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Starkey: Noll, Dorsett deserve statues
By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 22, 2011
What kind of sports world are we living in when Danny Wuerffel has a statue and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar does not?
Nick Saban has a statue. Bill Russell does not.
Clearly, we need some sort of federal statue statute, mandating a sports figure be legendary in order to have his larger than life-sized likeness sculpted into immortality.
There is no need to define legendary. No need to think about it, even. One just knows. Michael Jordan gets a statue — and has one, outside United Center in Chicago. Joe Paterno gets a statue (has one, at Beaver Stadium). Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux get statues. Gretzky has two — one in L.A., one in Edmonton. Mario will have one soon enough, at Consol Energy Center.
Danny freakin' Wuerffel?
Winning the Heisman Trophy, as Wuerffel did at Florida, does not qualify one for legend-hood. Do you see any statues of Chris Weinke, Rashaan Salaam or Gino Torretta?
Actually, you might soon, given what has transpired over the past month: Sports statues are popping up faster than Pittsburgh parking garages.
On April 16, Alabama unveiled a 9-foot bronze likeness of Saban — who has won all of 43 games there — right near one of Bear Bryant, who won 232.
Six days before the Saban ceremony, Florida dedicated statues of Heisman winners Wuerffel, Tim Tebow and Steve Spurrier. It will not build one for Cam Newton — the sculptor couldn't decide where to put the stolen laptop that led to Newton's transfer — but Auburn will.
Yes, Auburn has commissioned a 1,900-pound statue of a quarterback who played 14 career games, several amid questions of eligibility. There is no truth to the rumor it will cost $180,000 (if you don't get that reference, google 'newton cam father cash').
Meanwhile, Jabbar, who scored approximately 3 billion points in helping the Lakers win five championships, wondered aloud last week why he doesn't have a statue outside Staples Center when a broadcaster — albeit an iconic one in Chick Hearn — and a boxer (Oscar De La Hoya) already do.
Good question. And it leads to another: Who gets the next statue in these parts, after Lemieux?
Art Rooney — "The Chief" — deservedly has one at Heinz Field. Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner and Bill Mazeroski are memorialized at PNC Park. Mazeroski's statue, I would argue, is mostly about commemorating a moment, as is the Franco Harris figure at the airport, which really shouldn't count as a statue.
So, who's next?
The question arose on my radio show last month. Phone lines lit up faster than Jim Leyland, who might be in line for a statue of his own if Barry Bonds hadn't choked every fall (imagine a Bonds statue with a head the size of Mellon Arena's roof). Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Myron Cope, Jaromir Jagr, Bruno Sammartino, Josh Gibson and Dan Rooney were among the many mentioned.
From this vantage point, two make the cut: Chuck Noll and Tony Dorsett.
Noll, chief architect of the Steelers dynasty, might be the most under-appreciated great coach in sports history. He is the only one with four Super Bowl titles.
He would be positively mortified at the notion of a statue, of course, but that wouldn't make it wrong. Picture a massive carving of Noll in his Steelers windbreaker, hair tousled, headset on, standing emperor-like at the gates of Heinz Field.
Dorsett, meanwhile, belongs in any discussion of the greatest college football players of all-time. Like Noll, he was at the center of a historic turnaround, helping Pitt go from also-ran to national champion. He left the school as the NCAA's all-time leading rusher with 6,082 yards.
Had he played at Alabama or Tennessee, Dorsett would have been nominated for sainthood decades ago. At Florida, they'd have built him a museum, nine statues and a cathedral by now.
Here, he merely has a street named after him, five miles from where he played.
That's not good enough, even if he did wind up in Dallas. Give us Dorsett, larger than life in that beautiful Pitt script helmet, making a dramatic low-to-the ground cut on his way to another touchdown.
Start building it the minute you're done with Chuck Noll.
[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_738356.html#ixzz1NCRr5LlX"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... z1NCRr5LlX[/url]
By Joe Starkey, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 22, 2011
What kind of sports world are we living in when Danny Wuerffel has a statue and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar does not?
Nick Saban has a statue. Bill Russell does not.
Clearly, we need some sort of federal statue statute, mandating a sports figure be legendary in order to have his larger than life-sized likeness sculpted into immortality.
There is no need to define legendary. No need to think about it, even. One just knows. Michael Jordan gets a statue — and has one, outside United Center in Chicago. Joe Paterno gets a statue (has one, at Beaver Stadium). Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux get statues. Gretzky has two — one in L.A., one in Edmonton. Mario will have one soon enough, at Consol Energy Center.
Danny freakin' Wuerffel?
Winning the Heisman Trophy, as Wuerffel did at Florida, does not qualify one for legend-hood. Do you see any statues of Chris Weinke, Rashaan Salaam or Gino Torretta?
Actually, you might soon, given what has transpired over the past month: Sports statues are popping up faster than Pittsburgh parking garages.
On April 16, Alabama unveiled a 9-foot bronze likeness of Saban — who has won all of 43 games there — right near one of Bear Bryant, who won 232.
Six days before the Saban ceremony, Florida dedicated statues of Heisman winners Wuerffel, Tim Tebow and Steve Spurrier. It will not build one for Cam Newton — the sculptor couldn't decide where to put the stolen laptop that led to Newton's transfer — but Auburn will.
Yes, Auburn has commissioned a 1,900-pound statue of a quarterback who played 14 career games, several amid questions of eligibility. There is no truth to the rumor it will cost $180,000 (if you don't get that reference, google 'newton cam father cash').
Meanwhile, Jabbar, who scored approximately 3 billion points in helping the Lakers win five championships, wondered aloud last week why he doesn't have a statue outside Staples Center when a broadcaster — albeit an iconic one in Chick Hearn — and a boxer (Oscar De La Hoya) already do.
Good question. And it leads to another: Who gets the next statue in these parts, after Lemieux?
Art Rooney — "The Chief" — deservedly has one at Heinz Field. Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner and Bill Mazeroski are memorialized at PNC Park. Mazeroski's statue, I would argue, is mostly about commemorating a moment, as is the Franco Harris figure at the airport, which really shouldn't count as a statue.
So, who's next?
The question arose on my radio show last month. Phone lines lit up faster than Jim Leyland, who might be in line for a statue of his own if Barry Bonds hadn't choked every fall (imagine a Bonds statue with a head the size of Mellon Arena's roof). Terry Bradshaw, Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Myron Cope, Jaromir Jagr, Bruno Sammartino, Josh Gibson and Dan Rooney were among the many mentioned.
From this vantage point, two make the cut: Chuck Noll and Tony Dorsett.
Noll, chief architect of the Steelers dynasty, might be the most under-appreciated great coach in sports history. He is the only one with four Super Bowl titles.
He would be positively mortified at the notion of a statue, of course, but that wouldn't make it wrong. Picture a massive carving of Noll in his Steelers windbreaker, hair tousled, headset on, standing emperor-like at the gates of Heinz Field.
Dorsett, meanwhile, belongs in any discussion of the greatest college football players of all-time. Like Noll, he was at the center of a historic turnaround, helping Pitt go from also-ran to national champion. He left the school as the NCAA's all-time leading rusher with 6,082 yards.
Had he played at Alabama or Tennessee, Dorsett would have been nominated for sainthood decades ago. At Florida, they'd have built him a museum, nine statues and a cathedral by now.
Here, he merely has a street named after him, five miles from where he played.
That's not good enough, even if he did wind up in Dallas. Give us Dorsett, larger than life in that beautiful Pitt script helmet, making a dramatic low-to-the ground cut on his way to another touchdown.
Start building it the minute you're done with Chuck Noll.
[url="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_738356.html#ixzz1NCRr5LlX"]http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... z1NCRr5LlX[/url]
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