As many Longhorn sports fans are now very well aware, the University of Texas Athletics was officially welcomed into the Southeast Conference on Sunday, June 30^th, beginning a new era of Longhorn sports history. To commemorate the occasion, the President’s office and Texas Athletics partnered up to host a campus-wide event that Sunday, opening all on-campus parking as free to the public and providing an afternoon and evening full of activities, experiences, concerts, fireworks, and, of course, a lighting of the famous UT Tower with the letters S-E-C spelled down the windows. The event was officially branded SEC Celebration and from all accounts it was a great success.

At the very end of March, colleagues from both the President’s office and Texas Athletics reached out to the Stark Center and its staff to let us in on their plans for the event, which was still a secret at that time. They specifically asked for our help in the presentation of UT sport history and artifacts, both in person at an area dubbed “Championship Corner” and online with various promotional posts on the Longhorns’ official social media channels and a micro-site that accompanied the public invitations to the event. We were later asked to be one of the on-campus partners for the event, which meant the Stark Center was open to the public from 1pm-5pm that day.

Patty McCain spearheaded the research projects, diving straight into the history of UT Sports and especially the history of the various conferences in which Texas Longhorn varsity sports have been members. Her research and curation of facts and photos provided design and marketing teams in Texas Athletics with the resources and assets necessary to create large banners that presented a timeline history of all Texas Longhorn sports since the University’s founding. Those banners were on display in the hub of the SEC Celebration at “Championship Corner” near the UT Tower. Patty’s work also led to the creation of a micro-site filled with Texas Athletics history and several posts on the main Texas Athletics social media channels that promoted the event in its lead up. You can see an especially interesting one about Lutcher Stark by clicking here. The next time you see Patty, please offer her a high five and a hook’em for all of her excellent work.

In front of those history and traditions banners at “Championship Corner,” Texas Athletics displayed all trophies won by the Longhorn varsity sports this year. That included fifteen Big 12 Conference championship trophies, one National Championship runner-up trophy, two National Championship trophies, and the coveted Learfield Directors’ Cup. Not a bad year for the Horns. To go along with those trophies and the timeline of Texas sports, Athletics asked the Stark Center to provide some historic artifacts. I set up a display of three commemorative basketballs from the collection of Longhorn women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt, Ricky Williams’ wooden football locker, and world-record-holding and now three-time Olympic gold medalist shot-putter Ryan Crowser’s Team USA jersey. Each item was accompanied with an H-frame yard sign that acted as a caption, complete with photos and written information.

After the Stark Center accepted its role as a campus partner for the SEC Celebration, Director Jan Todd and I sat down to think about our own promotional points and the potential for new exhibits that could tie in with the dawn of a new Longhorn era. I am happy to announce that we have two new exhibits for visitors to come and see. The first is called “The Beat of a Different Drum: Remembering the Frank C. Erwin Jr. Special Events Center, 1979-2022” which acts as a sort of eulogy for the Frank Erwin Center. When plans for demolition were scheduled, the Stark Center accepted the opportunity to acquire and preserve the photo plaques that were once displayed around the main concourse of the Erwin Center. This exhibit is curated from those photo plaques. There’s a focus on the Longhorn men’s and women’s basketball teams; however, you may not know that the Erwin Center was the regular site of the UIL State Basketball Championships (boys and girls) for many decades. It was also host to many other sporting events such as professional boxing matches, Harlem Globetrotter games (the last ticketed event at the Erwin Center was a Globetrotter game), and the 2011 Davis Cup (a famous international team tennis competition).

The second exhibit is the next chapter in our Coaching Greatness series. This one focuses on legendary Longhorn women’s basketball coach Jody Conradt, who led the Longhorns from 1976-2007. With Conradt as head coach, the Longhorns ranked in the Associated Press’s Top 10 for all but one year of the 1980s and reached number one in the nation in four straight seasons (1984 to 1988). Perhaps their most dominant record is the 183-game win streak against Southwest Conference opponents. For twelve years (1978-1990), the Longhorns didn’t lose a single conference game. During that stretch, they won the 1986 NCAA national championship and recorded the first-ever undefeated season in collegiate women’s basketball (34-0). Under Conradt, the team reached the Final Four again in 1987 and once more in 2003. Conradt also served as the head coach of the US Women’s National Team and won the gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games, the team’s first title since 1963. But there’s much more to the story than just winning on the court. Please come by and learn all about the life and career of Coach Conradt, who meant so much to this university, women’s basketball, and the city of Austin. She is a personal hero of mine and I hope that I made her proud with this exhibit.

Lastly, a special thank you gift opportunity from the Stark Center. When you make a donation of $50 or more, we’ll show our appreciation by sending you the Stark Center’s custom SEC Celebration t-shirt. Come by the Stark Center in person or email info@starkcenter.org for information on how to make your special donation today.