Athens State University may not have a sports program anymore, but that doesn’t mean its past teams are forgotten. An effort is underway to gather memorabilia from past Athens State sports teams for a new museum in the school’s gymnasium.

“We’ve been working on this collection of sports memorabilia for a quite a while,” said Athens State archivist Sara Love.  “The sports program was discontinued in 2003 and since then we’ve tried to gather as much as we can.”

The school will hold a banquet from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, that is open to any past Athens State athletes. Love said the former athletes are encouraged to bring in any memorabilia they would like to loan to the new museum.

“We are taking donations now,” Love said. “The archives are accepting sports memorabilia from any year. We would love to have anything from uniforms to balls to shoes to whatever. We’ve already heard some really interesting stories and had some nice collections donated.”

In connection with the memorabilia drive, the banquet will also honor former coaches Oba Belcher and Harold Murrell. Helping with the memorabilia effort is former basketball player Forrest Carter. Carter played basketball for Athens State in 1997-98.

“I think everybody is getting old, so they wanted them to bring in their old memorabilia before it all gets lost,” Carter said. “There will be a museum type deal when you walk in the gym. They’ve already heard from about 200 people who want to contribute. I’ve talked to about five of the guys I played with who are interested.”

Also helping with the effort is Athens State Vice President of Advancement Rick Mould. Mould is spearheading the effort to honor coaches Belcher and Murrell.

“We’re trying to collect more memorabilia from people and recognize these two outstanding coaches,” Love said. “We’re really excited that this will bring back some of the former graduates that have gone on to be coaches or educators.”

While the effort to collect memorabilia has been under way for some time, it wasn’t until recently that the school was able to secure a place for its sporting history. The items collected will be on display at the entrance of Carter Physical Education Center following the August banquet.

“Once we had our collection, we needed a place to house that collection,” Love said. “The president and administration have decided to open up part of the gym and make it a memorabilia room.”

Anyone interested in donating or receiving for more information can contact Love at 256-216-6671.