The Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame is partnering with Discovery World on a new exhibit at the Milwaukee lakefront museum, which will celebrate the state’s past, present and future sports heroes.
The new exhibit, which was announced during an event Monday, will open on Jan. 24, 2019, in conjunction with the Hall of Fame’s 69th anniversary induction ceremony, when Kohler Co. chairman Herbert Kohler, Jr., Milwaukee Bucks great Marques Johnson and former Green Bay Packers General Manager and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ron Wolf will be immortalized in bronze at Discovery World.
According to a news release, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame Foundation will "prominently feature leadership lessons in TLC, Teamwork, Leadership and Character development via youth athletics."
Brian Lammi, the executive director of the Wisconsin Athletic Hallof Fame, said the new exhibit could include attractions like a virtual sausage race, "Meet the Mascots" and Women in Sports, as well as a leadership wall and radio broadcaster for a day and create your own trading card activities.
"This exhibit will allow Discovery World visitors to learn more about our illustrious athletes and the amazing feats they were able to accomplish," Lammi said in a statement. "It will also allow kids and families to have interactive, technology-focused experiences featuring current athletes. We are truly thrilled to partner with (Discovery World President & CEO) Joel Brennan and Discovery World."
At the announcement event, former Packers wide receiver and Class of 2016 inductee Donald Driver said the exhibit would be a natural extension of the first state athletic Hall of Fame in the country, which was founded in 1951 and given new life by Lammi a few years ago.
"It’s an incredible honor to make the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame because it’s the best of the best across all sports," said Driver, the board president. "This exhibit will allow us to extend our reach and give our youth a chance to dream about what they can accomplish, and to be reminded that athletics are a crucial educational tool for life."
Added Brennan, "This museum is about education and having fun and this exhibit will feature both of those."
For more information on the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, click here.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
