Women's Basketball Hall of Fame

The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
Location: Knoxville, TN


The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is a hidden jewel among Knoxville's museums. I had seen it many times, but I don't watch women's basketball and thought that a museum devoted to that subject couldn't be very interesting. I was definitely proven wrong.

I should have realized that the museum would be impressive based on its exterior appearance alone. As you drive up to the museum, you can't help but stare in awe at the giant basketball that is on top of it. The architecture under the basketball even looks like a giant basketball net. The museum had begun to impress me before I even entered it. And if a giant basketball exterior wasn't enough to impress me, the museum even had its own exit off the interstate. Any museum worthy of having its own interstate exit surely must be impressive.

As I entered the Hall of Fame, one of the first things I noticed were the automatic lights. The lights throughout the Hall of Fame are motion sensored and only come on when visitors are in that particular part of the museum. Not only was the Hall of Fame impressive, it was also environmentally friendly.

The displays in the Hall of Fame were very colorful and detailed. Every one was professionally designed and put together. I had yet to visit a museum of this high of caliber the entire semester. Although the displays were excellently designed and constructed, they were a bit too wordy for my taste. They contained lots of writing, more than I ever want to read when I'm at a museum. The displays would also bore any school age child. Thankfully, these were not the only types of displays in the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame contained a good mixture of wordy exhibits that would interest adults and hands-on exhibits that would interest kids. Although displays like the one above would most likely not interest the average child, the Hall of Fame provided plenty of other types of displays that would easily keep them interested. For example, an animatronic women's basketball player from the early 20th century talks to visitors as they walk by, telling them about early women's basketball. I did not expect such a high-tech element in a Knoxville museum. Another great hands-on area for the kids is the fake locker room. There are benches and statues of fakes players that you can sit with. There are even four different coaches' locker room speeches that you can watch. It's like you are on the team as you sit on the bench with you're fake teammates and watch a locker room talk given by a real women's basketball coach.

The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame also does an excellent job keeping up with current events in women's basketball. There are display cases showing jerseys of the teams who made it to the NCAA final four. They also display the jerseys of the players of the year. They even display the jerseys of the high school state champion teams. These exhibits must constantly be kept up to date and changed annually. It seems like it would be a lot of work, but it created a very interesting exhibit.


The Hall of Fame also provides a great grand finale'. Once you are done viewing all the exhibits, there are three basketball courts downstairs that are there for you to play on. This is also an excellent idea for all the kids who visit the Hall of Fame. I can only imagine what this area is like when a field trip comes through. Although this area is primarily for entertainment, it is still somewhat educational. For example, one of the baskets is modeled after the old style of basketball goals. Thus, kids can have fun and experience a bit of history all at once.

The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is one of the best museums that I have visited so far. I had such low expectations for it that it completely blew me away when I visited it. I'd recommend a visit to the Hall of Fame for any person in Knoxville.