As a big sports fan, I should have known this. But I didn’t realize that the Basketball Hall of Fame is only a two-hour drive from Boston. Only up to a week before my trip to the East Coast did a suggestion to go there come up. I didn’t really think the Hall of Fame would be that great considering I hear so little about it. But still, I love basketball and I had to go check it out.

I avoided traffic by driving out there a little late, getting there a little before 1PM. I have to say that the location of the museum is unassuming. It’s attached to a Subway and Coldstone. Additionally, it’s not even that noticeable until you actually look at it from one end and realize that it’s the Hall of Fame.

Inside is a little different. It’s only three floors in a very small building (for a museum) but it still has its charm. On the first floor is this full length court. People are invited to shoot basketballs around. Along one wall is the lined up with the evolution of hoops. It’s not easy shooting a ball into a peach basket. The first floor is just a great location for playing basketball. The highlight for me began on the top floor.

As you can see from the above video, the top floor features a photo of every member of the Hall of Fame. Underneath are artifacts and a lot of the evolution of basketball. I really enjoyed reading about the Hall of Famers but the basketball timeline was my favorite. It started off with James Naismith’s reason for creating the through the evolution of rule changes and expansion of the game. I spent a lot of my time on the top floor. If you a historian of sports, this third floor is for you. It’s not as impressive as the other Halls of Fame I’ve been to, but this is something that’s pretty special for a building that doesn’t look too special.

The second floor is also very exciting. The floor in itself is filled with so many great artifacts and timelines. They had jerseys, trophies and so many more artifacts from the different leagues America has seen. They even had sections on international basketball and women’s basketball. One of the best things I saw was this.

Isn’t that cool?

In one room, there were glass cases of different sneakers, jerseys and shorts from every single NBA team and their history  As a uniform geek, seeing all these jerseys was a treat for me. Another treat came outside the hallway. The museum just set up this locker to celebrate the Warriors’ championship.

I still can’t fathom how much of a joy it was to be on the second floor. It doesn’t look big, but seeing the artifacts from the first decade of basketball (the balls looked like this) following with sections dedicated to the evolution of basketball media and the legendary coaches, it truly was a treat. I underestimated the museum. It was pretty special.

One thing that I wish the museum had was a better location and a bigger building. But since the game of basketball isn’t as historic as other sports, I think maybe the size of this is perfect. There is just so much packed into one small little building. It didn’t feel like a historical museum but yet I learned so much and got to relive and see the history before my eyes.

I don’t know if I would ever visit this place again but I am glad I did. the history of basketball is told really well here. I recommend big basketball fans to go visit this place.