Starting Dec. 20, we are reliving the top games, championships, awards, firsts, and memories from the year that was in the Ten For 2010 series. You the fans can vote on your top story of the year starting Dec. 29, and the results will be unveiled on New Year's Day. We present our top 10 in chronological order, not in a ranking of any sort.
Read about the opening of the HoC, with a photo gallery
For six years, the big blue wall loomed over the gymnasium lobby. Every visitor saw it - but few knew what it was for. It was just
there, for no apparent reason.
In reality, the massive wall and its matte navy blue finish were part of a big plan that just took awhile to come together. Originally intended when the gym was built in 2003 to be a display area of some kind, the concept didn't become reality until 2009, when athletic director
Rick Beard '90 M'92 made the decision to transform the space into a showcase for LVC's athletic history.
The finished product, dubbed the Hall of Champions, delivered more than just some trophy cases - it sports a mural honoring the greats of LVC athletics along with a listing of every all-American in program history, all atop five soaring glass-shelved cases. In the main hallway of the Heilman Center, championship banners and retired jersey line the rafters along with LVC signage, and a large TV shares LVC news with folks walking in the door.
The construction, done by Lobar Associates out of Dillsburg, started at the end of 2009 and finished up just after basketball season. As fans have visited it throughout the year, the reactions are almost universally of awe.
"When you have people down there standing and they're studying the stuff, the history and those memories that are coming back to them are invaluable. It brings more people back," Beard said.
"I'm looking forward to see how we can go even further with technology and expanding it."
Sports information director
Tim Flynn '05, who helped organize and stock the cases with trophies, agreed.
"This past fall after the Oktoberfest football game I walked by and saw Don Johnson '73 standing there by himself, taking a picture of his picture in the mural. I asked him what he thought of it and he didn't even have the words - he was just grinning ear to ear," Flynn said.
"That reaction is what the Hall of Champions is all about."
