Plans progressing for Black College Football Hall of Fame at Canton

The Louisiana-based Shack Harris and Doug Williams Foundation started the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. 

CANTON, Ohio -- The Black College Football Hall of Fame exhibit is expected to open at the Pro Football Hall of Fame sometime in late 2019 or early 2020.

The exhibit is in the design phase, said Joe Horrigan, the Hall’s executive director. Other plans for the partnership — announced in mid-2016 — include moving the college hall’s induction ceremonies to Canton, hosting a football classic and creating a traveling exhibit.

The Black College Football Hall of Fame will occupy between 5,000 to 5,400 square feet in the museum to the right off the entrance, where the interactive area is now. The back wall is expected to be removed to make more space.

Here’s what has happened so far:

• Meetings in Washington: The executive director of the National Museum and of African American History and Culture — a Smithsonian institution — and the head of the White House’s initiative on historically black colleges and universities both have participated in discussions about the exhibit.

• Design: Horrigan jokes work has focused on all the “non-sexy” stuff, such as traffic flow in the museum, integrated technology with the rest of plans for Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village, and design elements that fit the content planned for the museum

Here’s what could happen:



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