First Down, Houston: The Birth of an NFL Franchise

Football is an American phenomenon, and Texas fans have long embraced the sport with unrivaled fervor. In 2002, when a new professional football team hit the Lone Star State, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, recognized a unique opportunity to record history in the making. Although millions of photographs of football exist, the first year of a NFL team has never been captured.

The museum and the Houston TEXANS have collaborated to document the team’s first season. From the NFL players’ draft to the TEXANS’ opening day to the final game of the Houston team’s inaugural year, both the quiet and the frenetic rhythms of a major-league football enterprise are vividly charted.

More than just a strict chronicle, The Houston TEXANS reveals every angle of the team that was founded by Robert C. McNair and has won the hearts of Texas football fans. Award-winning photographer Robert Clark (Friday Night Lights) was granted unprecedented access to the team. He took action shots and players’ portraits; shot views of training camp and weight-room sessions; and produced memorable images of the players and their families outside of the public’s intense gaze. He also photographed Mr. and Mrs. McNair, the coaches, and other staff members that are part of the business of professional football. Seen together, the approximately 150 photographs provide a penetrating and intimate look into the world of the Houston TEXANS.

This book is being produced in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name to be held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from September 13 through December 7, 2003. Both the book and exhibition pay tribute to the football team that has taken Texas by storm.

ANNE WILKES TUCKER is the Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where she has organized nearly forty major photography exhibitions.Mickey Herskowitz is an award-winning sportswriter and columnist for the Houston Chronicle.