Wayne County Sports HOF gets location for new museum

The Wayne County Sports Hall of Fame has a new home that will finally provide a venue worthy of its long and rich tradition once completed.

Founded in 1975, the WCSHOF is one of Ohio’s oldest halls of fame.

The WCSHOF museum collection is now housed in the 1,000-square-foot space formerly known as the Transportation Room in the Kister Building of the Wayne County Historical Society, 546 E. Bowman St., Wooster (next to Drug Mart).

The new WCSHOF museum is not yet open to the public, but a grand opening is tentatively scheduled for spring 2026. A fundraising campaign has just started, with public plans to be announced later this summer.

The WCSHOF is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025 and will induct its 25th class of enshrinees in June 2026.

Putting the museum together is a big project, said Mike Plant, currently serving as the president of the WCSHOF’s 15-person board of trustees.

“As a board we’ve talked about finding the right place for a museum for years, and the historical society has made that happen. Now we have the room to showcase the long history of sports in Wayne County, as well as the people responsible for a lot of it in our inductees. There is so much cool history to see at the historical society, and hopefully, we can put together something so that we can help contribute to that,” Plant said.

From 2003 until earlier this year, the WCSHOF museum had been located in the attic above the General Store on the campus of the historical society. It was a small, cramped area with steep stairs. Consequently, there weren’t many visitors, and the WCSHOF had not been active in promoting it in recent years.

With a much larger area for the WCSHOF, the organization plans on having many more visitors come through. With more room, that means more items can be displayed.

Wayne County Historical Society Executive Director Rik Goodright said relocating the WCSHOF museum to a more prominent position on their campus is a win-win for both organizations.

“We felt like the location where we had the Sports Hall of Fame wasn't really accessible to the public,” Goodright said. “It was hard for people to know what kind of collection that the Sports Hall of Fame did have.

“We thought it was important to get it down into the main area so people could see it. It’s actually going to wind up being the largest collection that we have at the historical society, other than the Beall house, and we’re excited about that.”

The WCSHOF capital campaign will raise money for the museum. Items that need to be purchased include mannequins, display stands, signs and placards.

“The Transportation Room, which has also been called the Exhibit Room in the past, is being completely updated including new lighting for the display cases,” Plant said.

The historical society hosted a “Dean Chance Pop-up Exhibit” for three months in 2022, recognizing the late 1959 Northwestern H.S. graduate and former American League Cy Young Award winner. It was the most popular pop-up exhibit hosted by the historical society, sparking a discussion among trustees about finding a better way to showcase area sports history.

“We have two pop-up exhibits per year, and in the last five years, the Dean Chance exhibit actually brought the most people in,” Goodright said. “People are always interested in sports, and we’re really pleased to have the WCSHOF in its new location.”

The Wayne County Historical Society was founded in 1904 and has a total of eight buildings on its campus. The all-volunteer historical society depends entirely on donations, fundraisers and admission fees including income from its four permanently endowed funds under the management of the Wayne County Community Foundation.

Similarly, the WCSHOF also depends on donations and fundraisers. Money raised from the group’s capital campaign will help fund the museum, as well as overall operations and the induction banquet held every other year.

The WCSHOF also is accepting local sports-related items for donation. The WCSHOF board is currently focused on contacting members of the HOF for memorabilia. Former Triway High boys basketball coach Randy Montgomery recently donated items that included the purple sports jacket he wore for important Titan games.

“We are especially wanting items used by members of our WCSHOF,” Plant said. “We are looking for items such as jerseys, hats, jackets, trophies and equipment used by our Hall of Famers or pertaining to championship teams.”

For more information on the WCSHOF, visit its website at www.waynecountysportshof.com. The website has bios on all the members, articles, photos, nomination forms and more. Anyone with questions or wanting to donate should email Plant at mplant@alonovus.com.