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...

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, 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...

Bill Henniger and his wife Caity Matter Henniger are the owners and operators of Rogue Fitness, one of the largest and most reputable manufacturers of strength and conditioning equipment. From humble beginnings in Bill’s garage back in 2006, the company has grown exponentially, now employing over 600 workers at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. All along the way, Bill and Caity have remained committed to giving back to their community – both locally in the Columbus area, and within the greater strength community as a whole. In recent years, Rogue has sponsored many of the premier events in strength sports,...

In 2006, Adelyn Hoffman and her son, Dr. Richard Hoffman, gave the Stark Center a 1600-volume collection of golf books that had been assembled by the late Edmund Hoffman, Mrs. Hoffman’s husband and Dr. Hoffman’s father.  Both Edmund and Adelyn Hoffman graduated from UT and in 2008 the Hoffman Family Foundation provided approximately $110,000 to the Stark Center.  This gift will allow the Stark Center to hire for a period of three years an archivist whose primary responsibility will be to oversee the Edmund Hoffman Golf Collection and other books and artifacts related to that collection.

Well-known Austin philanthropists Joe and Teresa Long were early donors to the Stark Center, making a critical donation to the Center in 2010 that resulted in the naming of the Stark Center’s art gallery in Teresa’s honor.   Teresa, or Terry, as she is often known, graduated with her Ph.D. in Physical Education from UT-Austin the same year that Stark Center founder Terry Todd did.   She and Joe were early visitors to the Center. She expressed her enthusiasm for our inclusion of sculpture, paintings and various forms of art into the design of the Center, understanding–as we do–that “sporting bodies” have...

Texas Exes Thomas and Laurie Hunt made their initial gifts to the Stark Center to honor the memory of Mrs. Hunt’s father, Dr. Paul “Red” Pierce of Alpine, Texas. Dr. Pierce served as head football coach at Sul Ross University, and then as head football coach, head track coach, and athletic director at Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas. In 1965, he was named the Knute Rockne Little All-American Coach of the Year and, in 1968, returned to Sul Ross as Professor and Chairman of the Physical Education Department. At Sul Ross, he also coached the women’s volleyball...