ILS1
08-16-2006, 06:40 PM
By John Maher
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
When the No. 1-ranked Ohio State football team comes to town Sept. 9, the University of Texas plans to trot out a nine-foot, 1,500-pound Earl Campbell.
Ken Bjorge's bronze sculpture of the 1977 Heisman Trophy winner will be placed near the southwest entrance to Royal-Memorial Stadium.
"The image I had to capture is the game face. He has a sense of humor, but he was a very serious football player," Bjorge said. "Players would almost rather have rather run into a brick wall than into Earl. He was uncommonly tough."
Campbell's statue, "The Tyler Rose," encountered some thorns along the way; it took the hard work of donors and the involvement of some top university officials to get the statue in place.
"I don't think many places have made statues of their great players, and Earl was our first Heisman winner. I think it's fabulous that we can do something nice for him," said James Nixon, a San Antonio oilman who spearheaded the project.
In all, 86 donors — many from the San Antonio area — gave money for the statue, which was presented to the Longhorn Foundation. The total cost has not been disclosed.
"Jimmy wanted to do something for the stadium that will forever be remembered, and he has great memories of Earl," said Pat Frost, president of Frost Bank.
Nixon spends part of his summer in Montana, where he became familiar with Bjorge's work.
Although he's known for his flair working with Western or natural themes, Bjorge likes to work with a variety of forms. The one that Nixon was impressed with was a statue of former University of Washington football coach Jim Owens. Owens coached the Huskies from 1957 to 1974, taking over after Darrell Royal ended his one-year stint there in 1956 to head for Texas. He's even sculpted longhorns before; there's a cow and two calves on display in Los Colinas.
Originally, Nixon's idea was to hire Bjorge to create statues to honor Texas' two Heisman winners, Campbell and Ricky Williams.
That was before Williams ran into problems in the NFL by flunking drug tests, getting suspended and moving to the Canadian Football League.
Campbell's reputation at UT was on far firmer grounds, however, and not only because he rushed for a Southwest Conference-record 1,744 yards in 1977 and then later went on to star with the Houston Oilers. Campbell is widely regarded by UT fans as a player who helped pave the way for other black players at a school that had an all-white team as late as 1969.
Yet, while the Tyler Rose was being created, UT was also mulling what guidelines it should have for statues on campus. According to the current University of Texas System Board of Regents rules, "No gift of statuary depicting a living person shall be accepted by an institution, unless intended for display in a museum or for addition to the collection of works of art for display in a museum."
For a while, Big Earl was in limbo. He'd been cast in Kalispel, Mont., and had been shipped to and stored at UT, but would he be doomed to end up indoors or in front of sports bar or a Chuy's?
Nixon credits UT president emeritus Peter Flawn, vice president Patty Ohlendorf and former president Larry Faulkner with keeping the bureaucracy moving and getting the statue its place on campus.
"It's nine feet tall and it's something to behold," Nixon said. "I could not be happier that it (a ceremony) is at the Ohio State game. It's the proper time and the proper venue."
Bjorge said, "It has really been a treat and a honor to be asked to do this sculpture. Nobody that came out of the 1970s and who enjoyed football didn't think an awful lot of Earl Campbell."
Story Link (www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/08/16statue.html)
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
When the No. 1-ranked Ohio State football team comes to town Sept. 9, the University of Texas plans to trot out a nine-foot, 1,500-pound Earl Campbell.
Ken Bjorge's bronze sculpture of the 1977 Heisman Trophy winner will be placed near the southwest entrance to Royal-Memorial Stadium.
"The image I had to capture is the game face. He has a sense of humor, but he was a very serious football player," Bjorge said. "Players would almost rather have rather run into a brick wall than into Earl. He was uncommonly tough."
Campbell's statue, "The Tyler Rose," encountered some thorns along the way; it took the hard work of donors and the involvement of some top university officials to get the statue in place.
"I don't think many places have made statues of their great players, and Earl was our first Heisman winner. I think it's fabulous that we can do something nice for him," said James Nixon, a San Antonio oilman who spearheaded the project.
In all, 86 donors — many from the San Antonio area — gave money for the statue, which was presented to the Longhorn Foundation. The total cost has not been disclosed.
"Jimmy wanted to do something for the stadium that will forever be remembered, and he has great memories of Earl," said Pat Frost, president of Frost Bank.
Nixon spends part of his summer in Montana, where he became familiar with Bjorge's work.
Although he's known for his flair working with Western or natural themes, Bjorge likes to work with a variety of forms. The one that Nixon was impressed with was a statue of former University of Washington football coach Jim Owens. Owens coached the Huskies from 1957 to 1974, taking over after Darrell Royal ended his one-year stint there in 1956 to head for Texas. He's even sculpted longhorns before; there's a cow and two calves on display in Los Colinas.
Originally, Nixon's idea was to hire Bjorge to create statues to honor Texas' two Heisman winners, Campbell and Ricky Williams.
That was before Williams ran into problems in the NFL by flunking drug tests, getting suspended and moving to the Canadian Football League.
Campbell's reputation at UT was on far firmer grounds, however, and not only because he rushed for a Southwest Conference-record 1,744 yards in 1977 and then later went on to star with the Houston Oilers. Campbell is widely regarded by UT fans as a player who helped pave the way for other black players at a school that had an all-white team as late as 1969.
Yet, while the Tyler Rose was being created, UT was also mulling what guidelines it should have for statues on campus. According to the current University of Texas System Board of Regents rules, "No gift of statuary depicting a living person shall be accepted by an institution, unless intended for display in a museum or for addition to the collection of works of art for display in a museum."
For a while, Big Earl was in limbo. He'd been cast in Kalispel, Mont., and had been shipped to and stored at UT, but would he be doomed to end up indoors or in front of sports bar or a Chuy's?
Nixon credits UT president emeritus Peter Flawn, vice president Patty Ohlendorf and former president Larry Faulkner with keeping the bureaucracy moving and getting the statue its place on campus.
"It's nine feet tall and it's something to behold," Nixon said. "I could not be happier that it (a ceremony) is at the Ohio State game. It's the proper time and the proper venue."
Bjorge said, "It has really been a treat and a honor to be asked to do this sculpture. Nobody that came out of the 1970s and who enjoyed football didn't think an awful lot of Earl Campbell."
Story Link (www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/longhorns/08/16statue.html)