College Football Hall of Fame tour: Helmets wall
The exhibit: A three-story-high wall of helmets displays the headgear of the 768 teams that play college football at the FBS, FCS, Division II, Division III and NAIA levels.
Touring it: It's a striking display, one of the first things a visitor sees upon entering the building. The helmets are arranged randomly, making it difficult to find a particular team's. It should help, though, that a helmet will light up when a fan of that team registers his ticket in the lobby area. Some blank helmets are mixed into the display, holding space for schools that add football programs in the future.
Talking about it: The helmet wall is meant to immediately deliver the message that the Hall of Fame represents all of college football, from the most famous programs to the most obscure, CEO John Stephenson said. "We wanted to make sure people know this is not just the SEC hall of fame or the Georgia hall of fame," he said. "The helmet wall tells you this is for everybody. Most of the helmets you won't recognize, which I think is incredibly cool. It drives home the point that a lot of people play college football that you'll never see on television, never see play on Sunday."
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
