INDIANAPOLIS — As the NCAA Tournament comes to a close for 2021, the NCAA Legacy Project is leaving behind lasting upgrades inside the LeGore Boys and Girls Club. The generosity has led to a renovated gym with new updates to the floor, backboard and rim, scoreboard, wall padding and a custom mural.
"It was a 110,000 project from Degree and the NCAA and I'm pretty sure it would not have happened without their generosity," Zach Sigmund said.
Sigmund knows exactly how much the upgrades were needed.
As a former club member hailing from Indy's southwest side who grew up to be the club's director, he knows on any given day 200 kids and teens between the ages of five and 18 utilize the building and the 30-year-old gym.
"This gym had the same backboard from when you were here, this gym had the same back board from the same. Similar floor, similar paint on the walls a lot of things didn't change. The only thing we ever swapped out over the years were rims and the nets. It was definitely time!" Sigmund said.
What the Boys and Girls Club has to offer goes far beyond what happens inside the gym. Over the years, thousands of Central Indiana kids, have spent summers and nights at LeGore, getting free breakfast, lunch, and dinner, homework help, field trips, and a slew of other things that the NCAA's Legacy Project will continue to benefit.
"The library got new carpet and new furniture and our learning center definitely needed it. That'll be a new educational space for our kids to use as well," Sigmund said.
Whether it's the gym, a classroom, or a game room, Sigmund said he is thankful for further investment in a place taking care of the next generation of Indy's west side kids.
"They can make long lasting friendships, they can get in shape in the gym playing basketball with us and they can get a meal and get help with homework," Sigmund said.
Along with the renovations, 40 new basketballs and more than 70 backpacks filled with supplies were also donated to the LeGore Boys and Girls Club.
