Macdonald-Kelce Library Blog

"'I Love the Smell of [Football] in the Morning,' usually.": UTampa Football Film Digitization Project

Truthfully, I have no idea what football smells like, save sweat, dirt, grass and pigskin. That said, the Macdonald-Kelce Library’s (MKL) third floor has smelled like vinegar for a number of years and the University of Tampa football program is to blame.   

In the early 2000s, the UTampa Athletic Department donated to the library several hundred 16 mm Spartan football films from the 1950s through the sport’s final season here in 1974. Though the library had no environmentally sound place to store the films (refrigeration), it was decided to store them as best it could rather than see the footage relegated to the trash.   

Over the years however storage in warm and humid conditions took its toll and the collection eventually succumbed to “vinegar syndrome.” Vinegar syndrome is a destructive process by which cellulose acetate film degrades over time. Its symptoms are a strong vinegar smell, followed by shrinkage, increasing brittleness, and separation of the gelatin emulsion from the film base causing cracking and “buckling.” A hot humid environment exacerbates the process and once it begins, the film’s life is short.

In addition, not only is vinegar syndrome hazardous to breathing conditions, but it also presents an incredible fire hazard. An extremely hot and humid day, of which Florida has no shortage, can cause the film to spontaneously combust. Or the collection could be set ablaze by even the slightest electrical spark. For these reasons, it was imperative something be done, and quickly, with the football footage. 

To digitize all of the films and create the proper environment for their physical storage would have cost hundreds of thousand of dollars. Not having those resources, the MKL decided to selectively save as many of the films as it could and former President Vaughn's office appropriated funds to the library for that purpose. First, a study was done of all the films to examine their condition and whether or not they could be digitized in the first place, or whether they had deteriorated to a degree to which the film could not be saved. Next, it was determined that a majority of the films to be preserved would come from what many consider the halcyon days of UTampa’s football program, the late 1960s through 1974, with special emphasis on the 1972 season.  

28 total films were digitized and saved for posterity in the fall of 2023. Unfortunately, without proper cold storage for several hundred films a majority of the footage had to be disposed of. That said, today we are proud to debut the UTampa football films in Macdonald Kelce Library's digital collections where these films may be streamed or downloaded. Here you can peruse and watch numerous football games including UTampa’s most famous win (7-0) on November 11, 1972 against the Miami Hurricanes.

Also, you can watch some of  the university's most famous players, like Freddie Solomon, John Matuszak, and Paul Orndorf, all playing in the same games against other future NFL greats like Ron Jaworski, et al. And finally, relive Spartan football’s glory days in Tampa Stadium, and Phillips Field. 

In the future, the Archives and Special Collections at the Macdonald-Kelce Library hope to continue digitizing more materials related to the athletics program here at UTampa, including a small cache of old basketball films and also a large collection of football programs. Stay tuned.