In the News

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Hall of famers like Jim Calhoun and Sheryl Swoopes were at Springfield College on Monday, to celebrate the Basketball Hall of Fame getting a commemorative collector's coin. 

The U.S. Treasury will mint the coins beginning in 2020. 

The announcment concludes a three year effort by Congressman Richard Neal and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr, and the late John McCain to get it into production.

"The process was actually arduous, largely because you need to secure 290 signitures in the house of representatives," said Congressman Neal. 

The coin will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of basketball, invented here at Springfield college by Dr. James Naismith. The coins will raise funds for the Hall of Fame's educational programs and historical artifacts. 

"It will eventually lead to sales in excess of $8 million," said neal. 

"Coin collector's are the main target but there is some regular currency, and it brings great exposure to the Hall," said CEO and -president of the Naismith Memoiral Basketball Hall of Fame, John Doleva. "We know basketball is a global game and this will be a wonderful celebration."

There will be a national contest for the coin's design. Those details are still to be determined, but the competition will begin sometime in the spring.