The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference doesn’t do anything small.

When you’re dealing with 46 schools covering 15 counties there’s no way to do anything small.

Whether it’s the tournaments, championship events, all-star games or now the added initiatices the conference has undertaken nothing gets done small and nothing gets done in any manner other than full steam ahead.

However, while it’s always full-steam ahead, the OVAC doesn’t leave a stone unturned.

The idea of a sports museum was worked on for three years to the day of its opening last Wednesday.

“When the idea was first conceived we didn’t have any reservations,” said OVAC Executive Secretary Tom Rataiczak. “When the idea started to unfold and you start to see things coming from it became like an addiction.”

The OVAC officially unveiled its latest venture, the OVAC Museum, which chronicles the conference’s history as well as the schools’ athletic histories at WesBanco Arena.

More than a hundred people attended the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

If you want to take a stroll through the museum you can do so for free anytime the arena is open. But if you plan on doing it, you’d better have a good couple of hours if you’re really going to look at all of the information that’s presented.

The wrestling, basketball, football and track and field cases are simply astounding. Throw in the fact that there’s a giant map on the wall, depicting where all 46 member schools are located. That gives the novice OVAC fan a general idea of just how big this conference is in land area. There are some people who have that fact lost upon them.

“I think I like the map the best of everything in here,” Rataiczak said. “That gives you the chance to see just how huge the conference is and allows you to put things into perspective in where it is.”

The football helmet display is a work in progress. There are several schools who aren’t represented. A good trivia question is go look at the display and try to figure out which schools are missing. You’ll be shocked by a few of those, we promise that.

Each school in the conference has its own case. Even the new members Rosecrans and Parkersburg South have a case. However, there are still a few cases, which have just pages of past OVAC Hall of Fame programs hung in there, so they aren’t bare. That’s embarrassing to be honest.

There’s a wonderful opportunity to show off accomplishments of schools and their rich history and to have empty cases after nearly three years of work on this project is unacceptable.

“The schools didn’t supply as much as we had thought they might and that’s the most disappointing part,” Rataiczak said. “Take the helmet display for instance. If people come in here and notice schools missing, I think the peer pressure will start to develop from people.”

All told, there are eight floor cases and 131 wall cases. Not only do the current member schools have their own spot, but now defunct schools, which make up the current membership have their history preserved in the museum. Places like Warren Consolidated, Adena, Wheeling High, Yorkville, etc all have a chance to not lose touch with their achievements despite the school’s closing.

One of the aspects I enjoyed the most were the life-size banners of athletes and/or contributors to the OVAC’s greatness.

People like Phil Niekro, Lou Holtz, John Havlicek, Lou Groza, Cal Pokas, Bill Mazeroski, Jay Circosta and even Rataiczak have been lofted high above the concourses in WesBanco to symbolize what they’ve meant to the OVAC.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Rataiczak said. “I don’t walk down the halls and look at the cases, I walk down and see additional space where we can put other materials. It’s gratifying to see where it is at this point, but we realize it’s a long way from being complete.”

There have been cases installed that will eventually be home to memorabilia for the avenues of the conference, including the McDonald’s OVAC All-Star Band; the Queen of Queens, the Sports World Program and other things that have made prep sports in this valley more than just a game.

There are many people who deserve to be recognized for their work on the museum. The committee is made up of Dick Coury, Rick DeLuca, Bill Hinegardner, Doug Huff, Dennis Magruder, Ron Mauck, Linda Myers and Rataiczak.

Rataiczak was also quick to point out the work of Project Best and the Carpenter’s Union in Wheeling, which did the work on the cases as well as Mark George and the WesBanco Arena maintenance department, which installed and hung the cases.

Sponsorship opportunities for the cases are also available and information on that can be received through contacting Rataiczak at the OVAC office.

I am usually not the advice-giving type, but I would recommend getting to WesBanco Arena and taking a stroll through this museum. You won’t be disappointed; you will be intrigued.

The museum, the Hall of Fame, Sports World, scholarships, the Banquet of Champions proves the OVAC is something the entire the Ohio Valley can be proud of and also something that’s a lot more than just a wrestling tournament, a track meet or an all-star football game.

And something tells me as long as Rataiczak and company remain involved, the OVAC will do nothing but continue to grow and flourish.