By definition, each of the photographs appearing in an upcoming NCAA Hall of Champions exhibition is a portrait -- a representation of a person.

But seen as a group, the people appearing in the photos by Rich Clarkson are a representation of history. The 36 portraits -- some formally posed, some composed in the heat of competition -- tell the story of the past 50 years of intercollegiate athletics, as captured through the lens of one of America's renowned photographers.

The exhibit, "The Champions: Portraits from the NCAA Arena," will open at the Hall of Champions in January. The photos feature athletes and coaches -- nearly all readily recognizable -- from a variety of sports, and date from Clarkson's days as a hustling student photographer in the 1950s to his current role as coordinator of photography for all 88 NCAA championships.

Included is Clarkson's first photograph for Sports Illustrated magazine -- a striking black-and-white shot of University of Kansas basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, seated on a folding chair tying a shoe. That photo is one of two by Clarkson that the magazine cited in a retrospective on the 10 most memorable portraits it has published. The other, of Louisiana State University basketball sharpshooter "Pistol" Pete Maravich, also is included in the exhibit.

Clarkson also has shot 40 covers for the magazine, including a shot for SI's 1981-82 college basketball preview issue featuring University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, basketball coach Dean Smith and starting players on that's season's top-ranked team. The innovative photo -- in which Smith appears to be diagramming a play on glass (the effect actually was achieved through double exposure) -- also is notable for the absence of the team's fifth starter, due to Smith's insistence that only upperclassmen should appear in the shot. Thus, freshman Michael Jordan was excluded.

Another photo in the exhibit clearly meets the definition of portrait, even without showing the subject's face. It's a shot of University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, recognizable even from behind in his trademark hat and plaid coat, peering downfield through sunlight and casting a giant shadow.

Other portraits in the exhibit feature collegiate athletes soon to become Olympic heroes, including swimmer Mark Spitz of Indiana University, Bloomington, and track and field champions Carl Lewis of the University of Houston and Jackie Joyner of the University of California, Los Angeles. The collection also features an informal portrait of distance runner Steve Prefontaine, the four-time NCAA 5,000-meter champion who was killed in an auto accident just two years after his final collegiate victory.

The exhibit offers a gallery of legendary coaches, from Forrest "Phog" Allen (proudly posing in the upper reaches of the Kansas arena that bears his name), to stone-faced Adolph Rupp and a stern Henry Iba, to a photo that unveils the competitiveness of the normally placid John Wooden.

Two current Congressmen also are subjects of exhibit photos -- a young Tom Osborne, during his early days as head football coach at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and a very young Jim Ryun, the record-smashing miler who now represents a district in his home state of Kansas in the U.S. House of Representatives. For good measure, there's also a photo of Princeton University basketball standout Bill Bradley, now retired from the U.S. Senate.

Clarkson's lengthy history as an NCAA Final Four photographer also is well-represented, most notably in postgame photos capturing now-familiar rituals of victory. One depicts Michigan State University's Earvin "Magic" Johnson cutting down the net after the Spartans' 1979 victory, while another captures Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski's satisfaction and pride in a victorious Blue Devils team as it celebrates its championship triumph.

Clarkson, whose company (Rich Clarkson and Associates) currently manages the NCAA Photos service and also produces original photography and publications for a variety of clients, is a former director of photography for the National Geographic Society and organized the photographic coverage of two Olympics for Time magazine and a third Olympics for Sports Illustrated. The former president of the National Press Photographers Association was named by American Photo magazine as one of the 50 most influential individuals in American photography.

A traveling exhibition is planned for The Champions, in addition to this winter's display in the Hall of Champions, located at the NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis' White River State Park.