Royalty goes to Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts!

Prince at Basketball Hall of Fame

Saturday morning I went to Avis and I rented a Toyota Corolla for President's Day weekend.

When the hockey and basketball schedules came out back in June and July, I noticed that the NBA was going to have its All-Star Break this weekend. With the NHL having a lockout, I decided that this weekend would be a perfect time to finally get to the Basketball Hall of Fame. I was planning to go to see a minor league hockey game in Springfield, Massachusetts. With that being said, this was the appropriate time to enhance our knowledge of the game of basketball.

After I picked up the car, I drove back home to get the King and off to New England we went. We arrived at the Basketball Hall of Fame around 2:30PM which gave us a few hours to explore this historic shrine.
The Hall of Fame is conveniently located near downtown Springfield right off I-91. There's plenty of free parking in the parking lot where the museum is located. In addition, they have some different restaurants right there in case you decide you need to have something to eat while you're there.

As for the hours of operation, the Hall of Fame is open throughout the year but the hours are subject to change. I recommend that you double check their website before you go to make sure it's open that particular day.

As for admission, they charge $19 for adults and $15 for senior citizens. If you belong to AAA, show your card and you'll save $2 like we did.

Upon entry into the museum, you'll start by going up to the third floor which is called "The Honors Ring." This is where you'll find plagues, artifacts and biographies of over 300 individuals and teams who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. In addition, you'll find an audio enhanced video timeline of world & basketball history since the game's invention in 1891 by James Naismith who was from Ontario, Canada.
On the second floor, they have five different galleries. They're called The Game, Players, Media, Coaches & Teams. These galleries bring the museum to life. In each gallery, you'll find interactive exhibits, memorabilia and artifacts that literally put you in the game.

It was fascinating to check out these galleries as we took a ride down memory lane. We got to relive the memories of the different legends who have played, coached and/or have called the games.

We got to see the plague of the Lakers' late owner, Dr. Jerry Buss who passed away Monday after we were there. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010. It was sad to see him leave us. He played an instrumental role in bringing Showtime to the City of Los Angeles right after he bought the Lakers back in 1979.

Prince overlooking Center Court

After taking in this educational experience, we got to go down to the ground floor which is called Center Court. This is a full size basketball court that's open to the public to shoot on while they visit the Hall of Fame. They also have an area with over a half dozen different hoops to shoot at which chronicle the evolution of the basket.

The King and I decided to get a workout by shooting hoops on the court. It was a great way to wrap up this very worth while experience.

If you happen to like the game of basketball or you're a sports fan, I strongly suggest that you make some time to go to Springfield, Massachusetts some day to experience this for yourself. Trust me it will be time and money well spent.

Stay tuned for some more special posts that will recap the rest of the adventurous weekend we had.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman