Like most of the early visitors to the new College Football Hall of Fame, which opened Saturday morning in downtown Atlanta, 92-year-old Charley Trippi was drawn to the technology.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Trippi, a legendary Georgia football player of the 1940s and a Hall of Famer, said as he looked at highlights of his college career on a device called an augmented reality viewer. “Very clever, the way they do it.”
The Hall of Fame — now officially called the College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-fil-A Fan Experience — completed its long-in-the-works move from South Bend, Ind., to Atlanta with Saturday’s grand opening of the 94,256-square-foot attraction near Centennial Olympic Park.
Long before the doors opened at 10 a.m., a crowd had gathered outside the building. At the front of the line were Jerry and Rebecca Samon from Cookeville, Tenn.
They arrived at 7 a.m. because “we wanted to be first,” said Jerry, an Alabama fan. “I always wanted to go to the Hall when it was in Indiana, but never got the chance to go there.”
Hall officials limited admissions to about 1,000 per hour during the morning, trying to guard against over-crowding that would diminish the experience, they said. Within the first hour, the high-tech interactive exhibits in the building were drawing more interest than the historical artifacts.
While a few people looked at a display of equipment from football’s early days, big groups gathered around many of the interactive screens, and long lines formed to enter the ultra-high-definition theater and “ESPN College GameDay” simulation feature.
Before the doors opened, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta Hall Management CEO John Stephenson welcomed the crowd gathered outside.
“The College Football Hall of Fame … makes the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia the center of college football in the United States of America, baby,” Reed declared.
“You are going to see things in there you have never seen before, that you can’t see anywhere else in the world,” Stephenson told the crowd. “There are valuable historical artifacts, as well as some amazing software and media interactives.”
Rather than a traditional ribbon-cutting, the dignitaries on stage blew whistles to signal the opening of the building. The Hall of Fame mascot, Fumbles, then ran through a large banner in front of the entrance.
Trippi, wearing a red shirt and black pants, was among a number of Hall of Famers on hand. He walked throughout the building and often stopped to pose for photos with fans.
Other Hall of Famers in attendance were former Georgia players Bill Stanfill and Kevin Butler, former Georgia Tech players Joe Hamilton and Randy Rhino and former Falcons (and University of California) quarterback Steve Bartkowski.
Please check back for updates from opening day.
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