November 6, 2009

Longtime sports journalist Harold Bechard has been named the director of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.

The move becomes effective Nov. 30.

Bechard will run the day-to-day operation of the museum’s facilities at the Wichita Boathouse and inside Newton’s Chisholm Trail Mall, while Ted Hayes will continue as president and CEO, focusing his attention on the organization’s long-term strategy.

Bechard, who has more than 33 years of newspaper experience, has been covering college sports for the Hutchinson News since 2000 after working more than two decades at the Salina Journal.

“I think I’ve done my duty to journalism,” he says.

Hayes and Bechard have had been friends for more than 20 years. They met while Hayes was living in McPherson and operating a sports magazine out of his basement and maintained the relationship when Hayes started the hall of fame in Abilene.

“I’ve helped him out on a few projects over the years,” Bechard says.

The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame has faced financial diffulties in recent years and faced eviction from its Old Town headquarters before Bill Koch stepped up and offered the boathouse for $1 a year.

In Newton, the museum will occupy 22,000 square feet. It won’t pay rent in 2010, but will pay what amounts to about $25,000 per year in rent.

“The money situation is always tough, but when you save about $125,000 in rent a year, that’s going to help a lot,” Bechard says.