Walking through the doors during Classic in the Country, now in it sixth year, it's hard not to see it as all three.

The center was built almost entirely with donations in 1999, part of an effort to sweeten a bond issue to expand Hiland High School in 2001, it was named in honor of high school social studies and boys' basketball coach Perry Reese, Jr.  As a community center, it has served East Holmes in celebration and in its sorrows.

At its core is Perry Reese and his legend.  Reese, the state championship winning coach who died from a brain tumor at the age of 48 in 2000, helped design the center and led his Hawks there for a single season.

"It's a warm feeling, you feel welcome as soon as you enter the door," CitC organizer Tom Jenkins said.  "You also understand that you are in a temple, that here is something to be respected."

In the lobby are sports mementos from Hiland's athletic history, dating to the early 1960's.  Photos and plaques record Hiland's finest athletes in all fields;  jerseys with retired numbers are displayed on another wall.  Bookended by doors to the court are display cases of team photos, many of them featuring Reese; prominent in a glass case, beside a life sized wood sculpture of a hawk, is Reese's 1992 state championship ring.

Former Superintendent Gary Sterrett remembers the center as a key block in selling a bond issue to the residents of East Holmes, many of which, for religious reasons, would never use the gym.

"There were so many people who, for one reason or another, would never use a gym," Sterrett said.  "We did it with donations and donated labor.  It is something the community could truly be proud of, and I don't think we would have been able to pass a bond issue that included a gym."

The bond issue paid for 10 new classrooms, among other things.  One of those classrooms was to house Reese's social studies class.  With windows looking out at the new gym, Reese did not live to use the classroom.

CitC is held over the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday as a celebration of diversity as well as a memorial to Reese.  The event, now in its sixth year, brings in the best of the best in Ohio girls' basketball.  It is not tournament play and wins do not affect the team's ranking.

The center also breathes East Holmes hospitality, said Hiland Principal Matt Johnson.  Media who have covered the CitC enjoy the large area allotted to them, as well as the lunch and dinner buffets.  College scouts are catered too, but so are the teams and the spectators.

Hiland Principal Matt Johnson said the hospitality shown by the community is outstanding.

"One of the things I'm always impressed with are the parents and the kids. They really step up to the task of hosting (CitC)," Johnson said.  "What really sets it apart is the hospitality."

Jenkins, who coordinates a girls' basketball scouting service for 202 colleges, further describes the center as "more intimate" than larger facilities.

"There are small details that talk to me about Reese's personality,  the lights around the backboard, the clocks in the locker room counting down the time during halftime," Jenkins said.  "People always have the question, will the Classic ever outgrow the Reese Center.  It will never leave the Reese Center, it is here because of Perry Reese and Martin Luther King."