Join our Hot Topic on April 29th at 2 pm EST.

This month’s ISHA Hot Topic will focus on how a Sports Hall of Fame can broaden its appeal, attract visitors, and add value to their area and community.

Creating interest to attract visitors to your sports venue is critically important.  Particularly if you are not a nationally recognized sports entity.

In the summer of 2021, the Mason County Sports Hall of Fame took major rebranding efforts to broaden their appeal to their community, and seasonal tourist, with a $140,000.00 renovation of their area Hall of Fame by redirecting their emphasis to reflect “Beyond the Game:  The Value of Sports!”.

Their Vision statement of “Recognize outstanding athletes & contributors.  Share memories, preserve legacies, instill life lessons, and add value to the community in unique ways”, is presented in their completely renovated facility.

The focus of honoring athletes, and preserving legacy is centered around the importance sports play in establishing the foundation for a satisfying life, and the life lessons learned from athletic participation.

Register Here

It is a new year and a new role for me in ISHA!  I first would like to thank Bryan Morry for his outstanding leadership in the role of President of ISHA.  As we continue to navigate the COVID environment I look at our ISHA community as a guidance and support system for like minded halls and museums.  

A few of my goals during my tenure are to ensure that we offer pertinent information and training to all members.  There is strength in numbers, and it is always a benefit to talk with fellow members about the challenges and successes of our organizations.  The ISHA website provides a great list of white pages for member organizations to utilize and an opportunity to share their own documents.  Also, you can request additional information or ask a question to fellow members through the listserv. 

My second goal is to make sure that we know our members and that we enjoy our time together as we celebrate and promote sports heritage.  I think you will find a great outreach of communication this year from the organization and through your board buddies.

My third goal is to maintain and increase our membership base.  It is important to retain our current members through renewal and look for other organizations as potential members.   

My final goal is for our time together to be fun.  I have been fortunate to build great friendships , allies, and resources in my time with ISHA.  It has been an experience well worth the cost of the membership not only for me, but for my organization.  

I am always a phone call or email away and look forward to getting to know many of you in the coming year and growing our organization.

Dana Hart

ISHA President

Our February Hot Topic is about Digital Activations!

Janice Smith from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame will deliver our next virtual Hot Topic call.  Please sign up below and share with other members of your organizations to participate!

Hot Topic Session Info:

Janice Smith, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame will be presenting a Webinar entitled “Digital Activation”.

She will share information on three new initiatives undertaken by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in response to the closure of their physical museum in March 2020 and the impact these three new digital projects have had and are having in the communities they serve.

The new digital activations support the four pillars that are part of the Hall’s mission and have been delivered through social media, virtual education and virtual exhibitions.

Her presentation will discuss the development and impact of each activation and share through PowerPoint and video content.

Focus:  Three digital activation projects
a)    Social media campaigns – anti-racism awareness campaign, my Canadian sport moment campaign and my CSHOF moment campaign
b)    New virtual education programs – Virtual Hall of Famers on Tour program, Artefact Talks and Scavenger Hunts
c)    Partnership with our community – Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) – students helping to create a digital book entitled “Indigenous Sport Heroes Education Experience”

Date:  Thursday, February 18, 2021
Time:  11:00 a.m. MST
Duration:  45 minutes – 30 minutes presentation and 15 minutes questions.

Email Karen Bednarski to register for the Hot Topic Call

Have a safe and healthy holiday season. We all earned it. From your friends at the International Sports Heritage Association.

The International Sports Heritage Association (ISHA) is pleased to announce its 2020 ISHY Award winners. The winners were honored on Oct. 21 during ISHA’s virtual Members Meeting.

The ISHY Awards program was established to provide recognition for excellence in publications and exhibits by all member sports museums, halls of fame or sports heritage organizations, regardless of size or budget, based upon a competition evaluated by ISHA members.

2020 ISHY Award Winners

Category: Non-Book Publication
Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame – Halifax Sport Heritage Walking Tour Booklet

Category: Marketing Materials – print materials
Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Museum – Newsletter Ad
Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame – Gold Club Package 2020

Category: Marketing Materials – video/audio shorts
World of Little League® Museum – The Story of 1955 Cannon Street YMCA Little League

Category: Marketing Materials – Social Media Account of the Year
Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame – Facebook @PackersHOF

Category: Educational Programming
The Sports Museum – Stand Strong

Category: HOF Inductions and/or Annual Event Materials
Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame – 2019 Saginaw County Sports Hall of Fame

Category: Induction Program
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum – 2019 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend

Category: New Exhibit
The Museum at the International Tennis Hall of Fame – Smash Hit: The Evolution of the
Tennis Racquet

ISHA would like to thank Sparta Pewter for their continued support of the awards and
donating the ISHY’s which are presented to each winner.

–

About International Sports Heritage Association
Established in 1971, the International Sports Heritage Association (ISHA) is a non-profit
membership organization dedicated to educating, promoting, and supporting organizations,
institutions, and individuals engaged in the celebration of sports heritage. ISHA offers a wide
variety of services and networking opportunities for sports museums, halls of fame, and other
related sports heritage organizations, enabling members to draw upon industry resources for
information on administration, induction ceremonies, development, exhibition design, collections
management, education programming, public relations, marketing, and merchandising. ISHA
has nearly 140 members from around the globe, including Australia, Canada, England, New
Zealand, Switzerland, Sri Lanka and the United States.

We typically hold an ISHA Members Meeting during the Annual Conference.  Because the 50^th ISHA Annual Conference has been rescheduled to 2021, we will conduct the 2020 Members Meeting virtually, via WebEx.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. ET.  We invite you to join us to hear reports from ISHA Committee Chairs on their activities over the past year, as well as future initiatives.  The annual Board elections will be conducted, and the ISHY Awards will be presented.

If you wish to participate in the ISHA Members Meeting, please RSVP to me at [email protected] with your name, institution, and email address.  You’ll receive an email with a link to the meeting a few days in advance.  Meeting documents, including an agenda, minutes from the 2019 meeting, and financial reports, will be emailed to the ISHA Listserv prior to the meeting.

We regret not being able to gather in person this year, but hope you’ll join us on October 21 and meet with your colleagues virtually.

With the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically impacting the world and forcing the postponement of the 2020 International Sports Heritage Association (ISHA) conference scheduled for October at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., ISHA moved to a virtual mini-conference.

Over two days, on August 18-19, ISHA hosted four educational sessions with a focus on operating sports heritage facilities during this unprecedented time.

“The conference committee was able to pivot and move from an in-person conference scheduled for October to the virtual sessions we hosted in August,” conference committee chairperson Jordan Poland said. “We felt like it was important to schedule those sessions sooner than October as our members have either recently re-opened or are planning to do so soon. The sessions were related to the times in which we find ourselves living.”

The virtual conference included sessions on fundraising and the future of hands-on exhibits on the first day while shifting to re-opening protocols and virtual education experiences on the second day.

For links to the recorded sessions, visit ISHA University here.

Former ISHA president Peter Webster and President and CEO of Toronto’s Santa Claus Parade presented on fundraising during uncertain times. Session two focused on technology and the future of hands-on experiences with John Roberson from Advent and Brad Baer from Bluecadet presenting. Day two started with Dana Hart from the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and John Doleva from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame presenting about re-opening under different state guidelines and safety protocols. The sessions ended with Bruce Markusen from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Jacob Ray from the Pro Football Hall of Fame explaining their virtual education offerings and processes. The conference officially ended with a Wednesday night virtual social.

“We’d like to thank all our presenters who were incredibly helpful,” Poland said. “We had outstanding participation from our members around the world and the sessions were incredibly informative and a great success.”

The 2021 ISHA conference will be held October 27-29, 2021 in Newport, R.I.

We hope this note finds you all healthy and well. Many of us remain closed as we work through some phased re-openings within our individual states or countries while others have opened with safety restrictions in place. International Sports Heritage Association members have shared their experiences with fellow members during this health crisis and it’s one of the many reasons that ISHA remains vibrant and strong. Members helping members is at the organization’s core.

Unfortunately, we are writing to inform you that the 2020 ISHA Conference scheduled for October 21-23 in Newport, R.I., will be rescheduled for October 27-29, 2021. The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport will remain our conference host for the new 2021 dates.

The 2020 ISHA Conference Committee, which surveyed the membership regarding travel to the 2020 conference, utilized that data received and recommended to the Board of Directors to reschedule ISHA’s 50^th conference to 2021. The Board voted unanimously to adopt that recommendation. We can assure you that this decision was not made lightly, but we needed to be sensitive to the health and safety of our members as well as the effects that COVID-19 has had on members’ budgets and the resulting travel restrictions.

We realize that ISHA plays an important role in providing networking and educational opportunities and we accept that these are unprecedented times in our world. It’s important for you to know that we remain committed to serving ISHA members to the best of our ability. In that vein, we will be moving forward with planning a two-day virtual mini-conference with two sessions per day on August 18-19, 2020. We will also include a virtual networking social event and the presentation of the 2020 ISHY Awards. The sessions will focus on COVID-19 related information to help us progress positively and successfully through the challenges we all face together. (To register for the free virtual conference, please click here)

The theme of the virtual conference is Back in the Game, and we hope to have a high participation rate as we bond and forge forward with the goal of adapting so that we may continue delivering entertainment through sports heritage in a meaningful and educational way.

We know it’s a cliché to say that we are all in this together, but through our ISHA connection, those words ring true. We send our best to you as we progress deeper into 2020. When details regarding the August sessions are finalized, we will distribute that information to you.

Please stay healthy and safe.

Bryan Morry
ISHA Board President
The Patriots Hall of Fame presented by Raytheon Technologies

Jordan Poland
2020 Conference Committee Chairperson
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame

Meredith Richards
2020 Conference Host
International Tennis Hall of Fame