By Emily Raymond
Duff Tittle, BYU''s associate athletic director, is playing phone tag with Cougar sports greats like Steve Young, Bob Noel and Eldon Fortie.
Sound like a dream job?
Maybe, but it''s a little more complicated than that.
Tittle is spearheading the daunting project of tracking down BYU sports memorabilia to display in the new Legacy Hall of the new Student-Athlete Center.
Some phone calls have proven successful. Last week, Tittle called Steve Young''s mother and scored an NFL MVP trophy that Young agreed to loan to the university.
'I keep running into stuff,' Tittle said. 'Eldon Fortie walked into my office and said, ''Hey, I got my helmet from ''60 and ''61. Are you interested?'' I''m like, ''Absolutely!'''
Fortie was BYU''s first football All-American in 1961. Tittle plans to use his helmets in an exhibit showing the evolution of the BYU football helmet.
Fortie''s 1961 helmet is solid white with a blue stripe of foam rubber padding down the center.
The BYU helmet has had several makeovers since then, ranging in all colors from dark blue, white, royal blue and silver and using different stripes and designs and fonts with the block or round Y.
'The evolution of the helmet shows that we''ve had all colors,' Tittle said. 'I think it would be fun to display all the former helmets.'
Luck has been on Tittle''s side in the search. Bob Noel, BYU''s only baseball player to pitch a no-hitter, called Tittle earlier this week and offered to loan the ball from the 1961 game.
A Deseret News article by Dick Harmon prompted Brent Walters to call Tittle with more good news: he has one of Danny Ainge''s original basketball jerseys.
Walters was given the jersey as a birthday present from his mother, who knew the equipment manager during the Ainge era.
Tittle is currently trying to track down the basketball that Danny Ainge used to make the game-winning point during the famous 1981 BYU-Notre Dame game.
The women''s athletic department will have their share of historical memorabilia too. The tennis team hosted tournaments in the Sixties and didn''t have enough money to buy trophies, so they made them. Ann Valentine, a former player and coach, is donating some of her homemade trophies to display.
Besides the memorabilia from the players, Tittle is searching for paraphernalia from fans too.
'We beat Utah for the first time in 1942 and a guy sent me a piece of the goalpost they tore down,' Tittle said. 'I didn''t even ask for it. It just came in the mail with a letter explaining the game and how they got the goalpost, why it was torn down, how they cut it up and who got pieces of it.'
Tittle will keep searching for everything from playbooks to ticket stubs to trophies for the next two months. Anyone with any memorabilia that they would like to loan or donate can call Tittle at 422-4910.