A Tale of Two Families: Preserving Personal and Local History in UTA Libraries Special Collections

Bill Darland and Calvin Lee met as young men. Both moved to Arlington, Texas in 1956 to play football for Arlington State College (ASC), now the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA).

They joined a stellar team of players—led by coach Chena Gilstrap—and eventually went on to play in the 1956 Junior Rose Bowl.

“It was a very, very usual group of young men,” Darland said. “We were friends, we were teammates—we thought the world of each other.”

“These guys were good, good people,” Lee said. “Everyone was willing to help someone else.”

For small-town boys from Texas, the plane journey to California was memorable enough. They were up against Compton Junior College, the number one team, and while hungry for a win, these underdogs had a problem—Lee, one of their star players, was injured, and might not be able to play at all.

That is, until he was approached by Royce Womble, then-player for the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. The Colts were staying in the same hotel as the ASC football team and spent time talking with the college players in the lobby throughout the weekend.

“Royce said, ‘I understand you have a little knee problem,’” Lee said. “When I told him I might not play, he took me to the Colts trainer to have it taped. It made all the difference.”

Lee would go on to score all of ASC’s points in the Junior Rose Bowl, winning them the game and securing him recognition as the MVP.

“I probably wouldn’t have even gotten to play if not for him,” Lee said. “I got most of the credit and didn’t deserve it.”

Lee would go on to the University of Florida in 1957 while Darland stayed at ASC and played in the 1957 Junior Rose Bowl, winning that championship in an undefeated season.

Following their collegiate football careers, both men ended up coaching high school, living just down the road from one another in Arlington. Their children, Natalie and Brad, knew each other from their families’ many get togethers, but didn’t really meet until mutual friends introduced them when they were both studying at Texas Tech.

“For our mothers’ sake, we went to lunch together that September,” Natalie said. “We were engaged by January and married in August.”

Thirty-nine years later, Natalie and Brad are going strong—and still talking about their dads’ storied college experiences. Natalie decided to celebrate that with a unique gift last Christmas.

“When you listen to our dads talk about their college years, that’s something special,” Natalie said. “This year has been hard on everyone and I just wanted Christmas to be significant.”

So, Natalie turned to the sage wisdom of Google and searched for the 1956 Junior Rose Bowl. She was surprised to find a pennant on eBay and wondered if there was more to uncover—so she kept Googling.

“One of the first things that came up was UTA Special Collections,” she said. “I was excited to see where that trail would lead.”

She sent an email inquiry—and received a reply the next day from Photo Collections Specialist Sara Pezzoni.

Pezzoni receives on average two to three requests of this kind per week, usually from researchers or publications. Depending on the subject matter and size of the request, the process can take anywhere from one hour to a week to complete.

Natalie’s request took a few days, Pezzoni says, mostly because the images she was looking for were tucked away in an unprocessed collection—a collection that has not yet been arranged and described.

“Most unprocessed collections in Special Collections come with an inventory that serves as a temporary finding aid until the collection can be processed,” Pezzoni said. “I saw that we had a few boxes of UTA Athletics Records that came to Special Collections in 2018 and the inventory list had a mention of ‘Scrapbook – 1956 Junior Rose Bowl,’ so I was able to find the majority of relevant photos and clippings there.”

Natalie also specifically asked for a photo of the 1956 team with a 500-pound cake made to look like the Junior Rose Bowl football field. While UTA didn’t have the original photo, Pezzoni was able to find the clipping showing that particular photo in a Vertical File, a collection of documents and ephemera that are put into file folders and cataloged by surname or subject.

The majority of photo requests lead to reproduction of Special Collections’ photographs and maps in published books, but Pezzoni does get the occasional licensing request from image research teams working on Netflix shows/documentaries. Pezzoni also recently worked on a request to provide several photographs for the 12 Mighty Orphans film, which is set to release in June 2021.

“It is so fulfilling to me to see materials in Special Collections providing historical context out in the world in so many different ways,” Pezzoni said. “It’s just as fulfilling to be able to connect families with cherished memories and photos of their loved ones like what we could provide for Mrs. Darland and her family.”

In the end, Pezzoni found dozens of items related to Natalie’s request, including photos of both Darland and Lee. Natalie arranged most of the materials she received into elaborately designed shadowboxes, which she presented to her father and father-in-law at Christmas.

One of the first things Darland and Lee will tell listeners about the shadowboxes is where they are hung in their homes (for Bill, it’s where he watches TV; for Calvin, it’s in the main hall). The next is how often the men look at them.

“I have a big ole heart and I cry when things are nice and good and I cried [when I received it],” Darland said. “It’s such a great gift—as long as I am alive, I’ll keep looking at it.”

“I’ve never been so surprised with anything in my life,” Lee said. “I come over and look at it every single day.”

Darland and Lee make sure to let Natalie know how impactful the gifts are, too.

“They bring it up every time we talk—how special it was, how meaningful it was,” Natalie said. “They are still beaming about it.”

Darland and Lee were impressed with UTA Special Collections and their digitization services.

“It’s such a pleasure that the Libraries would have all [these materials],” Darland said. “It’s just a fabulous piece of work.”

Lee especially felt that the preservation of these materials—and community access—provides great historical value, both for individuals and the University.

“It allows people to look back on other generations and gives a little history of the school,” Lee said. “It preserves our history.”

For Natalie and Brad, the experience with Special Collections exceeded their wildest expectations.

“You never really realize how significant parts of your life are until you’re older,” Natalie said. “Our dads playing in the game was their legacy—they created something memorable, and it has stayed with them the rest of their lives.

“To have a department like [Special Collections] that preserves the history and legacy of the school is so important—I can’t say enough.”

“In general, my dad has used the UTA experience as a [kind of] fraternity,” Brad said. “To capture memories of something that was your life and your passion and to share, is pretty incredible.”

Natalie wants more people to learn about the service that Pezzoni provides so that they too can connect with the collections available at UTA.

“I think if more people know about it, they would be as amazed as we are,” Natalie said. “It could impact a lot of lives.”

Readers can make their requests to Sara Pezzoni by emailing her directly with a list of research needs.

Sara Pezzoni is a valued team member of UTA Libraries Special Collections. Special Collections holds materials in a variety of subject areas, including Texas history, cartography, Spanish Language Archives, photograph collections (including the Fort-Worth Star Telegram collection), Texas Labor Archives, University Archives, and more. These collections are preserved by experts like Pezzoni using the appropriate technologies with the mission of present and future accessibility. Learn more and contact Special Collections on their website.

Interested parties can also view some of the pieces included in the Darlands' shadowboxes in our Digital Gallery.