January 12, 2023January 12, 2023
It's a Good LifeBy
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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...

UPCOMING: 2023 Physical Cultures of the Body Conference
December 20, 2022December 20, 2022
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UPCOMING: 2023 Physical Cultures of the Body Conference

With the new year approaching, it’s time to mark your calendars for the 2023 Physical Cultures of the Body Conference (PCBC) on Friday, January 13th. This will be the third iteration of this international conference, and it is free and open to all on Zoom. PCBC is jointly sponsored by the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports and the academic journal Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture. The conference was created as a showcase on scholarship related to historical and humanities-based approaches to the study of physical culture. We have been inspired by the international...

Jim Lorimer, 1926-2022
November 29, 2022December 2, 2022
It's a Good LifeBy
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Jim Lorimer, 1926-2022

On Thanksgiving Day, I received the very sad news that Jim Lorimer had passed away. He was 96 years old, and a dear friend. It was because of Jim that Terry Todd and I got involved with the running of The Arnold Strongman Classic back in 2002 and we kept running the contest in large part because we both so admired Jim. He was a man of great vision and great honor. He was also funny, and incredibly kind. My heart goes out to his family, his friends––and to all of us who live under the umbrella of “The Iron...

Four bronze sculptures of classic bodybuilders by David Deming
June 21, 2022June 14, 2024
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Four New Sculpture Pieces Donated by Michael Deming & Stark Center Floor Renovation Begins!

As many of you may remember, the winter storm in February 2021 caused an immense amount of damage here on The Forty Acres, our colloquial name for the University of Texas campus. The Stark Center, specifically, was a victim of flooding due to burst pipes on the floor above us in the North End Zone building. Jan Todd wrote about the water and the detriments to our beloved floor on her It’s A Good Life blog, which you can read by clicking here. Assessing the damage and determining an adequate solution to the issues has been a long and complicated...

Close up view of Donald Dinnie's leather belt with silver medals.
May 19, 2022September 30, 2022
It's a Good LifeBy
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Lost for More than a Century: Donald Dinnie’s Belt is Now at The Stark Center

Things find their way to the Stark Center in many different ways.  Some items are donated by organizations that reach out to us, as Sports Illustrated did when they were looking for a home for their Olympic archives. Others are donated by individuals such as Irish legend Jack Shanks, who recently sent us the lifting belt and tank top he wore in 1972 when he became the first man to lift the Dinnie Stones after Donald Dinnie himself (read more about Jack Shanks and his lifting belt by clicking here). Other books and archival items are here because Terry and...

Info Graphic with photos and details of the Art Talk event featuring David Deming and his sculpture work.
April 11, 2022April 11, 2022
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ART TALK with Sculptor David Deming on April 27 at 3pm

The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center is proud to host ART TALK, a conversation and reception with the artist David Deming, the former Dean of the College of Fine Arts and a member of the University of Texas art faculty for 26 years who has a new exhibition of sculptural works on display in our galleries. The event begins at 3pm with a conversation in the galleries with the artist that is followed by a reception with light refreshments in honor of David and his new show, Degrees of Fitness / Sporting Bodies. Because we will have light refreshments, we ask...

Burnt orange graphic for the 40 Hours for the Forty Acres fundraising campaign.
March 24, 2022March 24, 2022
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40 Hours for The Forty Acres Fundraising Campaign

As some of you may already know, The Stark Center serves as the official repository for the preservation of the UT Athletics’ archives, in addition to housing one of world’s most important libraries related to health, fitness and physical culture. The Stark Center’s holding related to UT sports includes more than 300 boxes of materials from the UT Athletics Media Relations Archives as well as personal papers and memorabilia from Longhorn coaching greats Jody Conradt, Augie Garrido, Clyde Littlefield, Mack Brown, Harvey Penick, Pat Weiss, David Snyder, Wilmer Allison and many individual former athletes. If you’ve visited The Stark Center recently, you...

Jack Shanks’ Lifting Belt and Vest Donated To The Stark Center
March 2, 2022March 2, 2022
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Jack Shanks’ Lifting Belt and Vest Donated To The Stark Center

On Monday 8 May 1972, Jack Shanks, wearing a short sleeve shirt, tie, pants, and dress shoes, lifted the Dinnie Stones with his bare hands, the first to do so since Scottish sport superstar Donald Dinnie himself lifted the stones in 1860. Even more impressive is that Jack Shanks only weighed 161lbs (73kgs) when he completed the lift—his belt is a mere 40 inches, end to end. The immense feat, of course, attracted a crowd of local press and excited onlookers. Sport Historian David Webster, O.B.E., was there to observe the lift. Webster is the man who rediscovered the stones...

Remembering Chris Dickerson and his Gift to Bodybuilding History
January 13, 2022September 30, 2022
It's a Good LifeBy
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Remembering Chris Dickerson and his Gift to Bodybuilding History

 In 2011, the Stark Center celebrated the opening of the Joe and Betty Weider Museum of Physical Culture; it was a gathering of  the true royalty of bodybuilding.  Arnold Schwarzenegger attended along with many of the then still-living Mr. Olympias—Larry Scott, Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman, Frank Zane, and Chris Dickerson. Other bodybuilding luminaries joined the party, including Bill Pearl, Clarence Bass, Doris Barrilleaux, John Balik, Boyer Coe, Jim Lorimer, and, of course, Joe and Betty Weider themselves. It was a great evening and the bodybuilders who came that night seemed to understand and appreciate that we were serious about trying...