BENTON ATHLETIC MEMORIAL MUSEUM In The Tom Hardin Building

"Honoring the Past & Recognizing the Present..." The concept for the Benton Athletic Memorial Museum materialized at a public meeting in February of 1995, as a dream of former Benton High School Football Coach Tom Hardin, Head Coach 1958-1964.

In April that same year, the Benton School Board accepted the concept and agreed that the building could be built on a site adjacent to the Cook Field House at Benton High School. The Museum's Board of Directors agreed to build the building at no cost to the school district and to administratively operate the facility independently upon completion of construction. The building was dedicated and presented to the school board as school district property in October 1999.

Coach Hardin served as the Museum's Executive Director from 1995-2005. 

In 2004 he appointed Donnie Burks as the Assistant Executive Director. Donnie became Executive Director in 2007 and Coach Hardin passed away the following year.

In 2024, Executive Director Burks appointed BAMM Board President Brandon Wake as the second ever Assistant Executive Director.

At present the Museum houses over 700 trophies, pictures, award jackets and blankets, scrapbooks and class annuals and numerous memorabilia, plus many historical displays of athletic, musical, and scholastic awards and school events dating back to 1906. The Benton Athletic Memorial Museum has truly been an asset to the Benton School District and to our local community

Videos with Donnie. Not uploaded yet.

"...Dedicated to the Future" In 2023, Executive Director Donnie Burks realized that the first two steps of the Board's Mission Statement were secured, as the Museum had successfully become the home of the Wall of Fame Inductees and the Wall of Honor Recognitions. The BAMM Board of Directors had grown the Annual Wall of Fame Banquet for BHS Seniors into an all-time high fundraising scholarship event. It was time to address the future of the soon-to-be 30-year-old endeavor. He appointed Vice-President Cindy Bowden as Project Chairperson over updates to enhance and refresh the outside face of the building. Bowden selected a team of board members to help make decisions for paint and hardware of the front doors, adding window treatment for security, and changing out old lighting to brighter bulbs for night safety. Burks then made a deal with Benton Mayor Tom Farmer to secure the benches that had graced the front sidewalk of the old junior high school on River Street as the building had been purchased by the city. Bowden met with the School District Maintenance crew to incorporate the benches in with the newly planned landscaping project. She also devised a plan to pay for the entire project by inviting classes, businesses, and individuals to donate, and a reception was held in their honor as a thank-you in October of that year.

Upon becoming BAMM Board President in September 2024, Bowden joined with Executive Director Burks and Assistant Executive Director Wake to meet with BHS students in the EAST Program to create both a YouTube channel and a website to futher secure the future of the Museum.

 We are grateful to all who have faithfully served on the BAMM Board of Directors for the past thirty years, and we are extremely excited to watch Coach Hardin's dream grow and prosper as we enter our TRICENNIAL DECADE CELEBRATION!