Movement started in 2007 to rehabilitate a simple basketball court located on 12th Avenue and 19th Street, very close to downtown Altoona, called the Booker T. Washington Basketball Court. This court was extremely important for the African American community and the 5th Ward in the City of Altoona. The court was extremely run down, with broken backboards, one missing rim, rusted fencing, and major cracks in the court’s surface.

Mike Hofer had his first meeting as the newly-appointed interim director with the president of the Blair County NAACP Don Witherspoon to talk about the BTW Court. Don had no idea that earlier in the year Mike Hofer had applied for block grant funding through the City to repair the court. Don was simply coming into Mike’s office to ask for a new rim and nets for the court so the kids could play full court again. When Mike informed Don he had applied for funding to rehabilitate the entire court, Don was beyond thrilled and invited Mike to sit down and meet with him, Alan Robison, the director of the Blair County Community Action Agency, and Randy Feathers, who was working with the Attorney General’s office at the time.

This meeting was where the Booker T Washington Revitalization Corporation was born. As the funding came into place for the rehabilitation of the basketball court, the four who initially met decided it would be a great idea to pull in other members from the community who shared our vision to make this court better for the kids. At the end of 2007 there were about a dozen volunteers who were working together to transform this community park that produced three NBA stars over the years. We officially launched the Booker T. Washington Community Revitalization Project.

In 2008, the Blair County NAACP in cooperation with the Central Blair Recreation and Park Commission along with numerous other concerned citizens of Blair County initiated a project called the Booker T. Washington Community Revitalization Project. The project centered around the area of 19th Street and 13th Avenue, in the heart of Altoona. The project moved forward in four phases.

Phase one included the rehabilitation of an outdoor basketball court, located at 1827-31 13th Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania. The project included repaving and lining the basketball court and masonry work on the retaining wall and sidewalk. There were two new basketball goals, new fencing surrounding the entire basketball court, portable bleachers, and benches included in this phase. The final step of phase one included new landscaping surrounding the basketball court.

Phase two included excavating and levelling the lots adjacent to the basketball court, 1901-03, 13th Avenue. The park includes a large play booster, picnic pavilion with tables, and outdoor grills. This project included new landscaping, and sidewalk paving in and surrounding the park.

Phase three included the demolition of a dilapidated house that was being used for heavy drug-related activity. This area was then transitioned into a fitness park that included equipment, a flagpole, benches, a memorial courtyard, handicapped parking, sidewalks and updated landscaping. The
fitness park was chosen by the Leadership Blair County’s class of 2012 as their class fundraising project and provided numerous new board members to the committee.

Phase four included the demolition of a house and construction of a paved parking lot for the facility.

Total cost of all four phases of this project was roughly $700,000.