Trip to CFHoF well worth the trip
ATLANTA, GA 鈥� This past Saturday, I made my way to the College Football Hall of Fame in the heart of downtown Atlanta.
While the main reason I went to Atlanta was to see Turner Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves before it closes this year, my journey to the Hall was easily the highlight of the trip.
The College Football Hall of Fame was established in 1951 and was originally located in New York City and was also based for a time in King Mills, Ohio, and South Bend, Indiana, before making its home adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park in the heart of Atlanta蘑菇视频 sports, entertainment and tourism district.
The beautiful $68.5 million museum opened on August 23, 2014 and has 94,256 square feet in which over 50,000 square feet are exhibits and event space, interactive displays, and a 45-yard indoor football field.
My unofficial tour guide for the visit was Matt Stark, a 2005 Monessen graduate.
During the 2002 and 2003 football seasons, I was the strength coach and special teams coach for Monessen and Matt was our kicker and punter.
After graduating high school, 鈥淜icker,鈥� as he was known to several of us, played four years at Dickinson College where he spent time at both kicker and punter.
Now residing in the Atlanta area, Stark informed me last week that I was in for a treat.
鈥淵ou could spend three or four hours in there and still not get the full experience,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y words do it no justice.鈥�
Kicker蘑菇视频 words were spot on as we were there for a few hours and while his description was correct, experiencing it was something else.
We picked up our tickets, which were interactive, and we had to pick our favorite team for stories and facts later on.
The first thing we saw when we walked in was a wall of football helmets for every team in the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I), Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), Division II and Division III.
There are literally hundreds of helmets, an impressive site to behold.
There are countless activities inside and they are team-themed based off of the team we picked.
My favorite part was the interactive panels where you learned about your chosen team蘑菇视频 history, or any team for that matter.
We can use our tickets at home to see parts of our experience.
As a Penn State fan, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about its history and all 21 of its Hall of Fame inductees.
Pitt fans could read about its 19 inductees and West Virginia could read about its seven.
We even clicked on California University of Pennsylvania to learn about my alma mater蘑菇视频 history!
There is a 10-minute video on the sport in a theater, and countless other activities.
Trophies from major bowl games, a Heisman trophy, and other plaques are on display.
Another highlight was Matt, with little effort, kicking a 20-yard field goal in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Skill Zone.
He finished his playing career almost six years ago, but he showed that he still has it!
The College Football Hall of Fame pays homage to the tradition and legacy of the game and if you visit Atlanta, it is a must.
For more information, go to http://www.cfbhall.com/.