(Photo) The AT&T Stadium Jumbotron.

Piece 1: AT&T Stadium. Located just south of Interstate 30 in Arlington TX, about halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, is AT&T Stadium, home field of the National Football League’s (NFL) Dallas Cowboys.

This is the third sports venue designed by HKS Architects that we have had the opportunity to visit, and like the other two (Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis IN and U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis MN) the blueprint allowed for plenty of natural light. Large angled glass walls span the length of the building.

AT&T Stadium replaced the long-standing home of the Cowboys, Texas Stadium located in the Dallas suburb of Irving, in 2009 and features two critical elements of the old venue; prominent space to acknowledge important players in Cowboys team history (known as “The Ring of Honor”) and a hole in the roof (although the new stadium’s roof is retractable) that, as former Dallas linebacker D.D. Lewis famously said in 1982, “allows God to watch His favorite football team”.

Maybe the most impressive part of AT&T Stadium is the enormous Jumbotron suspended over the field.

The place has a core seating capacity of 80,000 (expandable to 100,000) and has hosted a number of prominent sporting events; including the 2011 Super Bowl, the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship game, and the 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four basketball tournament. Further, many major music acts such as U2, The Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks, and former Beatle Paul McCartney have performed at AT&T.

“Jerry World” (as the stadium is commonly called in tribute to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones) is definitely an entertainment destination point…always something happening there.

Old Texas School Book Depository

Piece 2: The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. Located in the heart of downtown Dallas TX at 411 Elm Street is the Dallas County Administrative Building (formerly the Texas School Book Depository), home of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

This unique collection of historical films, photos, artifacts, and interpretive exhibits provides visitors a comprehensive perspective on the events and key figures relevant to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

It was from a window within the museum space that Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository and reputed communist sympathizer, fired three shots at the presidential motorcade traveling west along Elm Street past a small city park known as Dealey Plaza.

After leaving the museum, we walked along the north side of Elm toward the infamous “grassy knoll” area where some have speculated a second assassin was positioned.

From this vantage point, we were able to see two large white “X” marks on Elm Street indicating where bullets fired from Oswald’s Mannlicher–Carcano Italian bolt-action rifle hit President Kennedy.

Visiting the museum and the adjacent grounds was an experience we will not forget. It elicited a range of feelings in us. We were consumed by the historical significance of it all, but equally disturbed by the tragedy that created that significance.

IBHOF and Museum

Piece 3: The International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum (IBHOF). A short 5-minute drive east from AT&T Stadium is The IBHOF and Museum (621 Six Flags Drive-Arlington TX).

Bowling is one of the more popular “participatory sports” around the world, and the IBHOF offers visitors a fun and engaging journey through the history of the sport and evolution of the bowling industry.

There is a nice exhibit describing the heyday of bowling as a spectator sport from the 1960’s through the early 1980’s, when the ABC Television Network dominated Saturday afternoon sports viewing with coverage of Professional Bowlers Association tournaments.

The IBHOF and Museum is worth a stop.

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