Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame Forced to Leave Oakdale Commons
An Oakdale Mall staple, the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame and museum was forced to leave the Oakdale Commons earlier this week.
Anthony Quagliata, owner of AJQ Sports Management and Marketing and founder of the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, received a little more than a month of notice from the Oakdale Commons that the local sports museum would have to relocate.
"They told us December 7th we had to get out by January 31st and then two days later they told us we had to get out by January 15th," said Quagliata. "So we really had to scramble but luckily the County came to our help, Visions Federal Credit Union is actually storing some of our additional artifacts that we’re not able to bring over to the arena, Rogers trucking assisted us in the moving process and then we had a bunch of really great volunteers, most of them part of our program to begin with, that assisted us with the move."
According to Quagliata, some leases in the Oakdale Commons had run out, and they were unofficially paying month to month to utilize the space they'd occupied for years. And now, the Oakdale Commons has no space for the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
Quagliata is looking for a permanent location for the museum, but for now many of the displays can be seen on the first floor of the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena.
"Our ultimate goal is to find our own permanent location but luckily we have a temporary site," said Quagliata. "So we’ve already brought in some of our display cases and artifacts over to the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena, Broome County so we’re there now as far as display cases. We still need to do some more work on them and then eventually we’ll have the plaques up on the wall and they’re located on the first level of the arena."
But the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena can't hold every display from the Greater Binghamton Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, so a search for a permanent location is the top priority. In total, the museum has 90 plaques featuring 88 individuals and two teams. And Quagliata believes the move may be a blessing in disguise, allowing the museum to continue to grow larger than it could in its corner of the Oakdale Commons.
Quagliata also reiterated his appreciate for Visions Federal Credit Union, Broome County, Rogers Trucking and all of the volunteers that help with museum, saying "We are looking for a new permanent location. We can’t do it without the help of our sponsors and the community. If anybody has any help that they can assist us with location-wise, information-wise, we’d appreciate it."