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Exhibits at the Institute of Texan Cultures Celebrate UTSA's First Football Season

The University of Texas at San Antonio finally has a football team to play on Saturdays this fall. Go Roadrunners!!!

It all began in March 2009 when UTSA’s Athletic Director Lynn Hickey, the only female AD in Texas to oversee both men’s and women’s sports, hired Larry Coker as head football coach to guide and develop the new program from scratch. Coker has impressive credentials, having led the Miami Hurricanes to a national football championship in 2001. After two years of preparation, the Roadrunners kick off their inaugural football season against Northeastern State (Oklahoma) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 3 at their home stadium, the Alamodome.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, the Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC) opened “Football: The Exhibit” last May. This traveling exhibit examines the science, mechanics and technology behind the game and explores the history and cultural phenomenon of football. “The physics and math at work in a game of football are extraordinary,” said Lupita Barrerra, director of education and interpretation at the museum. “But we’re not going to show you a lot of equations on a blackboard. Football is a contact sport and this is a contact exhibit.”

Organized by the Arkansas Museum of Discovery, “Football: The Exhibit” is designed to be highly interactive, encouraging hands-on participation by kids of all ages. The exhibit is comprised of nine different zones, each one with a theme that addresses a different aspect of football: History of the Game, The Forward Pass, In the Open Field, On the Line of Scrimmage, The Kicking Game, Medical Technology, Cheerleaders and Bands, and Football and Society.

Each zone features videos, artifacts, text, and hands-on activities. Visitors are invited to have fun and learn while engaging in the following activities and many more:

• Step into the passing cage to test your throwing skills.
• Race on a short track against the lights that move at the speed of professional players.
• Squeeze the handle and compare the strength of your grip to professional linemen.
• Use an arthroscope to examine the inside of a simulated knee.
• Test your reaction time to sound and light cues to compare with friends and family.
• Perform collision experiments on the momentum track.
• Test your balance on a balance board.

Beyond learning about the science and math underlying all of these activities, the exhibit showcases the history of football, its traditions, and America’s obsession with the sport.

Because “Football: The Exhibit” is a traveling show, it targets a national audience instead of focusing on a particular region. That’s why ITC designed a complementary exhibit to specifically take a closer look at football culture in the Lone Star State from the perspective of its residents.

ITC sent oral historians into the community to ask Texans one simple question: “What does football mean to you?” Visitors to the museum are invited to listen to their answers, to hear what Texas football means to players, coaches, parents, cheerleaders, band Moms, fans and many others at ITC’s complementary exhibit, “Texas Football: In Their Words.” Their responses shed a light on how football impacted their lives and influenced Texas culture.

A visitor to this section of the exhibit is greeted at the entrance by a life-size cutout of none-other-than new Head Coach Larry Coker. When you push his button, he says “I know the fan base here and the interest in football in Texas is just off the charts!”

Rhett Rushing, an oral historian at ITC, says “Texans do football better than anyone else on earth. No one on earth invests as much of their spirit, energy, and even self worth into football like Texans.” He says “Football defines us as dreamers, as hard workers, as the best we can be. Football means everything in Texas.”

“Football: The Exhibit” remains open at the Institute of Texan Cultures long enough for two home games to be played by the Roadrunners at the Alamodome in early September. The exhibit closes after September 13, but football at UT San Antonio has only just begun.

Permanent Exhibits at the Institute of Texan Cultures

The Back 40
This outdoor exhibit offers a hands-on learning experience in a historic Texas setting. The museum’s living history complex includes a one-room schoolhouse, a “dog trot” log house, a barn, an army barracks, and an adobe house – all typical of Texas in the mid to late 1800s. Dressed in period clothing, knowledgeable instructors offer glimpses into the day-to-day hardships and joys of 19th century Texans. To reserve group tours, call (210) 458-2291

Leaving Home, Finding Home: Texas Families Remember the Mexican Revolution
This exhibit explores the turmoil and social upheaval that was set in motion by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 when thousands of Mexicans fled their homeland to seek refuge in Texas. This personal experience exhibit incorporates photos and oral histories as told by Texans who share stories of hardship and achievement that were passed-down to them by their immigrant families who assimilated their Mexican heritage into their new Texas home.