H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports

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A blue-tinted image of a middle-aged man jogging on a treadmill while a performance scientist takes data on a computer.

2026 Conference

A black and white photo of a football game between texas and texas a&m, pete layden carries the ball for texas with a white jersey. From 1940.

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A color photo of Dr. Kim Beckwith in the Stark Center reading room. She wears her Hall of Honor medal around her neck.

A black and white photograph of University of Texas Longhorn women's basketball coach, Jody Conradt. Conradt stands center holding a microphone with her players in a row behind her, many photographers and camera operators record what she is saying.

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A two-page black and white spread of a strength training booklet with a photo and instructions on how to perform a two hand press.

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A photograph of a scattered work space with laptop, notebook, book, pens, ruler, coffe mug, and on top of it all is an open copy of Men's Health magazine.

OPEN HOURS

Weekdays: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Weekends & Holidays: Closed

CHECK OUT THESE COLLECTIONS & EXHIBITS

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Doctors Curtis Jackson (Shorty) & Mary Evelyn Boice
Alderson Collection Muscle Beach Health and Life Magazine

Collections

Digital Library

Galleries

Welcome to the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports.

The Stark Center is a research center housed within the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education. We are a unique combination of library, archive, and gallery/exhibit space. Our regular hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm. There is no charge for admission and all are welcome.

It's a Good LifeBy Jan Todd

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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...

A cast of the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace on display in the center of the Stark Center's Reading Room.

Curator's CornerBy Kyle Martin

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The Goddess in Our Reading Room

We’ve been making moves at The Stark Center. On Tuesday, a goddess arrived in the Stark Center’s Reading Room, bringing a new look and a fresh sense of triumph to the students and scholars who work in it. From the Blanton Museum of Art’s Collection of Battle Casts, Winged Victory of Samothrace brings the feminine form to an area that had been previously dominated by male figures. The height of the body on display, which is headless, reaches beyond 8 feet, making it very noticeably the tallest object—mortal or immortal—in the room. The cast depicts Nike, goddess of victory, the...

Iron Game History

Browse the Complete Journal Archive

The Stark Center features collections from around the world related to all aspects of physical culture and sports.

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