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Current Indiana Pacers president and former Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, right.

(AP Photo / Michael Conroy)

HIGH EARTH, Indiana (AP) – A 15-foot-tall bronze statue of Larry Bird was erected at Indiana State University more than three decades after the great basketball player led the school to a national championship match.

The 1,900-pound statue, attached to steel cables, was lowered into place with a crane on Monday outside the Hulman Center on the Terre Haute campus as sculptor Bill Wolfe and others watched.

Wolfe instructed the crane operator to rotate the statue while it was positioned on a concrete base, as he wanted Bird’s eyes to line up with an adjacent intersection to make sure it was in perfect grip shape. of view.

“The body, the figure, looked like a snug fit, but once we took the cover off the face we could see that he (Bird) was looking too far to the right, so we had to do it. rotate more to the left, “he said The Tribune-Star.

Once the statue was properly positioned, a metal frame extending from its feet was welded to the metal frame of the base and concrete was then poured into the circular concrete base two feet deep.

Wolfe said he hopes everyone likes his portrayal of Bird and the statue’s position.

“Whatever we do here will be final. It’s a bit of a frustrating part of the process here,” he said. “It’s exciting and unnerving.”

Bird led Indiana State to a national championship game in 1979, although the Sycamores lost the NCAA title to Michigan State team Magic Johnson. Bird, who grew up in French Lick, Indiana, went on to play for the Boston Celtics and became one of the greatest players in NBA history.

Crane operator Brent Clark said he was excited to be able to put the Bird statue in place, recalled that he had season tickets during Bird’s final year at ISU.

“It’s nice for me to do it. In Larry’s last year at ISU, I had a season pass and went to every ball game here at the Hulman Center, ”he said.