By Matt Browning
Wichita West recently completed an Alumni Hall that exhibits some of the outstanding athletes to ever play for the Pioneers. While an original hall of fame was finished in 2017, West Athletic Director David Clark saw a need for something bigger.
“When I started as AD in 2020, I saw the need to stage the best and brightest athletes who ever played at Wichita West to be recognized in a highly visible and top shelf area that was highly distinguishable for these inductees,” Clark said. “With renderings in hand, our Hall of Fame Committee launched a private fundraising campaign to get the project launched. A month into our funding drive, our committee decided to bookend a Distinguished Hall of Fame on the other end of the hall (outside the old gymnasium in the foyer).”
The process to getting the project complete was a quick one and there were many people willing to donate money.
“Together, this completed Alumni Hall helped take our campaign to the next level,” Clark said. “In only seven months, we raised over $175,000 to begin the work. The work was completed very quickly, and the ribbon-cutting occurred on May 6, 2022.”
Current students at West have appreciated the new Alumni Hall and have respected what those that came for them were able to achieve.
“This area is very inspirational, and it provides hope to our current students,” Clark said. “Hope is a powerful thing. The goal is for our current students to learn about these greats from the past and see that they, too, lived in the 67213 zip code and persevered. If they can do, then anyone can do it.”
Last Fall, West held its first class reunion with the project complete. It left many alumni feeling inspired about being a Pioneer.
“Due to the high number of alumni and friends of Wichita West interested in keeping this area enshrined, we formed a Wichita West Alumni Hall, Inc., 501c(3), to keep as an endowment for the Hall and to offer scholarships for students every year,” Clark said. “This has been one of the greatest endeavors from an Alumni base to give back to their alma mater that I have ever seen.”
