History
After a long, slow birth process, the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame now has a genuine home in Oklahoma City.
The first IGHOF was founded in 1972 by Frank Wells of the National Gymnastics Clinic. It had only one inductee, Olga Korbut, and it disbanded in the late 1970s.
Glenn Sundby, publisher of the International Gymnast magazine, founded the current IGHOF in 1986. When he moved the magazine's headquarters to Oceanside, CA, Sundby decided to open a hall of fame to use empty space in the publication's building.
Olga Korbut was again the first inductee, in 1988, and Nadia Comaneci became the second, in 1993. But the hall of fame failed to gain local support.
In 1996, the magazine was sold to Paul Ziert, who moved it to Norman, OK, and the California hall of fame closed.
On Jan. 15, 1997, Governor Frank Keating of Oklahoma issued a proclamation welcoming the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame (IGHOF) to a temporary facility in downtown Oklahoma City.
That temporary location was in a former cafeteria, offered rent-free to the hall of fame, which held its first genuine election and induction ceremony that year, welcoming eight new inductees.
The IGHOF is raising funds to construct its own home. It's currently represented by an introductory exhibit at the Science Museum Oklahoma.
