Founded in 1958, the mission of the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame (FCAHOF) is to honor and remember the past accomplishments of great Fresno County (Calif.) athletes and to inspire youth to become all they can be in their lives. Every year more athletes are inducted into the FCAHOF, and while over 400 individuals and teams have been added since its inception, the FCAHOF traditionally has never had a physical location to call home.
That changed when the FCAHOF partnered with Fresno State University and Fresno County Schools to create a permanent site inside the Save Mart Center at Fresno State, where the men’s and women's basketball teams play their home games. The new exhibit, located in a 5,000-square-foot wing of the arena, was designed by Fresno-based Solutions By Design and features team sports banners, memorabilia cases and the latest in interactive and digital display technologies.
“Fresno County has a really proud sports tradition, and the board of the Hall of Fame was intent on creating something special,” said Solutions By Design President William Poss. “They approached us to design an environment that would honor this legacy of great athletes.”
Planar display solutions highlight the array of digital technologies featured in the new dynamic FCAHOF. These include:
An overhead, 33-foot-diamater halo truss system supporting 18 side-by-side 46- inch Clarity® Matrix® G3 LCD Video Wall System displays.
A nearly 16-foot-long, 7-foot-high interactive Clarity Matrix® MultiTouch LCD Video Wall System in a 4x3 configuration. Flanking the Clarity Matrix MultiTouch video wall on both sides are 55-inch Clarity Matrix MultiTouch LCD displays in portrait orientation.
A 12-foot-long, 4.5-foot-high Planar® VM Series LCD Video Wall in a 3x2 configuration.
A 55-inch Clarity Matrix G3 LCD video wall integrated with a donor wall exhibit.
The halo truss installation a key focal point of the space is configured to show streaming content that includes action graphics, photos and statistics of athletes and coaches enshrined into the FCAHOF. Similarly, the Planar VM Series video wall named the Sports Library Wall is designed to display motion graphics with content organized to feature superstar athletes from a variety of sports categories.
Reaching younger audiences through stories
Underlying the achievements of great Fresno County athletes is an inspirational message for Fresno County youth that is meant to empower them to strive for their goals and realize greatness in their own way. This is where interactive storytelling with the Clarity Matrix MultiTouch video wall plays a key role.
Users who engage with the Clarity Matrix MultiTouch video wall can select a sports category and view athlete profiles that include bios, photo galleries, videos and stories that capture their achievements, challenges and unique journeys. The 55-inch Clarity Matrix touch displays on either side of the video wall feature similar content and stories on past Fresno County Olympians and FCAHOF sponsors, including tribute videos honoring veterans.
“The core objective of this project is to drive home character, accomplishment and hard work through stories and messaging,” Poss said. “It’s very much rooted in incentivizing kids to become more than what they might think they can become.”
Former FCAHOF President Walter Byrd said the vision for the new FACHOF was to create a place for youth to learn about the Hall of Fame athletes. “The founders of this organization had a dream that one day they would have a location in our community for people to actually see these athletes and hear their stories,”Byrd said. “More than the awards and accolades, we think the important thing is the character of these people. The interactive technology provides the opportunity for students to listen to interviews and experience the athletes in their own voice. That’s very impressive to us.
” Byrd said, “We just appreciate the partnership with Planar and what they’ve been able to do for us. Those that have gone before, their legacies are kept alive through this technology. We think this is a golden opportunity for our community.”
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
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