Hall of Fame Tour

Last week I brought my son’s 8U travel baseball team to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for a tour. There were 11 kids from the team and a number of parents and siblings came as well. We ended up with about 30 people in our group. We met at 5:30 out on the FieldTurf Hall of Fame football field where we had a very spirited game of touch/tackle football. At 6:00 we entered into the Hall and started the tour. I gave a brief history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and why it was located in Canton Ohio. The kids loved the old uniforms and seeing things such as the development of the helmet through the years starting in the early 1900’s. They also could not believe the kinds of uniforms the players wore back then and that football was only a part-time job back then.

Next we went into the Hall of Fame Gallery, home to the bronze busts, where the kids spent a long time trying to locate their favorite Hall of Famers and learning about the Hall of Famers through interactive video screens. It was fun to see the kids interacting on the kiosks while the parents were looking at their favorite Hall of Famers throughout the years. We went through the other galleries which lead to the new Lamar Hunt Super Bowl Gallery. The kids all got their pictures taken with the Super Bowl trophy.

One of the highlights of the tour was the Super Bowl Theatre where we watched the 30-minute video starting at training camp through the Super Bowl. Halfway through the video, the seats move 180 degrees which the kids loved. It was so much fun watching and listening to the kids react as players made great catches and hits. After the film, we then spent another 30 minutes in the interactive game room. The kids threw footballs in the cage, played video games and trivia. A quick stop in the team store where kids and parents bought jerseys, hats and all kinds of Hall of Fame merchandise to take home. 

We were done at 8:00. Everyone had a fantastic time and we won our game the next day! A few of the parents said to me they haven’t been to the Hall of Fame since they were kids and they were now going to make it a yearly tradition. Sometimes we forget some of the great things we have here in our backyard. If you haven’t been to the Hall of Fame in a few years, this is a great time to come. It is a simple day trip from many places and a great place to take the family vacation. The memories and quality family time will last forever.