State basketball museum planned for Pontiac

Pontiac Mayor Bob Russell and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association representatives announced plans to open a state basketball museum at the former Pontiac K-Mart by the end of next year. (WJBC photo/Cynthia Grau)

By Greg Halbleib

PONTIAC – The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association is ramping up its efforts to establish a state hoops museum.

Association and city leaders today said fundraising continues for the Basketball Museum of Illinois, planned for the former K-Mart plaza in Pontiac. Initial plans were announced one year ago. Pontiac Mayor Bob Russell said the museum will be an asset to the city and the entire state while utilizing the former K-Mart building.

“The owner saw this opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build this plaza back up,” Russell said. “He said we already have 20 retail stores interested in being next to this.”

The IBCA’s Bruce Firchau said a floor plan for the museum has been developed, which includes interactive exhibits and plenty of memorabilia, some of which has already been obtained.

“Our oldest basketball we have is from 1920 and Mt. Vernon High School from the state championship game,” Firchau said. “We’ve got the old scoreboard that the clock glows red, in mint condition, from the old Springfield Armory. It’s a monster. We have six seats from the old Huff Gym (University of Illinois) with the fedora hat racks underneath. We can create the atmosphere.”

Interactive exhibits are also planned.

Firchau says efforts continue to raise $4 million to launch the project. He would not commit to a target date for the museum’s opening, but city and project leaders says they hope to have the facility ready sometime next year.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…