ABILENE, Kan. (AP) -- Footsteps on the old wooden floor echo off the walls as Ted Hayes talks about some of the great names of Kansas sports history.
- Jim Ryun, the running prodigy who made the U.S. Olympic team at age 17 and ran a 4-minute mile in high school. James Naismith and Phog Allen, the man who invented basketball and his foremost student, who coached for 39 years at the University of Kansas.
- Billy Mills, who in a dramatic come-from-behind sprint became the only American ever to win an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000-meter run.
Fifty-six plaques hang on the walls of an otherwise bare room in an old telephone company building that houses the State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.
Each plaque has a line drawing etched in metal of one of the state's athletic greats, from 1961's 10-member group that included Naismith, Adolph Rupp and Iva Pembridge Jones, a trap shooter from Phillipsburg, to the 1990 class that included Lynette Woodard, Jack Hartman and Tom Watson.
"That first group was selected as part of the 1961 Kansas Centennial celebration," Hayes said.
The hall isn't much to look at now. For that matter, it isn't open for business. But Hayes, the hall's executive director, is hoping a $2 million fund drive that started in August will allow him to unpack the 56 boxes of mementos -- one for each honoree -- and flesh out the displays.
Former University of Kansas running great Wes Santee is heading up the fund-raising effort.
"We want something as representative of the state of Kansas as possible," Santee said. "We have an artist's concept of what it should look like, but it's not locked in concrete."
The hall is intended to be a living display that represents the variety of Kansas athletics, not just a memorial to a few standouts, he said.
"We want to hit all the major sports, but a lot of (athletes) come from little towns like Elkhart and Ashland, and we want to make sure those towns and schools are recognized," Santee said.
And the hall will honor athletes and teams other than the greats who have been formally inducted, he said.
"It's easy in sports to get wrapped up in the big names," he said.
"What about the fellows who were outstanding high school athletes and didn't go on to college? We want to make sure they're recognized and give everyone a reason to go and see this," Santee said.
Max Falkenstien, longtime University of Kansas football and basketball announcer, is chairman of the hall's board of trustees.
"I'm really enthusiastic about it," he said. "Kansas has a great sports heritage, and I think it's a real tragedy it hasn't been given more publicity."
The board is looking for both corporate sponsors and individual members, Falkenstien said. Charter memberships are available to individuals for $250.
Money raised through this campaign will go only for building expenses, he said.
The artist's concept calls for a 24,000-square foot building to be located near the Dwight Eisenhower Center and the Greyhound Hall of Fame.
"We have a nice location on land given to us by Fred Bramlage," Falkenstien said.
The hall of fame had been housed in the Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence for many years.
Groundbreaking could take place next year if all goes well, and Hayes finally will be able to show off treasures like Ryun's 1968 Olympic uniform and the jersey Woodard wore as the first woman to play with the Harlem Globetrotters.
The hall also has a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth and inscribed to Elden Auker, a former Kansas State University pitcher who played for the Detroit Tigers in the 1934 and 1935 World Series.
The hall also may receive the first gold medal in Olympic basketball, from the 1936 Berlin games, won by a Gypsum man who played on the U.S. team.
"His widow lives in California and wants it returned to the state of Kansas," Hayes said.
But the hall will be more than just a place for old memories, Hayes said.
"We'll also have a high school championship room, with photos of reigning high school champions, boys and girls, in all sports," he said.
"Eventually we hope to have a data base of state track champs, to be computerized so anyone can have access. We also hope to have a place for national championship teams and Olympic teams."
Copyright 1993 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.