The Hall of Champions museum at Balboa Park takes you back in time, with exhibits honoring legendary Chargers, Padres and the greatest athletes to come from San Diego.

“For the most part they are donated,” said Hall of Champions Membership/Sports Development Executive Drew Moser, who didn’t have just one favorite piece in the museum, “Whether it be the oil painting of Ted Williams, or Tony Gwynn’s bats, or the America’s Cup Replica Trophy that will be here soon. There are too many to choose from, and its hard to pick just one.”

“Walking into the Padres exhibit really takes me back to when they went to the World Series,” said Mesa baseball player Zak Darman. The Chargers and Padres exhibits have memorabilia dating back to the beginning of both franchises.

 The Padres exhibit has many of Tony Gwynn’s awards, including all eight of his Silver Slugger awards for best hitter, and all five of his Gold Gloves given to the top player at each position. That’s just a very small percentage of the section. They have baseball gear from many baseball hall of famers including Ted Williams, who in 1941,was the last player to bat over .400.

The Chargers exhibit has a team photo with Al Davis in it from way back in 1960, when he was an assistant with the Club their inaugural season. They have jerseys from every Chargers great, including Dan Fouts, Lance Alworth and Junior Seau.

 One of the other exhibits set up is Sailing. The first of two installments has pictures and memorabilia from the America’s Cup, which was held in San Diego for many years. The second part of the exhibit, “Has started and will be completed in the next six to eight weeks,” Moser continued, “We will add a number of display counters, an interactive component where guests can compete against each other like they’re in a sailboat, and a full size replica of the America’s Cup Trophy.”

 The Hall has many corporate events and sports ceremonies as well. One of the events is the Breitbard Hall of Fame Ceremony, which is a San Diego Hall of Fame. This year four exceptional athletes including Trevor Hoffman and Junior Seau were inducted.

 The award is named after Robert Breitbard (1919-2010) who founded the Hall of Champions. Breitbard is a San Diego sports legend. He never played a game but he did a number of other huge things for the city. “Breitbard had a relationship with a lot of the athletes, and he was so instrumental in building the sports scene in San Diego that people felt it appropriate to display their items at Bob’s museum.” Moser then said, “He was instrumental in building the Sports Arena.” Once the Arena was built, Breitbard was able to draw the San Diego Gulls and San Diego Rockets(Now Houston) to the Sports Arena once it was complete.

 The Hall of Champions is located in beautiful Balboa Park, the staff is great and will answer any questions you have. Whether your favorite sport is football, basketball, baseball, Nascar or sailing they have something for you to see. The price of admission is $8 for adults and $5 for anyone 17 or younger.