Museum Newsletter – February 2025 Updates

by | Feb 19, 2025 | Blog

Rule Changes in Professional Basketball

Feb 19, 2025 | Blog

Museum Newsletter – February 2025 Updates

Bruce Firchau, IBCA HOF & Museum Chairman

With the beginning of 2025, we would like to update you on our museum progress and IBCA Events. Back in the spring of 2024, the Village of Bedford Park decided to move forward with its Phase 2 expansion of the Wintrust Sports Complex. Presently, the Wintrust Sports Complex has 116,000 square feet. Phase 2 will add 125,000 more square feet to their present facility. In this expansion plan, the Village Board of Bedford Park gifted 7,300 square feet to the IBCA and the Basketball Museum of Illinois. This space has been designated for us to build a world-class basketball museum.

 

As the year progressed, the Basketball Museum of Illinois and the IBCA began discussions with Bedford Park on a lease agreement. On October 9, we were invited to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony. A couple of our board members received the shovels and white helmets as keepsakes afterward. Needless to say, it was a day of celebration for those who have committed years of their lives to make our basketball museum a reality. After weeks of negotiating with Bedford Park, we signed a 15-year lease. Highlights from this agreement are the following:

  • Rent will be $1 a year.
  • Bedford Park will pay for our utilities.
  • Gate receipts will be split between the two parties.
  • Bedford Park will provide the admissions and gift shop workers.

Since the Chicago Sky of the WNBA is part of the Phase 2 plans, we want to clarify that we are not connected with the Chicago Sky. Bedford Park’s goal is to have its new facility open by the end of 2025. Of course, that is dependent on construction schedules running smoothly. We can tell you that site excavation has begun.

As excited as we are to have the museum space reserved for us, it also means new challenges. We will need to hire a top-shelf company to build the inside of our museum and search for an executive director and an assistant director. This presents new financial demands to pay for the above. Financial support from businesses, schools, coaches, and IBCA Hall of Famers will be needed. Applying for grants that we would qualify for will be very important as we move forward.

Since 2015, our Hall of Fame Coaches, Officials, Friends of Basketball, and Media have supported our museum with donations. The percentage of our Hall of Famers from these categories who donate ranges from 30-50% of possible donors that could donate (in their category), which is respectable. These Hall of Fame groups have been doing the heavy lifting that helped make our museum a reality. HOWEVER, the percentage of our Hall of Fame Players supporting our museum is only 5%, which is beyond explanation. This means out of every 100 Hall of Fame Players (by far our biggest category), only 5 are helping us. From this point forward, we need the players to step up, and we need a UNITED TEAM to help us with our fundraising.

2023, 2024 & 2025 Museum Calendars

Our Unique Gyms of Illinois Calendars for 2023 and 2024 are sold out. Those calendars raised $13,000, which helped the museum with its monthly expenses. This year’s calendar features Illinois High School Tournaments. It also has 1,636 Hall of Famer birthdates. Thus far, we have sold 70% of our calendars. This is one way you can help us. Donate $25 for our 2025 calendar. There are two ways to purchase your calendar:

  1. Purchase your calendar online.
  2. Mail a check payable to the Basketball Museum of Illinois and mail it to P.O. Box 8004, Elburn, Illinois 60119

We took our calendars to Oak Lawn, Pekin, Waverly, Centralia, York (Elmhurst) and Salem. It’s always fun to meet passionate fans from every part of Illinois. We do suggest that some of the Centralia basketball fans are in need of remediation on Centralia basketball history. When we asked, many didn’t know who Dike Eddleman was.

Speaking of Centralia
Recently, Centralia moved the iconic stained-glass window from its old high school to the present high school. Fundraising in Centralia raised the $130,000 needed to complete the project. This may be the greatest basketball shrine in Illinois. It was first installed in 1937. As you can imagine, the iconic stained-glass display had to be moved and installed with great care. Its original beauty was restored (see picture).

Golf Events
In 2024, fundraising golf events for the museum were held in Granite City, Auburn, and Lake Forest. We are grateful for the committees that organized these successful events. Their efforts generated over $42,000 for our museum. We would also like to thank the participants for their support. Between the fellowship and golfing, everyone had a great time.

From the electronic side of our museum, the 2024 report is in. Our website in 2024, had 170,551 visitors which is 83,802 more than 2023. This is an 88% increase. January through May were our best months, with 89,239 website visits. For the year, we averaged 14,283 website visits per month. Another way of looking at this data, we averaged daily 466 website visitors. Looking at our twitter data, we now have 3,400 followers on X.

We encourage you to visit our website, basketballmuseumofillinois.com and click on the three lines in the upper right. It will take you to our menu. Click on blogs, and you will see some great basketball stories. At the end of a blog, you will see more blogs to read.
Recent stories posted are the following:

Let us know if you have an idea for a blog for our website. (info@basketballmuseumofillinois.com)

Gene Pingatore

We’re proud to announce that we have installed a new historical wall display at the Wintrust Sports Complex. This one highlights Gene Pingatore, the winningest high school boys’ basketball coach in Illinois. To celebrate our wall display, we’re hosting an event at the Wintrust Sports Complex in Bedford Park, paying tribute to Coach Pingatore. This museum fundraising event will be held on April 16 from 6-9 p.m. There will be a sizeable crowd attending that evening. We anticipate an audience of over 100 people and we already have 50 reserving their attendance. If you would like to attend our museum fundraising event, RSVP online or email us at info@basketballmuseumofillinois.com.

Leadership Academy

Bob Ward and his leadership team have hosted two high school Leadership Academy’s. Our 3rd Leadership Academy will be on March 19 at the Wintrust Sports Complex. Students from urban, suburban, and rural areas attend our academies. They last five hours, and we provide lunches for the students. Bob has scored a slam dunk, helping our students realize their talents and using them to serve others. We encourage you to become a sponsor and help us with our outreach programs. You can’t go wrong in helping students discover their leadership capabilities.

IBCA Recognition Awards

Steve Allen and his team of Volunteers have blanketed the state this season, presenting awards for outstanding basketball achievements. Below are the awards that have been presented:

  • John Gross – Princeton High School Girls Coach – 900 career victories.
  • Organization of the Year – Southwestern Conference & Carrollton Girls Invitational.
  • Girls 1000 victory presentations – Brimfield, Benet Academy, Libertyville & Fremd.
  • Boys victory presentations – O’Fallon, Piasa Southwestern, Trenton Wesclin, Effingham, Concord Triopia, Streator, Louisville, North Clay Sterling & Hartsburg-Emden.
  • Kipp Award Winners – Kevin & Jodi Brown (KBstrong Foundation)

Upcoming Events

March 19 – Leadership Academy (9-2) at the Wintrust Sports Complex, Bedford Park.
April 16 – Gene Pingatore Museum Fund Raising Event (6-9) at the Wintrust Sports Complex, Bedford Park.
May 3 – IBCA Coach of the Year Luncheon at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.
May 3 – IBCA 53rd Hall of Fame Banquet at CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.
September 26 – Deadline for 2026 Hall of Fame Nominations.

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