Count yourself lucky if you live near one of these five awesome American sports museums. Visitors can re-experience great moments in sports, view authentic sports memorabilia, and get their sports-trivia fix all in one place. Their exhibits are not the dull, passive displays of history; these fun sports museums invite their visitors to try high-tech, interactive games and exhibits, while paying tribute to incredible athletes and teams.
Pro Football Hall of Fame: Canton, OH
Dedicated football fans need no introduction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is one of the five most awesome American sports museums. Founded in 1963, it pays tribute to history of football since 1920. It contains an exciting collection of artifacts, vintage equipment, and biographies of famous players and coaches. Allow a day or two to explore this impressive museum, since the most recent renovations have expanded the site to 118,000 square feet. There are endless galleries and hands-on, interactive learning exhibits for visitors of all ages. Plan your visit to this world-renowned collection before catching a game at Fawcett Stadium, which is right across the street.
Chicago Sports Museum: Chicago, IL
Chicago may be home of the champion Bulls and the 2016 World Series Cubs, but their most popular sports museum also pays homage to their hockey and football teams. Visitors can test their skills with interactive high-tech games and challenges. If you’ve ever wondered how your abilities compared to the sports legends, such as Richard Dent, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, and Kyle Long, plan to spend an afternoon here. Not feeling up to the challenge? No pressure. All sports enthusiasts will appreciate the one-of-a-kind artifacts and memorabilia that commemorate Chicago’s finest teams, athletes, and coaches. There are also several clever exhibits that revolve around unveiling the truth behind some famous sports mysteries, myths and superstitions.
Baseball Hall of Fame: Cooperstown, N.Y.
Leading the pack of the top five awesome American sports museums is the Baseball Hall of Fame, a non-profit museum located in Cooperstown, N.Y. Its mission is to preserve the 150-year history of baseball, America’s favorite past time. It features engaging and kid-friendly touch-screen cases and presentations that detail the accomplishments of legendary teams, players, stadiums, owners, announcers, managers, and umpires. There are thousands of photographs, uniforms, baseball cards, narrated video clips and trivia games to explore. If you can’t go to upstate New York to tour the exhibits, look into having their five interactive, mobile galleries come to your local museum.
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame: Springfield, MA
Dedicated to Dr James Naismith, who is credited with inventing the sport of basketball in 1891, this awesome sports museum located in Springfield, MA. It’s housed in an architecturally distinct building with an eye-catching structure that resembles–you guessed it—a basketball. In addition to the tributes to the current 300 inductees to the Basketball Hall of Fame, this museum has accumulated enough significant basketball memorabilia to fill hundreds of displays. The collection is installed on all three floors of the building, which covers over 40,000 square feet. Since 1959, its goal has been to preserve the history of basketball, but it also contains a complete sports library, and also hosts contests and live basketball clinics.
San Diego Hall of Champions: San Diego, CA
Known for its near-perfect climate, San Diego plays host to the largest multi-sport museum in America. This awesome sports museum honors the accomplishments and track records of the top athletes, teams and coaches in over 42 different sports. A truly unique collection of artifacts from the arenas of the most popular sports, plus skateboarding, sailing, golf, horse racing, motorsports and many others. Located in Balboa Park, the San Diego Hall of Champions was founded in 1959 it features three levels of exhibits that span nearly 70,000 square feet. It also houses the Breitbard Hall of Fame, into which outstanding local athletes have been inducted, including Tony Hawk, Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, LaDainian Tomlinson, Greg Louganis, and many others.
These museums model the high standards that American athletes have set, and their dedication to preserving America’s cultural icons is impressive. Plan a visit to one of these five awesome American sports museums soon.
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