The DeGolyer Library lost a shining light and mentor on March 18. Gerry York, 87, class of 58, Southern Methodist University sports historian, fan, volunteer, and loving husband, father, and grandfather, died from complications from a stroke.
Almost 25 years ago, Gerry and Ed Wisneski created Heritage Hall, a museum documenting SMU’s athletics history and traditions. Later, Gerry served as its curator and continued to update exhibits. Starting in 2007, he began working in the SMU Archives organizing historic sports records.
Gerry was the chief photographs wrangler for Darwin Payne’s sports history, “In Honor of the Mustangs.” The photos in the book illustrate and match the text to tell the story. Gerry was part of the committee who worked on the book, and he was regarded as a content expert.
For more than 10 years, Gerry worked with Owen Benatar to put together the interviews and videos for the SMU Hall of Fame induction. In his spare time, he wrote a history of Corsicana Country Club after doing extensive research at the Corsicana library.
All of this was after a career of 50 years in insurance. While he was a student at SMU, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He never lost his enthusiasm for golf, for shooting hoops, for updating us on the news from his grandchildren, or for sharing SMU sports discoveries. We will miss this valuable team player.
