Join us for the 17th Annual Duckwall Lecture as we welcome back Gary Mormino, Ph.D., on April 22, to the Tampa Bay History Center for an evening of history, storytelling and unforgettable characters. Presented with support from the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation, this year’s lecture marks the 140th anniversary of the first cigar rolled in Ybor City.

Drawing on decades of research and personal encounters, Dr. Mormino brings to life some of the most memorable figures in the Tampa Bay area’s past. From a lawyer with ties to organized crime to the legendary Tony Pizzo, these stories reveal the personalities, traditions and contradictions that shaped Ybor City and helped define Tampa.

At the heart of the lecture is Dr. Mormino’s enduring admiration for Ybor City, a place whose legacy still resonates today. Blending scholarship with a gift for storytelling, he offers an engaging look at the people and moments that continue to make this history so compelling.

Dr. Mormino is the Frank E. Duckwall Professor of History Emeritus at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. He received the Florida Humanities 2015 Florida Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing and has served as a Florida Humanities scholar-in-residence. His many books include “Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams” and “Dreams in the New Century: Instant Cities, Shattered Hopes, and Florida’s Turning Point.”

Established in 1983, the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation supports efforts to make Florida history accessible to the Tampa Bay community and advance research into the state’s past.

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