed Munson, hall president. “We can’t have people coming and going all day from an administration building.
“We’re like an embassy inside a foreign country.”
The hall, founded in 1980, moved in 1993 to its current home, a 7,000-square-foot space on the second floor of a stadium administration building behind right field.
The Orange County Sports Assn. formerly occupied space in the building and provided daily tours of the hall. When Disney bought the Angels in 1996, the company assumed control of the building and turned all but the hall into office space.
Since then, the facility has been used primarily for private parties. While the hall is accessible from within Edison Field--down a hallway adjacent to the right-field concourse--Disney has shown no interest in operating the facility as an attraction for fans on game days.
A sports art and memorabilia dealer set up shop in the hall last season, but he soon complained of little foot traffic along the right-field concourse and now peddles his wares near home plate.
“We’re looking for a place that will give us visibility,” Munson said. “We can’t do it there.”
Munson said he hopes to settle on a new home for the hall this year. The Angels will help pay moving costs, club vice president Tim Mead said.
“We’re not interested in seeing this boxed up and stored,” Mead said. “We’re interested in this community seeing and being interested in its athletic history.”
The Anaheim Convention Center attracts 1.5 million visitors per year, and its general manager, Greg Smith, said he would love to include the hall within the Convention Center complex. Smith has met with Munson and offered two locations, one within an exhibit hall and another within the sports arena that presently hosts a high school boys’ basketball tournament in December and the Big West Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in March.
The city of Anaheim is exploring the possibility of developing a new downtown museum, one that could incorporate local history, art and sports. Consultants working with the city have visited the hall to study how its collection might fit into a museum, City Manager James Ruth said.
“The city is definitely interested in preserving it, and making it more accessible to the public,” Ruth said.
Munson also has had preliminary discussions about a merger with the Newport Sports Collection Foundation. Real estate developer John Hamilton displays some 10,000 items of sports memorabilia--with a national scope, not limited to Orange County--in a 6,000-square-foot space in Newport Beach. The facility includes some room for expansion, program director Kellie Newcombe said.
“We want to see the hall of fame do well,” Newcombe said. “We would love to be involved.”
By securing a new home, the hall can restore its focus on developing and expanding its collection. The annual induction banquets have not been held since 1998, and many of the exhibits have not been updated in many years.
The Ducks’ exhibit does not include Paul Kariya. The NFL career of former Servite star Steve Beuerlein, a Pro Bowl quarterback in 1999, is updated only through 1993, and the roster of county Olympians does not extend past 1992.
By securing a new home, the hall will avoid lapsing into oblivion--always a risk in Orange County sports, as evidenced by exhibits on the Rams (moved to St. Louis) and the defunct Anaheim Bullfrogs (roller hockey), Anaheim Oranges and Newport Beach Dukes (team tennis), California Dreams (women’s pro basketball), California Surf (soccer), Southern California Sun (World Football League) and Freedom Bowl and Pigskin Classic college football games.
“It’s a great exhibit that reflects the tremendous sports history in Orange County,” Ruth said. “It’s just in the wrong location. Most people are not aware it even exists.”
