Volleyball Hall of Fame
The International Volleyball Hall of Fame was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan at the local YMCA.
History
In 1971 the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce established a committee to campaign for the founding of the Volleyball Hall of Fame in Holyoke, Massachusetts.By 1977 signs had been set up as people entered the city touting Holyoke, as the "Home of the Volleyball Hall of Fame", however for years newspapers would write stories lampooning the city as people attempted to find it, only to see a small display case of memorabilia that alternated between being hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Wistariahurst Museum. In 1978, the committee incorporated as Holyoke Volleyball Hall of Fame, Inc., a nonprofit corporation established for the purpose of planning, promoting, establishing and maintaining a living memorial to the sport of volleyball. The name of the corporation was changed to the International Volleyball Hall of Fame by resolution of the Board of Directors on July 17, 2014.
A small exhibit dedicated to the history of volleyball and the hall of fame's inductees opened in a section of the renovated Skinner Mill Warehouse on June 6, 1987 - a building built in 1949 to store silk fabric produced by the famous Skinner Mill in Holyoke. The mill itself was destroyed by fire in 1980.
In 1998, the exhibit was expanded and moved to a permanent location in the Skinner Mill Warehouse in downtown Holyoke's Heritage State Park sharing the building with the Holyoke Children's Museum.
The IVHF museum now features exhibits honoring each year's inductees, a replica of a full-size volleyball court, sport timelines, photos, and unique and meaningful memorabilia of the sport along with an interactive video kiosk, a special inductee display area, and a gift shop.
In 1985, William G. Morgan was posthumously inducted into the hall as its first member. A total of 140 men and women from 25 countries around the world have since been inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. The international appeal of the sport explains a shift in the pool of inductees since 1998. Since that time, inductees have come from around the world and contribute to the honoring of the sport and its home in Holyoke.