The newest and largest banner raised at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is actually a tarp. Crews are preparing to put a fresh coat of paint on the iconic basketball on top of the building in Downtown Knoxville.
"So far, they have done all the prep work. They've sanded the columns and taped up our windows," said Josh Sullivan, director of basketball operations at the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. "They're hoping to be done before our induction ceremony, which is June 9th."
Crews are using booms to post up and go above the rim for the high-flying paint job. It has been 10 years since the last coat was applied and things have been getting chippy in the paint.
"This will be the second time they've painted the ball since the hall of fame opened in 1999. It gets a fresh coat every 10 years or so. The Badin logo is going away and our logo [for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame] is going on the ball," said Sullivan.
Visit Knoxville is pitching in to help spruce up the hall of fame in time for its milestone 20th class of women's hoops legends. This year's class is a star-studded group featuring a couple of names dear to fans of the Lady Vols.
"The hometown fans will be excited about Mickie DeMoss and Chamique Holdsclaw. DeMoss coached at UT with Pat Summit and Chamique is the all-time leading scorer at Tennessee. But it is really a great class overall with coach Ceal Barry, Dr. Rose Marie Battaglia, Chris Dailey, Katie Smith, and Tina Thompson. We're also honoring the WBL for being trailblazers as the first women's professional basketball league."
With 20 years of inductees, the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame is revamping its Hall of Honor to feature a smaller lineup.
"Our Hall of Honor, we're actually running out of space. We're making all the headshots smaller. The inductees used to have their bios on their headshots. To make room, that has been taken away and we'll have a kiosk with a couple of touchscreens so you can click on each inductee. Then you can see videos, photos, what they did, and what they accomplished. We now have 167 inductees," said Sullivan.
Tickets are available to the induction ceremony on June 9, 2018. More information is available on the front page of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame website.
