The 19-foot, 4,000-pound statue of Kobe Bryant in downtown Los Angeles is simply the newest instance of a sports activities group honoring a participant with this type of bigger-than-life presence.
The Crypto.com Arena alone has statues of six different former Lakers workers, together with 5 gamers. Bryant now joins that spectacular listing.
Some athletes, similar to Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson, have a couple of statue honoring them.
Here’s a take a look at a couple of of the notable statues honoring athletes.
Since 2012, a 16-foot, 1,500-pound statue outdoors the Crypto.com Arena has proven Abdul-Jabbar making an attempt his signature sky hook as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Abdul-Jabbar’s former Lakers teammate Magic Johnson had his personal statue unveiled outdoors that area in 2004. There is also a Johnson statue on Michigan State’s campus, as he led the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA title. The entrance of the world additionally has statues of Lakers legends Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, broadcaster Chick Hearn and now Bryant.
Indiana State’s campus has a 15-foot, 1,900-pound statue of Bird, who led the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA closing earlier than changing into a 3-time NBA MVP with the Boston Celtics. Bird’s Sycamores misplaced to Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans within the 1979 nationwide championship recreation earlier than they went on to turn out to be memorable rivals within the NBA.
The Cleveland Browns honored Brown with a statue outdoors their stadium in 2016, greater than half a century after his retirement. Brown, who was 80 years previous on the time, mentioned it was “one of the greatest moments of my life.” The 11 ½-foot statue weighs over 2,000 kilos. Brown is also included in a statue unveiled final 12 months memorializing Ali Summit, a 1967 gathering in Cleveland of a number of the nation’s prime Black athletes, together with Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Brown and Abdul-Jabbar.
There are a number of statues in numerous places of Clemente, the Hall of Fame outfielder who died in a 1972 airplane crash whereas making an attempt to ship provides to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente and fellow Pittsburgh Pirates stars Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski have statues outdoors PNC Park. The statue initially was outdoors Three Rivers Stadium earlier than transferring to the Pirates’ present dwelling discipline. Some different statues honoring Clemente are within the Bronx in New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Puerto Rico.
This bronze statue was commissioned by Bulls proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf and bought unveiled outdoors the United Center in November 1994 throughout Jordan’s temporary retirement from the NBA after he had received three of the six titles he’d finally earn for the Chicago Bulls. The statue is 12 toes tall with a 5-foot granite base and weighs 2,000 kilos. The base consists of the message, “The best there ever was. The best there ever will be.” The United Center additionally has statues of former Chicago Blackhawks stars Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.
These well-known Utah Jazz teammates each bought statues erected simply south of the Delta Center shortly after their retirements. Stockton, the NBA profession chief in assists and steals, bought his statue in 2005. Malone’s went up a 12 months later. Malone performed faculty ball at Louisiana Tech, which unveiled its personal statue of him in 2023.
One of probably the most memorable NFL performs of the Eighties got here when Montana threw a 6-yard landing cross to a leaping Clark to provide the San Francisco 49ers a 27-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys within the 1981 NFC championship recreation at Candlestick Park. The 49ers’ present dwelling stadium – Levi’s Stadium – options two separate statues commemorating the play. One has Clark making the catch. The different has Montana elevating his arms in celebration. The statues have been in place since 2018.
A statue honoring Robinson at McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, just lately bought vandalized, leading to donations surpassing $145,000 on what would have been his one hundred and fifth birthday. But the person who broke Major League Baseball’s shade barrier has different statues honoring him throughout the nation. A 77-inch-tall statue of Robinson sliding dwelling has appeared outdoors Dodger Stadium since 2017. There is also a monument honoring Robinson and former Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese in Brooklyn.
The soccer celebrity had a bronze statue in his honor unveiled at Madeira, Portugal, in 2014. The statue was vandalized in 2016 with somebody placing the identify and uniform variety of one other soccer star — Lionel Messi — on it. There is also an airport named after Ronaldo in Portugal that incorporates a bronze bust of him, although that bust bought loads of scrutiny on social media for its lack of resemblance to him.
The University of Tennessee constructed a “Pat Summitt Plaza” throughout the road from its dwelling basketball area in 2013 to honor the ladies’s basketball coach who led the Lady Volunteers to 1,098 wins and eight nationwide titles. The plaza features a statue that options Summitt smiling along with her arms folded, moderately than displaying her trademark glare. The statue went up 1 ½ years after Summitt stepped down as coach whereas battling Alzheimer’s illness, which led to her loss of life in 2016. Summitt additionally has statues in her honor in her hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, and on the campus of Tennessee-Martin, the place she performed.
Although this one hasn’t been constructed but, the Miami Heat introduced final month they plan to unveil a statue honoring Wade in entrance of the Kaseya Center later this 12 months. Wade received three NBA titles whereas enjoying for the Heat.
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)
