ECU Sports Hall of Fame
project type:
Honoring ECU’s Outstanding Athletes
East Carolina University has a long history and rich tradition in the field of intercollegiate athletics. Individual and team honors garnered by ECU athletes include Olympic medalists, national champions and All-Americans as well as regional, conference and Bowl championships. Numerous former student-athletes have gone on to prominence in professional sports, including football, baseball, basketball, golf, and soccer. Former ECU athletes have been World Series performers, Super Bowl participants, and World Cup team members.
The Murphy Center – A Multifunctional Facility
The ECU Sports Hall of Fame at the Murphy Center was designed to honor these outstanding individual student-athletes, championship-caliber intercollegiate teams, former athletes who went on to prominence in the pros, and patrons of the athletic department. Additionally, the exhibit components were designed to help give a consistent visual vocabulary to a building that serves several functions. The Murphy Center houses the Strength and Conditioning Center, student athlete study hall and dining room, and a multifunctional banquet hall for donors and guests.
The Exhibits – A Multifunctional Facility
Design Dimension developed a language of images, iconography, and casework that blend with the modern details of the architecture, and helped activate the building’s open spaces. Upon entering the Center, bold, distinctive banners featuring monumental images of student-athletes activate the two-story area overhead. Large, contemporary pieces of casework designed to display images, artifacts, and extensive sporting memorabilia fill the lobby and upstairs hallway. A massive case on the second floor details the football team’s Bowl game victories with photos, artifacts and game souvenirs, as well as gigantic trophies. Various wall spaces in the building feature oversize photomurals, blending athletes from a variety of events into a series of seamless, energetic, and powerful ribbons of collegiate sport. A separate donor’s entry lobby presents visitors with a photomural that honors ECU fans, boosters, cheerleaders, drill teams and pep bands. A patron’s wall honors long time supporters of the athletic department with recognition plaques featuring the likenesses of contributors etched in brass. Larger versions of these plaques are also used to honor the major donors to the building, for whom different lobbies and rooms have been named.
The combination of these displays and exhibits with the spacious and beautiful architecture of the building make for an engaging and impressive visitor experience that gives a sense of pride and inspiration to donors, student athletes, faculty and staff of the University.