The Battle Casts

The Battle Casts

Beauty, Art, and Form are all Around Us I’m a sucker for history. Really, any kind of history. I’m the nut who takes forever at a museum reading every single description. I took an Art History class in college in my last semester as a blow off class before I graduated and spent the week before the major paper was due sitting in front of pieces of art in the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park writing my impressions of the Impressionists. My sixty-page masterpiece of B.S. earned me a passing grade and a greater appreciation of art. I...

The SEC Celebration and New Exhibits

The SEC Celebration and New Exhibits

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 30th, 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...

A photograph of Dr. Mary Evelyn Buice Alderson as she stands in front of a class seated on a gymnasium floor. She is teaching or lecturing.

All About the Aldersons

The latest collection processed at the Stark Center is the Doctors Curtis Jackson (Shorty) and Mary Evelyn Buice Alderson Collection. The Aldersons were both faculty of what is now the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education (KHE) at the University of Texas (UT). Between the two of them they taught at the university from 1939 (when Shorty started as an instructor in what was then called the Department of Physical Education) to 1973 (when Mary retired from what was then called the Department of Physical Instruction). Both were passionate about physical education and recreational activities and cared deeply about the...

Silent Billy Wasmund: Tragedy Strikes the 40 Acres

Silent Billy Wasmund: Tragedy Strikes the 40 Acres

“The triumph and tragedy of sports,” is a phrase often heard but nothing compares to the tragedy of a team losing a coach to a reportedly freak accident. This was the case in 1911 at the University of Texas. Coach Billy Wasmund was just in his second year as head coach at Texas when his untimely death occurred, shocking both the football team and the community as a whole. Here is a look at his story. William Wasmund was born in 1887 in Michigan to a stone contractor from Germany. He had two brothers and a sister. He first began...

A Look Back While Looking Ahead

A Look Back While Looking Ahead

As we prepare for UT to enter the SEC Conference this summer, I thought it would be fun to do a look back at the different conferences in which UT participated and share some photos of great athletes and artifacts as a sort of show and tell. Of course, The University of Texas has a deep and storied history in athletics, so there is a plethora of content within the Stark walls. From the time that the University of Texas was established in 1883, students have enjoyed participating in athletics on campus. They formed teams and scrimmaged against each other....

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....

A photograph of The Rogue Fitness Gallery. Table-style display case in the foreground with a double door vinyl wrap of Hafthor Bjornsson completing a deadlift in the backdrop.

Curator’s Corner: Recognition and Branding

Curator’s Corner is a series of monthly blog posts that reports on the latest happenings, updates, acquisitions, and projects at the Stark Center. Because my work focuses on exhibit design and gallery management, the Curator’s Corner blog series will have a specific focus on our gallery spaces. Readers can expect these blogs to report on what to check out on their next visit to The Stark Center. First, if you haven’t read about the re-design of our main lobby in the fall of 2023, please check out my blog post “You Are Here” which discusses the thoughts and intentions behind...

Hats Off to the History Makers

Hats Off to the History Makers

The University of Texas Longhorns boast an athletics program rich in traditions and history that transcends the realm of sports. As we celebrate Black History Month, we’ll take a look at groundbreaking moments and trailblazing efforts of a few of UT’s Black history makers who have left an indelible mark on the Longhorn athletic legacy.  Long before integration at the University of Texas and nearly 70 years before an athlete would break the color barrier, there was a man that would have a huge impact on the UT football program. In 1895, Henry Reeves, an African American, was hired as...

Double Exposure: The Artistic Legacy of Two UT Athletics Photography Duos

Double Exposure: The Artistic Legacy of Two UT Athletics Photography Duos

When I had the honor and privilege of being part of the UT Coaching staff, I was constantly brushing elbows with greatness. Every day in the Longhorn dining hall was a veritable stream of “Who’s Who” in the buffet line. Eating adjacent to future Longhorn legends like Cat Osterman, Ian Crocker, Justin Tucker, Destinee Hooker, Bianca Knight, Kevin Durant, and Vince Young (and the list goes on and on and on) was a daily reminder of the standards we set for ourselves and our student-athletes. I used to tell recruits that they could matriculate at other schools but very few...