Spend a couple of hours on UConn Husky memory lane

It's free, it's fun - it's the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum.

There's a little-known collection of great memories for UConn Husky fans on the Storrs Campus - the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum.

This extensive collection of memorabilia is located in the newly expanded UConn Alumni Center.

The 2,700-square-foot museum is named for the 1940 basketball and football captain, the late J. Robert Donnelly.

The museum includes the "National Champions" Gallery, in the museum's foyer of the Husky Heritage Sports Museum. It will serve as a permanent tribute to all University of Connecticut varsity teams that have earned the title of National Champions, which now includes photos and other mementos representing 12 National Champion squads in four different sports.

This includes the unbeaten 1948 men's soccer team of Coach John Squires, the 1981 and 1985 UConn women's field hockey teams of Coach Diane Wright, the 1981 men's soccer team of Coach Joe Morrone, the 2000 men's soccer team of Coach Ray Reid, the five national championship women's basketball teams of Coach Geno Auriemma (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004), and the 1999 and 2004 UConn men's basketball teams of Coach Jim Calhoun.

Inside the museum, banners feature 88 All-Americans representing 17 different intercollegiate sports.

The growth and development of Connecticut athletics is traced via text, photographs and mementos stretching from the 1890s to today.

In the main concourse are the 1981 and 2000 NCAA National Championship Men's Soccer trophies; the 1981 and 1985 NCAA National Championship Women's Field Hockey trophies; the 1950s era baseball gloves belonging to Connecticut's three Dropo brothers (including Walt Dropo's first baseman's mitt when he was the American League Rookie of the Year with the Boston Red Sox in 1950); the 1935 Ramnapping Trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Connecticut-Rhode Island football game; a 1931 football signed by the entire Connecticut squad; team photos of Connecticut's first men's (1901) and women's (1902) basketball squads; and the Waterford Crystal NCAA National Championship trophies won by UConn Women's Basketball (1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004) and UConn Men's Basketball (1999, 2004).

Championship trophies and related artifacts that chronicle UConn's men's and women's national titles are prominently featured in the the Connecticut Basketball Rotunda., along with life-size cutouts of Husky All-American stars Ray Allen and Rebecca Lobo.

The museum also features a 6-screen video wall with behind-the-scenes looks at various UConn Athletics "winning moments."

Admission to the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum is free and is open to the general public Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the UConn Alumni Center. (The museum is closed when the Alumni Center is closed.)

The UConn Division of Athletics is always on the lookout seek additional memorabilia. If you would like to make a donation, call Associate Director of Athletics-Licensing & Athletic Traditions at 486-9097 or send an e-mail to tim.tolokan@uconn.edu

For more information about the museum and the man it is named for, visit the UConn Web site at http://www.uconnhuskies.com/museum/museum.html