Thousands of athletes have graced the various playing surfaces at Boston University, providing great memories, displaying amazing and unique skills and honoring the school with every performance. For the Terrier stars that are a step above the rest, their accomplishments are recognized with an induction into BU’s Hall of Fame. This is a great tribute, but at BU, the Hall of Fame is more of a state of mind than a tangible place. The setup leaves many asking, where is this Hall of Fame, this place that a BU student or other interested person can go and learn about these Terrier Hall of Famers? Well, it’s not what or even where you’d expect.
If you want to learn anything of real value about BU’s best athletes, you’ll have to do some digging, but if you want to see their pictures, you can go to the staircase in Case Gym where some of their likenesses hang. Once there, you’ll see some stars smiling back at you, but finding out any more information besides their name or graduation year is not very likely. That staircase is a poor substitute for a substantial place where one can go to learn about the sports history of the best damn school in Boston.
Not every athlete in the Hall of Fame is even in the staircase, and in some pictures, you might have a tough time figuring out what sport they played. Travel up and down those stairs and you won’t know much more about BU sports other than that there are a lot of people in framed photos that you know nothing about. Unfortunately, this is all that exists for BU’s best. But in the coming months, there might just be a spot opening up that could be a perfect fit.
With the Harry Agganis Arena going up faster each day, it’s about time to ask that there be an area set aside in the new building to honor BU hall of famers. There’s a proposed area to honor former hockey players in some fashion or another, specifically through walls that will honor Terriers that have gone on to the NHL or competed in the Olympics. Those plans are completely understandable; we are after all first and foremost a hockey school, and that’s something to be proud of. But there has to be some room for the other sports as well, and if not in the arena, maybe the new fitness center could make some room.
Wherever it goes, there needs to be a wall, a room or some sort of display case for the Hall of Fame. Maybe the juice bar can be knocked out and plaques can go up instead with pictures and descriptions of a player’s career. It would be great to go see the big-time performers of years past, to read about the feats of not just people like Harry Agganis or Tunji Awojobi (although they could probably have their own wing), but also to see perhaps a softball that Audrey West signed, a football helmet last worn by one of Tom Masella’s boys or the basketball Katie Terhune uses to break Debbie Miller’s mark. Of course Terhune hasn’t broken Miller’s record yet, but when she does, you can bet that ball would be in the hall. Wouldn’t it be great after graduating to come back with your kids and show them the players you used to cheer for?
It’s a shame nothing like this is in the works because there are many former athletes and students who would most certainly relish such an area. While there are no announced plans for a complete hall of fame or something similar, BU has decided to put donors in a more prominent position than the athletes. Apparently, if you give more than $25,000 over five years to the building project, you become part of the Olympic Circle of Donors and your name goes in the main lobby of the arena. Obviously, this is a great way to encourage people to donate, and any endeavor like this needs funds, but those names shouldn’t be placed in the main lobby, while the true Olympic stars, the actual BU Olympic participants, are relegated to a stairway or storage closet. Of course, those who already have donated are some of BU’s great athletes, and their presence in the main lobby is appropriate, but inclusion in such a visible spot shouldn’t be based on contributions made through someone’s wallet. Through their performances and their inspiration, BU athletes have given more to this university than any amount of money could hope to match, and that should be the only deciding factor on who gets to go up on that wall and who doesn’t.
It doesn’t have to be an actual hall of fame, but something similar to BC’s Conte Forum could work, where glass cases surrounding the arena show off trophies, uniforms, pictures and descriptions of some of the great athletes of that school (you know, it’s actually kind of small, guess they haven’t had that many great athletes). But that said, their attempt at recognizing those who came before should serve notice to those in charge of the building project at BU.
Boston University is undertaking an ambitious construction, unlike any other in school history, and I hope they do it right. A real hall of fame, worthy of its numerous members, would go a long way in making sure that wish comes true. If BU is going to be honoring the future by building a state-of-the-art facility, it’s only natural to pay some homage to the past, and there’s no better way to make sure they do so than to set aside a place for all the Terrier heroes. Let it be a place that all can be proud of former students, current students and future ones, too.
Joe Keiley, a junior in the College of Communication, has been a weekly sports columnist for the Daily Free Press.
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