Travis Perry and his teammates at the King Kelly Coleman statue outside the Wayland Gymnasium. (Les Nicholson Photo)
A capacity crowd watched Travis Perry and his Lyon County teammates beat Floyd Central 110-72 Saturday night in the historic Wayland Gymnasium where “King” Kelly Coleman set the all-time state scoring record of 4,337 points before Perry broke the seemingly unbreakable record last year.
However, on Sunday a lot of fans came back just to view the gym with nobody playing there and that thrilled Wayland major Jerry Fultz and those who have worked to not only preserve the historic arena as a game venue, home for the Mountain Sports Hall of Fame and hopefully even more going forward.
“The structure itself is historic. The story of Kelly is historic and then with Travis Perry (who now has 4,563 points) there was just the cherry on top,” said Fultz. “He is a terrific kid. He was so willing to sign autographs, shirts, papers, programs. I even saw him signing shoes. He stayed and stayed and stayed.
“The fact they (Lyon County) would come and play in the gym added to the story of Kelly in its own way. They wanted to make the trip for obvious reasons to be part of a historic night.”
However, for those in Wayland, this was more than just a game featuring the state’s new all-time scoring leader playing in the same spot King Kelly Coleman did.
“This event had such an impact on people here in town. We look for reasons to give us hope. We have struggled with flooding, lack of jobs,” Fultz said. “Events like this bring people in to help local businesses and give people in town a reason to be proud of something. We needed that moment.”
Fultz was thrilled when the arena opened at 5 p.m. Saturday for the girls-boys doubleheader that there was a line of fans all the way off school property. Now Fultz hopes the enthusiasm will add momentum for financing a new two-story addition with public restrooms, locker rooms, concession areas and completion of an indoor walking track
Fultz helped put together the deal to purchase the gym in 2011. The school had closed in 1972 as part of consolidation. The elementary school there closed in 1990. Air conditioning, scoreboards and trophy cases have been added since the purchase.
“We have grants and applications (for funding the new addition) turned in. We hope this event will get the word out more and the excitement of having Travis Perry here and this historic night will reach the right people,” Fultz said. “We hope to get momentum to complete the gym to where we can host four- or eight-team tournaments. There were people there Saturday night who supported us privately with dollars and they saw what this meant to our community and the financial impact it had.”
Fultz and others would like to host a King Kelly Coleman Classic eventually with four girls teams and four boys teams playing games all day.
“There are also possibilities for other uses and forms of entertainment for the facility if we can get it completed,” he said.
The Mountain Sports Hall of Fame wants to preserve memories of the region’s sports history. Coleman’s Wayland and Kentucky Wesleyan jerseys are on display already along with a lot of other historic items. There is also a life-sized statue of Coleman outside the gym.
“We love to have visitors to the gym. It’s always good to call before you come. We eventually want to have a website but don’t have the people or resources to do that right now,” Fultz said. “We have a Facebook page and that is a good way to contact us and make sure someone will be there when you visit.”
