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Local Communities

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Since the Grand Opening the then “new” Hall of Fame in 2002, Hall Staff members have been engaged in reaching out to our home community and region by joining a variety of Boards and local social engagements. While focused on building the national brand and overcoming the well-chronicled financial challenges, a quiet but steadfast outreach effort continued and began to flourish often without notice or acclaim.


As years of hard work led to positive financial results and the steady improvement of the Hall’s overall stature within the Basketball Community, these community engagement efforts could be given a more prominent and intentional focus. Under the direction of President John Doleva and Vice President Paul Lambert, the past three years have led to a quiet explosion of outreach initiatives both in Springfield and throughout the growing landscape of Hall of Fame Events. Working without an expense budget, these initiatives utilized the Hall of Fame Museum space, donations of Event tickets, lending brand association, countless hours of committee meetings and Board associations and, most importantly, the use of Hall of Fame members and Legends to bring positive energy and attention to a variety of community engagement efforts and events.


With the growing success of these initiatives and to help bring focus to the overall strategy, the Hall of Fame is proud to create a new brand – “Hoophall Assists” – as the umbrella organization to house these efforts. By creating this Brand, the Hall Staff will be able to bring more attention and specific attention to the growing list of the Hall’s Community Relations efforts. Fundraising initiatives and partner engagement will also be allowed to flourish under the Hoophall Assists brand as opportunities are created.


“We are very excited about the creation of the Hoophall Assists brand” said John Doleva. “This is the result of years of quiet effort and outreach through nights, weekends and good intentions. We have found that we can use our beautiful game and greatest asset – our Hall of Famers – to reach many constituents and audiences with positive messages and social activism.”


Next steps are to:
– Develop materials to establish the working brand for social outreach and community engagement,
– create philanthropic opportunities to develop modest funding stream
– Develop consistent support Teams with RPA, Hall of Fame Family, our NBA partners and all constituents to maximize opportunities in communities we reach
– Identify messaging materials tied to BHOF Mission and historic inspiration from Dr. Naismith’s original direction, inspiration and commitment to inclusion.

For more information, please contact: Paul Lambert, Vice President Enshrinement Services & Community Engagement
[email protected]
413-231-5502 office