By Christina Loforti
BYU sports memorabilia is scattered all over campus, making the challenge of collecting it a daunting task. A trophy case here, a plaque case there.
That is about to change.
A team of athletic department officials has been organized to gather and relocate the items to the new Student-Athlete Center. The project is to build a Legacy Hall.
“For the first time ever, we have the opportunity to showcase the history of our sports program,” said BYU associate athletic director Duff Tittle, who is heading the project.
Although BYU has a Hall of Fame in the Cougar Room under the football stadium, Tittle said it is not very official and lacks adequate space.
“Right now, it is crazy,” Tittle said. “We don”t have a place to display anything. We have some trophy cases around campus, but everything is spread out all over the place.”
To demonstrate how chaotic the spacing issue is, Tittle pointed out a player of the year award for intercollegiate golf that is collecting dust on top of a cabinet. Another one, he said, is down the hall in somebody”s office.
When the project first started, Tittle was asked to be the curator. At the time, there was not a budget for the new Legacy Hall project, so he got organized the best way he could.
“I put a committee together of people who had a real good feel for our history and program,” Tittle said. “We started a list and developed what we thought was the best of the best of each sport in BYU”s history.”
Tittle said the university gave him the green light after he received a phone call during the summer, telling him the project had a donor.
Since then, Tittle has been working around the clock to gather sports memorabilia.
“We should be able to put together a nice product that is worthy of the great tradition we have here in BYU athletics,” he said. “It will be a fantastic place.”
Tittle said his project team is reviewing BYU”s sports history and trying to get a hold of any memorabilia involved to determine what can fit in the space they have to use. According to Tittle, the design space they have to work with is about 7500 sq. feet on three different levels.
Although plans are still tentative, Tittle described what he hopes to showcase on each level.
First Floor:
The first floor is called the “superlative area,” because the best of the best of all the top national awards will be displayed there. For example, one of the first displays visitors will see after entering the building includes significant football trophies such as the Heisman Trophy awarded to Ty Detmer in 1991 and the Doak Walker Award given to Luke Staley in 2001. Other significant trophies one might find are the Outland Trophy Awards won by Jason Buck in 1986 and Mohammed Elewonibi in 1989.
There will also be a display case holding all of BYU”s national championship trophies, highlighted by the 1984 National Football Championship trophy. In addition, the first floor will showcase all of the players who have been named national athletes of the year for their sport and other individual national awards.
The design team is also toying with the idea of building a glass, Y-shaped display case.
Another section will be for awards earned in the previous year. That way, every summer the awards can be rotated as new ones come in. Retired jerseys will be found in the individual highlights section. Alumni athletes will be included here, with sections describing where they are now and the things they are doing at the next level.
Another feature on the first floor will be a hallway off the main area, where a historical timeline of BYU athletics will be created. The plan is to leave about two-thirds of the hallway blank so additions can be added as BYU”s history continues.
Second Floor:
The second floor will be dedicated to football, highlighting the greatest football moments, bowl history, historical cases and the perfect season. As one makes the loop up the stairs to the third floor, the basketball section starts with Cougars in the NBA and an interactive kiosk, where visitors can look up the top 10 plays, top 10 wins and listen to biographies of All-American players.
Starred areas on each floor will have audio/visual touch screens where people can watch highlights. Tittle said biographies, pictures and interview clips will also be available.
Third Floor:
The third floor will be an interactive area with Cougar trivia and video highlights, making it worthwhile for people to make the trip up. Since the third floor has a lot more space, the plan is to have a wall displaying all the First-team Academic All-Americans.
Other areas of interest are the greatest moments of Cougar sports and a section for Cougar spirit, including Cosmo, the cheerleaders, the infamous “Y,” the band, the victory bell and the Cougar fight song.
The third floor will also have displays of the remaining Cougar sports and a history of women”s athletics at BYU.
When asked about the process of donating and collecting sports paraphernalia, Tittle said people have no problem donating, and rare items are popping up.
“We are going to start sending letters to athletes, seeing if they have anything they would like to have displayed,” Tittle said. “If we get the word out, people will come forward.”
People have already come forward. In fact, as Tittle spoke of the possibility for future donations, Brent Walters showed up to donate an original jersey worn by basketball legend Danny Ainge. Tittle said Walters called him out of the blue from his home in Sandy a few days before and said he wanted to have BYU display the jersey.
When asked why he donated the jersey, Walters said he would rather see it at BYU than in his house.
“It is just hanging in my room and nobody can see it there,” Walters said.
Other people also came forward when they heard Tittle was looking for sports gear.
Two weeks ago, Eldon “The Phantom” Fortie walked into Tittle”s office and said he wanted to donate a football helmet from 1960, various pads and his original All-American certificates. Fortie was BYU”s first All-American, broke 21 school records and was the first player to have his number retired.
Bobby Noel also called Tittle and asked him if he wanted the original baseball from when he threw a no-hitter in 1961. He is the only person who has thrown a no-hitter in BYU baseball history.
Overall, Tittle said the project has been fascinating to work on. At first, he said he felt a little overwhelmed, but now that the whole team is in place, it has become easier.
Tittle said the Student Athlete-Center should be done sometime before Christmas and his team plans to move in sometime over the break.
If all goes well, Tittle said, the Legacy Hall will open sometime in the first weeks of February.
“I grew up in Orem and I”ve been a BYU fan my whole life,” Tittle said. “I can”t wait for the time when it is done and I can take my mom and dad through the building, and have my dad tell me some of the old stories he used to tell me when I was a kid.”
Info. Box: *Memorabilia Sidebar
Tittle is looking for other potential items for display:
-Old letter, memos, contracts, letters of intent
-Championship banners
-Old equipment (helmets, shoes, golf clubs, etc.)
-Ticket stubs
-Posters
-Old playbooks, game plans
-Player trading cards
-Magazine covers, newspaper articles
-Shovel of building ground breaking
-Past uniforms
-Watches (championship, bowl, etc.)
-Rings
-Event programs/media guides
-Event tickets/credentials
-Video footage
-Cosmo/cheer uniforms
-Paintings
-Pennants
-Trophies
