Grand Reopening of the Ark-La-Tex Museum of Champions
JUNE 7, 2007. Baseball, football, basketball, badminton and bridge: the Ark-La-Tex has been turning out athletic champions in nearly all sports fields for decades. There are over 100 highly honored athletes from this area. And now, a museum dedicated to these sports professionals will be reopened. The Ark-La-Tex Sports Museum of Champions, formerly on Clyde Fant Parkway, has relocated to the new Shreveport Convention Center on the corner of Caddo and Edwards Streets downtown.
The museum houses an exhibit for each of the 110 athletes recognized from the area. Nearly ever sport is represented, even bridge. The athletes are not just from Shreveport and Bossier City but from a 100 mile radius surrounding the cities. There are plans to induct more players in the fall of 2007 and 2008.
The museum's regular hours will be 9 to 5 Monday through Friday. However, it will only be open on weekends if there is an event being held in Shreveport's new convention center. Admission to the museum is free.
The Museum of Champions' grand-reopening was on Tuesday, May 22 at 11 a.m. Guest speakers included Mayor Cedric Glover, former Mayor Keith Hightower, and Bossier City Mayor Lorenz Walker. Secretary of State Jay Dardenne also spoke at the reopening.
The Ark-La-Tex Museum of Champions was founded in 1992 by the Shreveport-Bossier City Sports Foundation with the help of the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau and Schumpert Medical Center. Dr. Cecil Lloyd and former Mayor Hazel Beard worked diligently to make the museum a reality.
For more information, contact Erin Pyles, Communications Coordinator at the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau. She may be reached by phone at (318) 222-9391 or by email at [email protected]. You may also get in touch with Dr. George Bakowski, president of the museum, at his office (318) 221-8445.
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