Welcome to the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports.

The Stark Center is a research center housed within the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education.  We are a unique combination of library, archive, and gallery/exhibit space.

An Unexpected Pleasure: Kissing the Ground in Equilibrium—A Search for the Origins of the Pushup

One of the things I enjoy most about the Stark Center are the requests we often get for information about some aspect of the history of physical culture. Most of those requests are handled by our incredible Stark Center staff but every now and then a request will make its way to my inbox and I find myself so intrigued that I end up doing research that wasn’t planned because the question made me curious too. This past Sunday was one of those days. I got an unexpected email from Denis Blinov, whom I’ve never met. “May I ask if you...

March Madness

March Madness

March is a fabulous month. Think about it…it’s the beginning of Spring and nature is renewing itself. The bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and all the beautiful wildflowers are blooming along the highways and byways in Texas, which seem particularly prolific this year. In addition, March is the month where EVERYONE gets to be Irish, at least for a day. But, best yet, March is home to March Madness, perhaps the most celebrated sporting event in American collegiate athletics. After months of play, grinding out the travel, and establishing win-loss records, regular season conference champions secured their spots in the NCAA Basketball Championship tournament....

Browse the Complete Journal Archive

The Stark Center features collections from around the world related to all aspects of physical culture and sports.

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