Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Already, the museum has mounted a pretty
Front Page article (February 10, 1999) successful comeback. Just 18 months ago,
HOOPS MUSEUM TO OPEN
WITH $2.2 MILLION DEBT
by Valarie Honeycutt, Herald-Leader Staff Writer
Talk about your come-from-behind
situations.
When the University of Kentucky Basketball
Museum opens Saturday, it will be $2.2 million
in debt.
In a state that loves its Wildcats, a five-year
fund-raising effort - helped along by $1 million
in tax money from the city of Lexington - has
come up more than 40 percent short of the $5.3
million needed.
Officials with the museum, a non-profit
corporation, predict that a continuing emphasis
on fund raising, retail sales at a UK-related shop
and the museum's admissions will make
enough money to retire the debt in three to five
years.
But if they're eager to predict a healthy future,
officials are not as quick to discuss the history
of the museum, which has been scheduled to
open in every year since 1995.
"It's unproductive to second-guess on the eve
of opening what you might or might not have
done differently in the fund raising," said Jim
LeMaster, the former UK player who is president
of the museum's board.
Still, interviews and documents reveal the
following reasons for its debts and delays:
* Its fund raising, including a relatively
expensive idea to give gold, silver and
bronze medallions to donors, did not meet
goals. [Jane Murray-Vimonts’ idea.]
* The board didn't hire a full-time director
until after almost four years of planning,
despite pleas to hire one from a project
manager who was working under contract.
* When director Mike Durham was hired in
1997, he said it became apparent that
museum organizers "had not understood
the scope of the project in hard terms." It
would cost millions more than anyone
thought.
things looked far more bleak.
`FISH OR CUT BAIT'
Former UK star Kyle Macy had resigned from
the museum's board after several months of
work, citing concerns that money was being
wasted. (Macy, the coach of the Morehead
State University men's basketball team,
recently returned to the board and says he now
thinks the museum is on solid financial footing.)
In the summer of 1997, Lexington city officials,
concerned about the museum's finances, had
begun demanding detailed accounts of where
money was going, and were questioning
whether they should proceed with a
commitment to give $1 million.
By August 1997, Jane Vimont, a former mayoral
aide who was heading the project as a contract
worker, had resigned to take what she
described as an attractive job in Canada. At
that point, the effort had raised $1.7 million -
after writing off uncollectable pledges - and
spent $1.5 million, according to records. [Jane
Murray] Vimont declined to be interviewed for
this article.
[Don’t skip over this part! When Jane
Murray was in charge of fund-raising, they
RAISED $1.7 million but the SPENT $1.5
million to do it! And much of the money
went it Jane Murray’s pocket.]
But LeMaster, president of Kentucky operations
for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the health
insurer, acknowledged that 1997 was pivotal,
when years of effort were put to the test. "We
had to fish or cut bait," he said.
He credited Vimont and her firm, Jane Vimont
and Associates (also called JVA) with keeping
the museum "on target for our final goal."
LeMaster also receives credit from his fellow
board members for keeping the project going.
[Apparently Lemaster didn’t want to point
fingers during the grand opening event.]
SPENDING PATTERNS
Though fund-raisers for a UK basketball
museum date back to the 1970s, the latest
effort began in earnest in 1994, when the
museum incorporated and hired Vimont as
project manager and fund-raiser under
contract. From then until late 1997, the
museum had no office or staff of its own.
Vimont, who had previously worked on the
museum concept for several years as a city
employee, "was our office. She was our staff,"
LeMaster said.
Minutes from several board meetings indicate
that Vimont repeatedly urged the board to hire
a full-time director. But board members
hesitated to spend money they might not be
able to raise, LeMaster said. Vimont frequently
provided the board with lists of her duties,
which ranged from coordinating marketing to
handling all financial transactions to fund
raising.
As project manager and fund raiser, Vimont
paid out more than $840,000 for expenses such
as project management, fund raising, and
staffing an office from early 1994 until July
1997. Over the same time, $600,000 went for
construction and design costs, records show. Of
the $840,000 in non-construction
expenses, the museum's invoices show
that Vimont's firm, JVA, received
$465,000. Durham said a substantial amount
of that money represented reimbursement for
business-related expenses. LeMaster said JVA
received between $4,000 and $6,000 a month
under its contract with the museum board.
The Herald-Leader requested a copy of the
contract [with Jane Murray-Vimont] , but
museum officials have been unable to find
one. [Seriously? Jane Murray’s museum
could not find a copy of its contract with
her? Did she take it with her?]
The money devoted to fund raising was
troubling to former UK player Steve
Lochmueller, who served on a steering
committee for raising money. "You don't spend
money, necessarily, to make money," said
Lochmueller, an area manager for a
telecommun- ications firm and now a member
of the museum's full board. He said his concern
about fund raising may simply have been a
"perception."
Clearly, though, the effort ran into real
problems. Several deadlines for opening came
and went.
NOT `A WINNER'
By the end of the museum's first year, total
contributions and pledges were reported at
$313,059, but only $136,000 of the pledges had
been collected. [Murray-Vimont collected only
half of the pledged amount.] That fell far short
of an initial goal, $3 million for the first 18
months.
A key fund-raising effort, in which gold, silver
or bronze medallions were given to donors,
was far less successful than its $2.9 million
goal. The museum spent $201,105 on 6,500
medallions. Only about 800 went to donors, in
return for gifts totaling $1.1 million. The
medallions made an additional $36,000 for the
museum when Whitaker Banks purchased
2,000, records show. Durham, the museum's
executive director, said he's not sure how many
are left in stock. Records show it may be as
many as 3,762. [6500 expensive medallions
ordered by Murray-Vimont. Over half left over.
Definitely not a winner of an idea, Jane!]
Durham has decided to discontinue the
program. "It [Murray-Vimont’s idea for a fund-
raiser] wasn't a winner," he said.
CITY OFFICIALS CONCERNED
If private contributions weren't exactly
streaming in, public con-tributions were.
[Funds that Lexington is still paying off today.]
The Lexington Center, a corporation of the
Urban County Government, offered 10 years'
worth of free rent for the museum in the Civic
Center Shops. (The museum pays about
$50,000 a year for utilities and operating
expenses. Without the deal, rent might be
$100,000 to $150,000 a year.)
The museum also lined up $1 million in
cash from Lexington city government.
[Much of it went in Murray-Vimont’s
pocket.]That gift was required by state officials
as part of an agreement stemming from the
aborted Lexington Cultural Center. After the
center project was canceled, city officials were
required to redirect state funds allocated to it to
various cultural efforts, including the museum.
Half the million-dollar contribution was made in
February 1997. But by midyear, when
Vimont asked for an additional $250,000,
city officials were wary.
Ken Kerns, the city's chief administrative
officer, wrote to Vimont that city officials
wanted full access to all financial records. Kerns
said in an interview that he grew concerned
about the museum's financial condition. But
Kerns said that Durham, the executive director
who was hired in August 1997, eventually
demonstrated that the museum would meet all
the terms of its agreement with the city,
including a requirement to raise $2 million by
May 1999. "In our minds, the problem is
solved," Kerns said in a recent interview.
[It is a true shame that just few years
later, Jim Lemaster, after such an
illustrious history as a UK Basketball
player, such end his career caught up in
scandalous debacle caused by Jane
Murray-Vimont’s own incompetence.]

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

Costs, meanwhile, were growing. In
August 1997, Vimont told board members
that increased construction costs would
push the project's construction budget
higher than the $2.6 million anticipated in
1993. Durham, who had been vice president at
Louisville's Kentucky Center for the Arts, said
he quickly realized that costs would exceed $6
million. So Durham began working to trim costs
and find money. The search took museum
officials to Lexington's Central Bank, which with
nine other Kentucky banks lent the museum Jim Lemaster #12,UK, 1965-68
$2.2 million.

Eager to secure low interest rates available to

local governments, museum officials last year
persuaded the city of Midway to sell bonds that
the banks would purchase. (Museum officials
were unable to use Lexington, which had
already met its capacity for bond sales on other
projects.)

The bond sale leaves the museum a

challenge: paying its debt.

Durham says he thinks the attraction will draw

$900,000 in paid admissions - and as many as
150,000 people - in its first year. About that
many people visited the Kentucky Derby
Museum at Churchill Downs in Louisville last
year. Once the museum opens, Durham hopes
to begin a new statewide fund-raising
campaign.

"There's no question that we've had some

credibility issues on when it's going to open,"
he said. But Durham, Macy and several others
say those issues will fade as soon as fans
experience the museum.

Said museum board member Adolph "Herky"

Rupp Jr., the son of the late UK basketball
coach, Adolph Rupp: "It took longer than we
hoped, but it's happening." LeMaster, who has
devoted about seven years to the project, said,
"We hope people can enjoy it forever." [What a
sad comment from Mr. Lemaster.]
 TIMELINE [From the Lexington Herald Leader Article]
* 1991-1992: After fits and starts stemming back to 1978 [Jane Murray-Vimont represented the City
of Lexington in these meetings as Mayor Baesler’s assistant], a committee headed by former
player Jim LeMaster begins studying the feasibility of a University of Kentucky basketball museum.

* 1994: LeMaster incorporates a non-profit company called the University of Kentucky Basketball
Museum, Inc. Its board hires JVA Inc., a local project planning firm. Previous fund-raising
efforts in the 1970s and 1980s had already raised $48,000.

* January 1994: UK Coach Rick Pitino and then-state Tourism Secretary Crit Luallen announce plans
for the museum. Museum supporters say it will take 18 months to raise the $3 million they need -
$2.4 million to pay for it and $600,000 to operate it. The museum is scheduled to open in 1995.

* July 1995: A June telethon for the museum raised $316,000 in pledges. [Which Jane Murray-
Vimont collected less than one-half of.]

* April 1996: Lexington city government agrees to pay $1 million to the museum [much of it
going to Murray-Vimont’s consulting firm] as part of an agreement with the state regarding
state funds given to the abortive Ben Snyder Block-Lexington Cultural Center project. [Murray-
Vimont was also deeply involved Ben Snyder/Cultural Center fiasco.]

* November 1996: JVA [Murray-Vimont’s company] turns over the fund-raising role to board
members and a steering committee.

* January 1997: Officials announce museum will open in January 1998. JVA owner Jane Vimont
says the project will cost $3.3 million with $300,000 in an endowment fund to operate it.

* September 1997: Vimont terminates the JVA contract and takes a job in Canada. Mike
Durham, the new executive director, realizes that the museum as proposed could cost more than
$6 million. At this point, the museum has essentially raised $1.7 million and spent $1.5 million.

* November 1998: The Midway City Council agrees to a plan to issue $2.2 million in bonds to help
the museum secure low interest rates at 10 Kentucky banks. As part of the deal, the UK museum
will give $25,000 to Midway to start its own community museum.

*January 1999: Officials announce the museum will open Feb. 13.

[ * June 2008: After many years of struggling to meet financial burdens placed on the
museum by poor planning and lousy fund-raising by Jane Murray-Vimont and her
consulting firm, the beleaguered UK Basketball Museum finally closed its doors, still
over one million dollars in debt.]
R.I.P.