Barbells & Bios: Iron Boots
Iron Boots are an item long since forgotten by the fitness industry. Difficult to put on, dangerously loose at times and quite awkward to use, it is unlikely that the boots were built to last the tests of time. Tucked away in the back end of the Stark Center’s archives are several pairs of Iron Boots made by manufacturers like York Barbell, the Weider Company and several others. For those unfamiliar with this item, Iron Boots were exactly that – heavy boots whose attachments allowed you to add plates to either side. Admittedly, it’s an unlikely favorite in a collection...
Barbells & Bios: The Peoples’ Deadlift Bar
Lifting in his prime during the 1930s and 1940s, Bob Peoples boasted a strength impressive even today. At his very best, Peoples deadlifted over seven hundred pounds at a body weight hovering around one hundred and eighty pounds.
Barbells & Bios: The Peary and Mabel Rader Collection
Fans of the Iron Game will undoubtedly be familiar with the name Peary Rader. For more than fifty years, Peary, and his wife Mabel, oversaw the organization, publication and popularization of Iron Man magazine from their home town in Nebraska. They also proved pivotal in the organization of American weightlifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding, for both men and women. Given the Raders’ longevity and importance in the field, their Collection marks a fascinating, and extensive, insight into twentieth century American fitness. In terms of its composition, the Rader Collection contains thousands of photographs submitted to Iron Man over several decades....
Bike racers at the Hartford Wheel Club’s bicycle tournament
The bicycle racers posing for this 1889 photograph in Stamford, Connecticut, at the height of the national craze for bicycle racing could not have known that it also captured the end of an era. At the time this photo was taken, bicycle racing was a hugely popular sport and top riders were handsomely compensated. The New York-based riders pictured here competed in short track races covering between one and three miles, unlike the long-distance road races familiar to the modern cycling fans. However, the high-wheeled machines with which they are posing had been rendered obsolete the previous year with the...
The Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation
The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports would not exist were it not for the financial support of The Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation of Orange, Texas. Our first task, in order to create the Center was to raise the funds to construct it. The Foundation provided two construction gifts, totaling $5.5 million. Those contributions allowed us to transform the empty concrete slab given to us by the University of Texas into the beautiful and functional library and museum that the Center is today. In return, the University agreed to honor H.J. Lutcher Stark–founder of...
Joe and Betty Weider and the Joe Weider Foundation
One of the most important gifts ever received by the Stark Center was the first $1M gift pledged by Joe and Betty Weider in 2004, a gift that arrived before the Stark Center became a reality. The Weider’s initial gift had a great impact on how the Todd-McLean Collection was viewed by on-campus administrators and was a major factor in the university’s decision to support the building of the Stark Center. The Joe Weider Foundation made a second million-dollar gift in 2008 to assist with operations when the Center opened. Together, these two gifts resulted in the University’s decision to...
Clyde Rabb Littlefield
Clyde Rabb Littlefield, son of famous UT track and Field coach Clyde Littlefield, first met Center directors Jan and Terry Todd in approximately 2006 when he visited them in their offices at Anna Hiss Gym to discuss his father, Coach Littlefield, and to ask for help with some research on the history of his father’s career. From that initial meeting, a friendship evolved over cheeseburgers at Huts and discussions about Longhorn sports history, which resulted in the Center’s exhibition on the 1914 football team’s called “The Perfect Season” and a $3+M estate gift to the Center. Clyde Rabb Littlefield graduated...
