Y. hall houses athletic legacy

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 20, 2004 by Brad Rock Deseret Morning News

PROVO -- If you're the type who thinks there's still nothing better than a KBYU replay of the 1980 Holiday Bowl, think again. If you fear you'll never duplicate the thrill of BYU's 1990 football win over Miami, or its 1981 basketball win over Notre Dame, consider this: There's plenty where those came from.

All it takes is a good thorough closet cleaning.

As the Cougars rush toward their Sept. 4 football opener against Notre Dame, Duff Tittle, BYU's associate athletic director for communications, is keeping pace. He, too, is under a deadline. He's polishing glass, dusting shelves and straightening photos in preparation for the eventual grand opening of the school's "Legacy Hall."

Want to see video of Masters winner Mike Weir, when he was still a college kid wearing glasses? Tittle has that. Clay Brown's miracle catch in 1980? Tittle has that, too.

He even has TV footage of BYU's 1951 and 1966 NIT basketball championships.

And you thought you'd never see Mel Hutchins' silky baseline shot or Dick Nemelka's rapid-fire jumper again. (Tittle discovered the film in the granite LDS history vaults in Little Cottonwood Canyon.)

For the first time, it's all in one place, free of charge.

"For a kid who grew up in Orem, idolizing BYU sports, this is unbelievable," says Tittle.

Legacy Hall at the Student-Athlete Building is open to the public, Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. While it remains a work in progress, when it's done it will be crammed full -- all three floors - - with mementos of BYU's greatest sports accomplishments.

It's a tribute good enough to even make Jim McMahon -- who once said the most beautiful sight in his life was Provo in his rearview mirror -- make a U-turn.

"I have 21 walls to work with," says Tittle, "and we'll fill them all."

The impetus for Legacy Hall was, of course, to chronicle BYU's notable athletic history. Not one to do things halfway, Tittle, with his staff, set about collecting hundreds of items. They phoned more than 200 former Cougar athletes. They even cleaned out closets, such as the one at the Smith Fieldhouse where Tittle discovered a game ball from BYU's first football win, in 1922. In his searching he also found a game ball from 1972, LaVell Edwards' first season.

He spent 3 1/2 hours one day in a Provo storage locker looking for, among other things, Steve Young's Super Bowl MVP trophy. (Young later found it himself elsewhere.)

He retrieved original jerseys from the only BYU athletes to have their jerseys retired -- Young, Ainge, Eldon Fortie, Tina Gunn Robison and Marion Probert.

Predictably, he picked up a lot of additional stuff along the way. Such as one of three baseballs Cory Snyder hit out of the park in his first three collegiate at-bats. The Hall has both the game ball and Brown's jersey from the 1980 Holiday Bowl "miracle" catch. Tittle retrieved a jersey Ainge wore in 1981, the year he won two national player of the year awards. Ainge even sent a pair of shoes -- infield dirt still clinging to the spikes -- from his days with the Toronto Blue Jays.

There are biographies, videos, pictures, shoes, hats, jerseys, pants, shorts, helmets and gloves from many of BYU's 1,050 all- Americans.

National title trophies in football (one), women's cross country (four), men's volleyball (three), men's golf (one) and men's track and field (one) are included -- not to mention offensive lineman Mike Jenkins' size-18 football shoe, and a driver from Bobby Clampett's days as an all-American golfer.

The second floor includes life-size cutouts of both 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley (true to form, lacking muscle definition) and 4-foot-9 gymnasts Haley Love and Lori Johnston.

Seven thousand five hundred square feet of space, all devoted to BYU fans who tear up when they hear the lyrics to "Rise and Shout."

(Incidentally, the hall also has a special edition "BYU Barbie" and a vinyl record album called "Rise and Shout" from some forgotten decade.)

Of course, no memorabilia collection is complete without its signature piece, and this is no exception. Walk in the front door and you'll immediately see Ty Detmer's Heisman Trophy, jersey and helmet. Those are accompanied by items from BYU's two Outland Trophy winners, Jason Buck and Mo Elewonibi.

About the only thing missing is a McMahon jersey. Mad Mac was willing to help, but he gave away all his college gear to charity organizations over the years.

Virtually everyone Tittle and his staff contacted was happy to contribute something -- providing they could find it.

"I heard everything from, 'Oh, man, I don't know where it is,' to 'Wow, it must be in the basement,' to Steve Young saying, 'I think my mom's got a lot of it,' " says Tittle.

In the end, nearly everyone came through.

Best news of all for the athletes?

Now someone else can keep track of it.

E-mail: rock@desnews.com