Kobe Bryant joins athletes honoured with statues
The 19-foot, 4,000-pound statue of Kobe Bryant in downtown Los Angeles is just the latest example of a sports team honouring a player with this kind of larger-than-life presence.
The Crypto.com Arena alone has statues of six other former Lakers employees, including five players. Bryant now joins that impressive list.
Some athletes, such as Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson, have more than one statue honoring them.
Here’s a look at a few of the notable statues honouring athletes.
KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR
/MAGIC JOHNSON Since 2012, a 16-foot, 1,500-pound statue outside the Crypto.com Arena has shown Abdul-Jabbar attempting his signature sky hook as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. Abdul-Jabbar’s former Lakers teammate Magic Johnson had his own statue unveiled outside that arena in 2004. There also is a Johnson statue on Michigan State’s campus, as he led the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA title. The front of the arena also has statues of Lakers legends Elgin Baylor, Shaquille O’Neal, Jerry West, broadcaster Chick Hearn and now Bryant.
LARRY BIRD
Indiana State’s campus has a 15-foot, 1,900-pound statue of Bird, who led the Sycamores to the 1979 NCAA final before becoming a three-time NBA MVP with the Boston Celtics. Bird’s Sycamores lost to Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans in the 1979 national championship game before they went on to become memorable rivals in the NBA.
JIM BROWN
The Cleveland Browns honoured Brown with a statue outside their stadium in 2016, more than half a century after his retirement. Brown, who was 80 years old at the time, said it was “one of the greatest moments of my life.” The 11 1/2-foot statue weighs over 2,000 pounds. Brown also is included in a statue unveiled last year memorializing Ali Summit, a 1967 gathering in Cleveland of some of the nation’s top Black athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Brown and Abdul-Jabbar.
ROBERTO CLEMENTE There are multiple statues in various locations of Clemente, the Hall of Fame outfielder who died in a 1972 plane crash while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente and fellow Pittsburgh Pirates stars Honus Wagner, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski have statues outside PNC Park. The statue originally was outside Three Rivers Stadium before moving to the Pirates’ current home field. Some other statues honouring Clemente are in the Bronx in New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Puerto Rico.
MICHAEL JORDAN
This bronze statue was commissioned by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and got unveiled outside the United Center in November 1994 during Jordan’s brief retirement from the NBA after he had won three of the six titles he’d eventually earn for the Chicago Bulls. The statue is 12 feet tall with a 5-foot granite base and weighs 2,000 pounds. The base includes the message, “The best there ever was. The best there ever will be.” The United Center also has statues of former Chicago Blackhawks stars Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita.
KARL MALONE /JOHN STOCKTON These famous Utah Jazz teammates both got statues erected just south of the Delta Center shortly after their retirements. Stockton, the NBA career leader in assists and steals, got his statue in 2005. Malone’s went up a year later. Malone played college ball at Louisiana Tech, which unveiled its own statue of him in 2023.
JOE MONTANA /DWIGHT CLARK
One of the most memorable NFL plays of the 1980s came when Montana threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Clark to give the San Francisco 49ers a 27-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the 1981 NFC championship game at Candlestick Park. The 49ers’ current home stadium – Levi’s Stadium – features two separate statues commemorating the play. One has Clark making the catch. The other has Montana raising his arms in celebration.
JACKIE ROBINSON
A statue honouring Robinson at McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, recently got vandalized, resulting in donations surpassing $145,000 on what would have been his 105th birthday. But the man who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier has other statues honouring him across the country. A 77-inch-tall statue of Robinson sliding home has appeared outside Dodger Stadium since 2017. There also is a monument honouring Robinson and former Brooklyn Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese in Brooklyn.
CRISTIANO RONALDO The soccer superstar had a bronze statue in his honour unveiled at Madeira, Portugal, in 2014. The statue was vandalized in 2016 with someone putting the name and uniform number of another soccer star – Lionel Messi – on it. There also is an airport named after Ronaldo in Portugal that features a bronze bust of him, though that bust got plenty of scrutiny on social media for its lack of resemblance to him.
PAT SUMMITT
The University of Tennessee constructed a “Pat Summitt Plaza” across the street from its home basketball arena in 2013 to honour the women’s basketball coach who led the Lady Volunteers to 1,098 wins and eight national titles. The plaza includes a statue that features Summitt smiling with her arms folded, rather than showing her trademark glare. The statue went up 1 1/2 years after Summitt stepped down as coach while battling Alzheimer’s disease, which led to her death in 2016. Summitt also has statues in her honour in her hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee, and on the campus of Tennessee-Martin, where she played.
One pot meals have been more popular than ever and these days almost everyone you know has an Instant Pot in the kitchen. Much evolved from the old-fashioned crock pot, the all-new instant pots come in different models offering different features. Some models have more features than others however each Instant Pot functions as a slow cooker, skillet, steamer, rice cooker and pressure cooker.
It’s the pressure cooker function that most people are excited about because of its ability to cook food in half the time. I bought my husband a basic Instant Pot for Christmas and he has been happily brewing up soups and stews. Similar to an oldschool stovetop pressure cooker, this setting raises the temp of whatever liquid is in the pot to above boiling and traps the steam inside (since the lid is locked), cooking the food fast.
So one of the best one-pot meals that is also family friendly and ideal for apres ski is a pot of good old chili. This has come up on the list of things to make in the new Instant Pot however, I don’t mind making it the old stovetop way. Chili is a belly warmer and is also easy to freeze. Growing up, it was one of our mom’s go-to dishes – we all loved it.
This Chili Con Carne recipe is so delicious with just the right amount of everything. I love the zing from the apple cider vinegar and the sweetness from the brown sugar. What is the difference between Chili and Chile Con Carne? Con carne means with meat in Spanish so when you are referring to Chili Con Carne, you know that it is made with beef and not a version with chicken, corn or veggie.
This recipe is from the Whitewater Cooks cookbook series. Cookbook author phenom Shelley Adams has now five bestselling cookbooks to her name all under the Whitewater Cooks brand.
Originally created to share recipes from her menu at the Fresh Tracks Restaurant at Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, B.C., her recipes have a cult following for good reason. This recipe for Chili Con Carne is from the first book, Whitewater Cooks – Pure, Simple, and Real.
Jennifer Schell Lirag is an international award-winning cookbook author, putting the spotlight on B.C.’s food, farm and drink community for over 15 years. Follow her on social media
at @jenniferschell8 and visit jenniferschell.com