The Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum isn’t on any maps app. It doesn’t have its own building, its website reflects a bygone era and it’s run by older men who shun technology. If you want to find it, you’ll have to hear about it from someone who already knows, but that only makes the museum more special.
Since 2015, the exhibit has been located in the Radnor Township Municipal Building. Jovial and knowledgeable, Jim Vankoski and Rich Pagano are the curators and faces of the museum. They have made it their life’s work to celebrate athletes from Delaware County. The museum is open to visitors Monday through Friday, and the two men offer guided tours on weekends and select weekdays.
Outside the Municipal Building stands a bronze statue of NFL Hall of Famer and Bryn Mawr-born safety Emlen Tunnell, one of the greatest defensive backs in league history. Ushered in amid glass walls, through which natural light floods the exhibit, is a collection of prized memorabilia, including the jersey that Upper Darby local and “Manager of the Year” Mike Scioscia wore during game seven of the 2002 World Series, first base from the final game at Connie Mack Stadium in 1970, the swimsuits worn by two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Jane Barkman and so much more.
The museum has called this space home for a full decade as of 2025. It’s been a welcome stability amid nearly a quarter century of turbulence for Vankoski, Pagano and the board of directors.
The History of Finding a Home
In 2001, the Delaware County Historical Society opened a museum in a former bank at Fourth Street and Avenue of the States in Chester. With the help of MLB great Mickey Vernon, Delco Athletes Hall of Fame co-chairs Jim Cirilli and Vankoski, alongside financier Steve Burman and fellow board member Harry Chaykun, launched the Delaware County Sports Legends Exhibit, highlighting athletes that have called the region home.
The exhibit regularly welcomed local school groups, spotlighting figures like NFL returner Billy “White Shoes” Johnson (the man who popularized the touchdown dance), baseball player and A League of Their Own inspiration Gertie Dunn and, of course, Vernon himself. From opening until the day it wrapped up in 2003, the exhibit often had a selection of notable Delco athletes on hand to sign autographs at noon on Saturdays.
After the exhibit’s close, the organization managed to raise $50,000 through goodwill for a statue of Vernon in his hometown of Marcus Hook. So beloved was Vernon that it took only two months to find the needed funds, and the statue was unveiled in September 2003.
“Everyone that knew him agreed that Mickey [Vernon] was not only the finest baseball player but also the finest person Delaware County had ever produced,” Vankoski says.
As MLB Hall of Famer Bob Feller put it, “If you didn’t like Mickey Vernon, you didn’t like anyone.”
Vernon continued to stay involved with the organization until he died in 2008. As a World War II Navy man, a 23-year MLB veteran and a manager, he was a credit to the region, and his impact on both Delaware County and the sport is baseball is unmatched. After his death, the exhibit was officially subtitled the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum.
In 2004, Janoski and the board of directors, championed by Visitors Bureau executive director Tore Fiore, reopened their exhibit at the Welcome Center in Chadds Ford. Guests like Jack Klotz, Bob Rigby, Mike Scioscia and more showed up to usher in a new era for the museum at its grand opening.
During the nine years the Sports Legends exhibit spent there, it honored athletes like Chester-born player and manager Danny Murtaugh, who fielded the first all-black lineup in MLB history, and NBA star and Springfield local Paul Arizin. It celebrated a century of the Delco Baseball League and launched its Olympics and Olympians exhibit, honoring gold medalists Carl Robie, Bruce Harlan, Jean Shiley, Brendan Hansen, Richard Williams (a survivor of the Titanic) and Dr. Eddie Coyle, among others.
In 2013, the organization moved the exhibit again, this time to the Granite Run Mall in Media. Its stay would only last two years, as the old mall was closed and then destroyed to make room for the Granite Run Promenade in 2015.
By this time, the Sports Legends of Delaware County at the Mickey Vernon Sports History Museum had become an institution, a shrine of sorts to the athletes of the region. No one wanted to see it close for good.
A Home for the Sports Legends of Delaware County
It was only several months before the Radnor Township Municipal Building became the museum’s savior. The Sports Legends of Delaware County closed at the Granite Run Mall in March and reopened in Radnor in December, bringing the exhibit to its grandest location thus far.
With a massive audience chamber for events, two floors for memorabilia and huge canvas portraits sitting across from an overhang, the Radnor Township Building is downright palatial compared to any of the exhibit’s former homes over the past two decades.
Though it dropped the Mickey Vernon subtitle following the latest move, the museum has flourished in its new home. It even welcomed a new era of athletes to christen the exhibit. NFL linebacker Dan Connor, track star George Sydnor and NBA referee Joe Crawford were all on hand for the grand opening.
As of 2025, the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum has spent more time in Radnor than anywhere else during its history. Municipal workers are used to the exhibit, passing by bronze statues and items like Mickey Vernon’s naval uniform as they stroll into work each morning.
It’s easy to take it for granted, but Vankoski and Pagano, who have been involved with the museum since its inception, never do. They’re aware of how lucky they are to call Delco, a county that has gifted as many athletes and professionals to the world of sports as any other relative to its size, their own.
Delco has been home to a unique sports culture since the Civil War. It’s ingrained in the ancestry and the lifestyles of the community. From Little League to high school to college, children grow into professionals and stay connected to the region through organizations like the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum.
The museum isn’t kept alive for curators like Vankoski and Pagano, nor is it sustained for visitors or even the athletes who might one day find themselves honored there. The museum’s value is as a tribute to the county itself. Some find spiritualism in religion or charity or within themselves, but the Sports Legends of Delaware County is its own temple of sorts. Its deities are the men and women who made a name for the region on fields, tracks and hardwood courts, symbolizing the best the community can produce.
Hollywood exports dreams of the silver screen. New York City exports stocks, bonds and finance. Delaware County exports athletes.
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