Larry French column: It’s time to unlock the Corning-Painted Post Sports Hall of Fame

About 15 years ago, the Corning-Painted Post Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors unveiled its brand new home at the Visitor’s Center on Market Street in downtown Corning.

For years, after its inception in 1976, the organization had no real home. That was reflected by the number of venues the organization went through to hold its annual induction ceremonies. The first dinner was held at the former Lodge on the Green.

After a number of years at that location, during the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the induction dinners were held at the Corning Hilton which later became the Radisson Hotel. Today, the Radisson is undergoing renovations to become a DoubleTree by Hilton.

By 1996, the Hall of Fame was invited by the Painted-Post Holiday Inn to host the annual dinner.

The year prior to that invitation, manager Al Fusco was inducted into the Hall for softball. His invitation as the annual host was well received. It was also during this time that 1991 softball Hall of Fame inductee John Heck passed away. At his family’s request, in lieu of flowers, they invited the public to make donations to the Hall of Fame in memory of John.

With the generous donations, the Board of Directors elected to purchase all brand new plaques for a display. Then, it came time to find a location for such display. For a number of years that display was on a wall in a hallway off the main lobby of the Holiday Inn. Not ideal, but at least some people could see them. That came to a halt when that enterprise changed hands.

From 2009 to the present, the induction ceremony has been held at the Corning Museum of Glass auditorium which has helped make it a memorable annual event. And over the past couple of years, they have added an informal get-together at the VFW to make it a Hall of Fame weekend.

Visitor's Center display opened Hall of Fame to the general public

In the early 2000s came a suggestion from former director and vice president, Steve Mandell Jr., that changed everything. Through his work with Corning Enterprises, especially Tom Tranter, they came up with the perfect solution to the display issue. After talking with some folks and figuring out some logistics, they came up with using the lobby of the Visitor’s Center as a place to put the plaques. Not only did the plan include the hanging of all the plaques but it also provides a space for displaying memorabilia that had been collected over the years.

With a plan in place, the work began.

Display cabinets were built by Don Many, a former coach at West High and 1994 Hall of Fame inductee as a contributor. Don is also a tremendously skilled carpenter and woodworker. Those beautiful display cases he built were hung and finished with sliding glass doors provided by Southern Glass Service and installed by Nick Cavallaro, a 1996 inductee for baseball. The finishing touches were provided by Corning Enterprises when they installed track lighting that illuminated both the plaques and the cases.

The C-PP Sports Hall of Fame finally had a home. One the general public could visit anytime they were downtown.

Hall of Fame display area has been restricted since 2020

Then came the dreaded pandemic. For some reason, the doors on Market Street that led to the display area were locked. Security was mentioned. But, then came the problem. Once the pandemic, and all the "stuff" that came with it faded away and things started to get back to normal, those doors have remained locked. No one can access that part of the Visitor’s Center without going through one of the businesses in the building and through their back doors. And that is certainly not ideal.

Directors of the Hall of Fame have run into a number roadblocks trying to find out why those doors remain locked. They are still looking for answers. Haven’t found any yet, but they will keep trying. Whoever the powers to be are in this situation, let’s hope they review the situation and re-evaluate the reason for keeping those doors locked. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Visitors to the city used to wander into that lobby and were very impressed with the display. They would spend time looking for names they knew on the plaques, looking at the articles, artifacts and memorabilia on display.

When folks came back to Corning to visit family and friends, they would stop in and check out the display and look for members of their families who may be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They would bring their kids and show them a part of their past and some of the accomplishments they had as high school and college athletes.

More Larry French: Take a trip down memory lane with the 1998 C-PP Sports Hall of Fame class, 25 years later

It's time to return public access to the Hall of Fame

A number of annual events have taken place since the pandemic has been over that have closed Market Street to vehicle traffic. No need to mention those events by name, but they seem to have picked up right where they left off prior to the pandemic. All of them have drawn tremendous crowds with people milling up and down Market Street.

The one thing they can’t do, is drop into the Visitor’s Center from those beautiful wooden doors on Market Street and check out the home of the Corning-Painted Post Sports Hall of Fame. That organization is very proud of their "home" as they have come a long way from where they started in 1976. A lot of the memorabilia shows the history of sports in Corning and honors the success of the many people who have earned the accolades that come from being a member of their local hall of fame.

It’s not Cooperstown or Canton, but it’s ours and it needs to be seen. Again. This area has a rich history of sports and some of it is on display at the Visitor’s Center.

It’s time to unlock the Corning-Painted Post Sports Hall of Fame's home, and they hope the general public feels the same way.

— Larry French writes a weekly column.

This article originally appeared on The Leader: It’s time to unlock the Corning Painted Post Hall of Fame display