Fighting For Football Film
Turkos Leads Charge to Preserve Terrapins’ Tradition, Save Old Footage
Football Footage Preservation Fund
By Mike Ashley
Anne Turkos is playing safety for the Maryland football program.
No, it’s not a bold move by Ralph Friedgen to break down gender barriers, and
honestly, the University of Maryland archivist isn’t actually going to suit up for the
Terrapins.
But there isn’t anyone doing any more to preserve the program’s proud traditions
and glorious history than Turkos. And it turns out she’s one of the last lines of
defense to save over 400 reels of football game film, dating from 1946 to 1989.
“We believe it’s absolutely critical to save these films,” Turkos said. “The stories on
these reels exemplify the pride and determination of the Terrapin spirit.”
Turkos has long been a guardian of all things Terrapin and the University of
Maryland but it wasn’t until earlier this decade that she became passionate about
football film.
In 2002, when the Maryland athletic department moved lock, stock and barrel from
venerable Cole Field House across campus to the new Comcast Center, Turkos and
the library offered their help in moving out and taking responsibility for some of the
Terrapins’ athletic artifacts.
Athletic director Debbie Yow, noting a loss of a lot of storage space with the move,
and always reaching out for ways to spread the Terrapin athletics brand all over
campus, took Turkos up on her offer.
“We brought in about 700 boxes of material and that included audio and video
material, as well as paper documents,” recalled Turkos. “We brought in about 300
trophies that they weren’t going to be able to display in Comcast. It’s really the
mother lode of historical information on athletics on campus.”
But Turkos and her Hornbake Library team didn’t know they were up against the
clock until a couple of years later when Maryland audiovisual archivist Kate Murray
was inventorying every piece of film in the university collection.
Using paper test strips inserted into the reels of film, Turkos and Murray quickly
discovered that 68 percent of the recently-acquired football film was in an advanced
state of deterioration, a natural reaction after years of neglect tucked away in Cole’s
many nooks and crannies and subject to heat and humidity that was a natural and
sometimes beloved part of the old barn.
Most of the old football film, dating back through at least 11 past coaches, was
stored in the Cole basement in a large room generally dedicated for the Gymkana
troupe’s practices. But really, members of the athletic staff found film everywhere,
and they were still finding it after athletics was long gone to their new home.
Turkos got a call in the fall of 2008, that more film had been found in the upper
reaches of Cole Field House behind a scoreboard. The archivist took in another 350
reels of the 16-milimeter film, some rolls dating back to the 1950s.
Losing History Stinks, Literally
Open one of those old canisters of football film, one of the ones in the most
advanced states of deterioration and you’re in for a surprise. There’s a distinctive
odor, a strong odor.
“When they’re really deteriorated, it will knock you off your feet,” said Turkos. “It’s
really a very unpleasant smell.”
It smells a lot like really, really strong vinegar.
“There are a couple of things that happen to film as it ages,” explained John Walko
of Scene Savers, the company working with Maryland to salvage and restore the
film. “The film that we work with primarily is what we call safety stock. The film
loses the moisture that was in it and it shrinks and become brittle. The other
problem is that the film is made up of emulsion layers and the emulsion is a gelatin,
and if it’s color film, that’s where the color is. That fades over time. Film, particularly
color film fades to red – the bottom emulsion layer.”
Walko walked through how the other color levels fade and then explained the
worst enemy is the shrinkage and the film becoming brittle and fusing together.
“There isn’t a whole heck of a lot anyone can do when that happens,” he said. “That’s
one of the reasons for needing to do these projects. If you let the film go to long,
especially from improper storage, it can get to the point where you just can’t do
anything with it.”
Covington, Ky.-based Scene Savers is a professional archival services company that
focuses on preserving historical films and videotapes to make sure that kind of
damage doesn’t happen, and they can also can restore some of the damaged video
up to a point.
“We started Scene Savers just to help restore these old films, some that we deal
with dating back to the ‘20s,” said Walko. “We have trained archivists on staff. The
people that have been working with these materials have been working with them
for decades and they know what to do in order to get the best quality and handle
some of the problems that are going to come up.”
One of the most common problems, because of shrinkage, is that the “sprocket
holes” on film that allow it to be run through a projector, become smaller and
tighter. The projector sprockets are at a fixed width and thus can’t run the film
anymore. The film sprockets will break and make the film unplayable.
“We had a collection of film in here two years ago, every sprocket hole was broken
off from the film,” said Walko. “We had to repair every one of them. Now there are
three sprocket holes per frame and these were like 1,200-foot films. It took weeks to
do that.”
Scene Savers will take the Maryland film, hand-wind through it, inspect for damage
and repair it and then clean the film, and prepare it for transfer to another video
media like DVD.
The staff uses a telecine, which converts the film to video, and it’s a complex
process because film is shot at approximately 24 frames a second but video is
displayed at about 30 frames a second. Screen Savers has completed a similar
project for the National College Football Hall of Fame, and just finished a project for
the University of Michigan, transferring over 700 roles of films.
According to Turkos, a ballpark estimate on transferring all this film from the
stadium is about $100 a reel, depending on how much restoration work has to be
done. Turkos hosted a Nov. 14 social in the library to kickoff the Football Footage
Preservation Fun, and she proved herself a fountain of all things Terrapin to those
who had never met her.
“She is a passionate Terp and she’s so knowledgeable about historical facts about
the university, not just athletics,” said former alumni director Joan Patterson, who is
now helping raise funds for the film restoration, among other duties. “She does a
great column in our alumni magazine, ‘Ask Anne,’ and she’s just a pleasure to work
with.”
Getting the Word Out
If the analogy of Turkos as a safety for Maryland football doesn’t work, how about a
real Terrapin defensive back going on the offensive to help this project. Former
Maryland safety Jonathan Claiborne, who played for the Terps 1975-77, has deep
roots in the program. His father, Jerry Claiborne was one of Maryland’s most
successful coaches and had a stellar 28-year coaching career that landed him in the
National Football Foundation College Hall of Fame.
Jonathan Claiborne is also currently Johnny Holliday’s color analyst on the football
broadcasts, and both Holliday and Claiborne became vocal advocates for the project
late this fall after Claiborne attended that social at the library to publicize the
Football Footage Preservation Fund.
“The historical aspect appeals to me because I was a history major, and obviously
I’m excited about the football,” said Claiborne. “I guess people could argue about the
merits of saving game film but if they were going to do it they have to act now.”
Claiborne is excited that the project will eventually make the video more accessible
to the public, particularly descendents of past players and really, anyone interested
in Terrapin football. Someday the video could be available to anyone over the
Internet, Claiborne said.
Claiborne was one of a handful of former Terps at the social who got a chance to
pour over some of the amazing artifacts available in the Hornbake historical
archives. Among those Terrapin treasures: an alligator-skin football from the 1948
Gator Bowl, Maryland’s first bowl appearance; a photo of the first Terrapin team
from 1892; a picture of Jack Scarbath, who was in attendance, scoring the first
touchdown in Byrd Stadium; game programs and trophies, and Swede Eppley’s
game jersey from 1920.
The afternoon reminiscing also gave Turkos and her staff a great opportunity to
pitch the film preservation project to former players, some who have old game film
in their personal collections, and many of whom are interested in contributing
financially to the preservation project.
According to Patterson of the University’s development office, the Terrapin Club,
the M Club and the Maryland Gridiron Network each donated $10,000 to the cause,
and there was a matching $30,000 donation from an anonymous party.
“We’re just starting to get the word out and we really expect more individual
donations once people know more about this,” said Patterson. “Fortunately there
are vendors out there that can still convert the film to DVD.”
There’s over $60,000 now raised for the project, and Patterson stressed the
campaign is just now underway. Ultimately, the fund-raising goal is $200,000 to
save all the salvageable film.
Some inroads have already been made, one in simply storing the footage properly
in the library archives. Murray was also able to lead an effort to secure funds from
the National Film Preservation Foundation to restore and transfer some film
already, a 1948 game where the Terrapins played South Carolina in Columbia.
“That was one of our oldest pieces and when we submitted a number of projects,
this was the one they selected for a grant,” said Turkos. “They gave us enough
money to make a film-to-film transfer so we got another film copy, as well as a
digital version.”
In addition to the football action, there are vivid black and white scenes of the
marching bands and the fans in attendance, a wonderful look back at a different
time, though the customs and football are very familiar.
“I think there’s a lot of value to this project,” said Claiborne. “I think this will be
fascinating, not so much for the people that played in those games but the families of
those people.”
A Team Effort
“They showed us one of the films that is deteriorated and there’s nothing there any
more,” said Ralph Lary, a Terp from 1977-80. “It’s gone now. Nothing can be done.
To me, that’s really sad. This is part of our history that we’re all interested in
keeping.”
Besides those losses, there are some other holes in the collection. Turkos laments
that there are no reels from the 1953 national championship season. She learned at
that November social to launch the fund-raising effort that when Bobby Ross took
over the Terrapins in 1982, he had an event for former players and had “piles and
piles” of old game film. “He said, ‘If there’s anything you want, take it,’” said Turkos.
“And they did. So it’s been out there for 20-some years. No one has a 16-millimeter
projector anymore so no one has a chance to watch it.”
Well, that is until now. As part of the initiative, anyone donating old film back to the
university will get their own digital copy when it’s restored.
“A lot of people will be able to watch again and share with their family,” she said. “It
helps the university because it helps flesh out our entire holdings but it’s also a great
benefit to them.”
In addition to donating old film, though, Terrapin fans can also make financial
contributions to the project. A donation of $500 earns the donor a complimentary
DVD of the game of their choice for any available game 1946-1989. For gifts of
$1,000, two complimentary DVDs of the patron’s choice will be sent. Pledges to the
project may be paid over a three-year period.
In the bigger picture, initially, the oldest game films have priority in the project but
there are special games and events that will move to the top of the list and get
special attention, “the Cadillac Treatment,” Patterson and Turkos call it. Those films
would include Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Byrd Stadium in 1957 for the North
Carolina game, and some of the great past games with the Naval Academy, among
other key contests.
“We just want people to realize how important this is that we begin to take action
now,” said Patterson. “I have a sample in my office of the film that’s deteriorating
and it’s got that awful cider vinegar smell.”
The chance to save part of the University of Maryland’s history has a much sweeter
smell to all of those so actively involved.