Texas Sports Hall Of Fame And Museum: A Review
Waco has an obscure selection of museums. They’re the types of places you might not visit unless you’re already interested in the subject. (Texas Ranger Museum, anyone?) So all the Texas sports fans can rejoice: Waco has the one and only Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, and you can visit it nearly any day of the year. Here’s a review.
What’s In The Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Museum?
The Texas Sports Hall of Fame and Museum has more than 6,000 sports artifacts from the inductees in the hall of fame. It’s an INSANE amount of sports gear, photos, signed posters, and other artifacts celebrating Texas sports legends.
There are displays set up for most major Texas sports. Of course football is the primary sport in the museum, but there’s also a significant display of praise for basketball, baseball, track and field, golf, hockey, tennis, swimming and diving, and rodeo.
You can see jerseys and memorabilia from all levels of sports in the Hall of Fame. Walk through the Texas High School hall of fame to see significant memories from high school athletes and coaches, or browse the college and professional displays.
The Southwest Conference Gallery features artifacts from the teams in the SWC from 1914-1996. These Texas colleges include Baylor, Rice, SMU, UT Austin, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, and University of Houston, plus the Kilgore College Rangerettes.
This exhibit was the most interesting one for me to visit in the entire museum. You enter through a magnificent entryway replica of the Cotton Bowl that causes you to step out onto a mini football field, which is surrounded by all of the SWC teams.
Each college display features interesting info about the team mascot and how they were named, as well as various displays for significant athletes and coaches in the history of that school.
How Much Time Do I Need At The Texas Sports Hall Of Fame And Museum?
If you’re someone who doesn’t know/care about Texas sports AT ALL, you’ll still probably spend about one hour there. Even if you don’t consider yourself a Texas sports fan, sports are just FUN! And once you start walking through and reading, it’s easy to get pulled in.
If you LOVE Texas sports and want to geek out over all this stuff, plan on 2-3 hours here. There’s a lot to read and see, and you’re allowed to take photos of any and all of it.
The Only Negative Thing I Have To Say About The Texas Sports Hall Of Fame and Museum
It was opened in the 1990s, and you can tell. It just feels very “90s” with low ceilings, 90s carpet, and dingy bathrooms. For example, the hand dryers in the bathroom look like they literally stepped out of the year 1992:
(Is it weird that I took a photo of the hand dryers in the bathroom to show as an example? No, not really for me…)
The museum mostly exists by gifts from major donors, so I’m assuming there’s not a huge amount of excess funds here to constantly revitalize the place. They do a wonderful job of displaying and celebrating Texas sports, which is the most important thing. But the overall design and aesthetic of the TSHOF is slightly lackluster.
Is The Texas Sports Hall Of Fame and Museum Worth Visiting?
For only $8/adults and $4/children and FREE for military and children 5 and under, it’s a very low-cost thing to do in Waco.
If you’re someone who doesn’t really like Texas sports or know much about them, it’s still worth visiting because it’s interesting stuff and you’ll learn something new!
And if you absolutely love Texas sports, this is probably the best museum in Waco for you to visit. You’ll love reading all the stats and stories about Texas high school, college, and professional athletes and coaches.
WEBSITE | 1108 S University Parks Dr, Waco, TX 76706, United States
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