VIRGINIA BEACH — When the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame museum closed in 2017, most of the exhibits were moved from a government-subsidized building in Portsmouth to Virginia Beach’s Town Center.
Display cases featuring memorabilia, awards and jerseys from some of the commonwealth’s top athletes have been featured inside the lobby of the Armada Hoffler building and spread out among other office buildings for nearly 10 years.
But that run could soon be coming to an end. The museum is not renewing its office lease in Town Center and will need to move its displays or store them.
Former long-time sportscaster Bruce Rader, the hall of fame’s new executive director, is trying to relocate the Town Center displays to other Virginia Beach venues where there’s more foot traffic and young athletes can appreciate them, he said.
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“I want there to be as many eyes on these displays as possible,” Rader said.
The effort comes as the hall of fame is establishing a more prominent position in the Richmond area through a partnership with the Henrico Sports & Events Center, which is housing a large permanent exhibit of hall of fame inductees with connections to central Virginia.
The Henrico sports center has also stepped up to host the hall of fame induction ceremony in 2024 and this year. Longtime Amateur Athletic Union coach Boo Williams and Michael Vick, a star quarterback at Virginia Tech and in the NFL, will be inducted along with six others in the Class of 2026. The ceremony is scheduled for April 26 at the Hilton Short Pump near Richmond.
Induction ceremonies have previously been held in Virginia Beach.
“Henrico has really made a major effort to be involved in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame,” Rader said.
His goal is to keep Virginia Beach in the forefront, too. He’s talking with city officials about relocating the Town Center displays to the convention and sports centers at the Oceanfront as well as one of the city-owned sports venues in the Princess Anne area.
“The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame needs to have a presence in Hampton Roads,” Rader said.
Established in Portsmouth in 1972, the hall of fame resided for more than a decade in a museum built in 2004 with city and state subsidies. It featured Ace Parker’s Pro Football Hall of Fame blazer, the Converse sneakers worn by former Old Dominion University basketball star Nancy Lieberman and one of tennis legend Arthur Ashe’s rackets. Ricky Rudd’s orange No. 10 Ford Taurus, which took the checkered flag at the 1997 Brickyard 400, was displayed on the second floor.
When the museum funds dwindled, the organization’s operational model changed and multiple Town Center buildings became home to more than 45 years worth of sports artifacts. Rudd’s race car returned to its owner.
“He got it back,” Rader said.
Virginia Beach provided $50,000 for Virginia Sports Hall of Fame last year and currently houses a small collection of hall of fame items inside the sports center on 19th Street.
There’s some support among council members for the sports center to take on more. Councilman Stacy Cummings brought up moving the collection at last Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“They are going through a transition and it’s going to require them to remove these displays from where they are in Town Center and they were going to put them in storage,” Cummings said. “We’ve got this convention center and we’ve got this sports center with big open spaces.”
City Manager Patrick Duhaney said he will look into options.
“There’s already a relationship,” Duhaney said. “We’ll see if it makes sense to incorporate them in some of our spaces.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
https://www.pilotonline.com/2026/02/16/virginia-sports-hall-of-fame-home/
