The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports announces the premier and theatrical release of The Commissioner of Power, a feature-length documentary about the life and work of Terry Todd, Ph.D. Todd was the founder (with his wife, Jan) of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center in the College of Education and taught in...
According to weightlifting historian John Fair, the Golden Age of American Weightlifting was defined as the period from 1945 to 1960. It was a time when American athletes regularly populated the podiums of international weightlifting competitions. In fact, counting from the Paris World Championships in 1946 through the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, the United...
In celebration of tomorrow’s Juneteenth holiday, I’ve published a new Feature over at The Strongman Project all about the life and strength career of Mark Henry. In a 2009 blog post titled “Broad Shoulders,” Terry Todd explains his detailed method for accurately measuring the width of Mark Henry’s shoulders. In the post’s final sentence, he...
After last year’s cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are back! This year’s meet is slightly different than usual. It will not include high school teams or individual athletes and it will take place over three days instead of four. The Clyde Littelfield Texas Relays is one of the nation’s...
As many of you know, The Stark Center hosted a virtual conference on January 15, 2021, called Physical Cultures of the Body. Twenty-one scholars representing thirteen different countries presented papers on the symbolic and cultural importance of the healthy and active body with reference to issues of race, gender, injury, strength, performance, eugenics, and much...
Thomas Sean Connery’s breakthrough as an actor came in 1962 when he was cast in the role of James Bond, Agent 007 of the British Secret Intelligence Service, a fictional character adapted for the screen from Ian Fleming’s spy novels. Connery portrayed Bond in seven films, all of which were immensely successful. The worldwide...
An article about Dudley Allen Sargent, “Belfast man pioneered physical education, influenced basketball’s creation and field hockey’s U.S. introduction”, published in the Penobscot Bay Pilot quotes some resources at the Stark Center. The article quotes Jason P. Shurley, Jan Todd and Terry Todd’s book Strength Coaching in America: A History of the Innovation That Transformed...
Ryan’s essay, “Untangling the Differences between Live and Filmed Sport, or Why are Sports Movies Bad?” was selected for the R. Scott Kretchmar Student Essay Award by the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport (IAPS). A three-member IAPS panel grants the award to an essay of outstanding quality addressing any philosophical issue arising in...
We at the Stark Center would like to offer our support to those courageous folks currently seeking solutions to the racial injustices which have plagued this nation since its founding. These deep-rooted issues permeate all facets of American life, including public health, as we’ve seen during the current COVID-19 pandemic, but also the realm of...
