A hero cast in bronze Sculptor working on statue of Iowa's gridiron legend Damien Fisher Staff Reporter Few people in New England may know about Nile Kinnick. Sports fans in Iowa are a different matter. Their reverence for the college football legend has created an fervent level of excitement around Windsor-based sculptor Lawrence Nowlan’s latest work. “The people in Iowa are very excited about this,” Nowlan said “This is their guy. He won every award imaginable and then in two years, he was gone.” For about the past year, Nowlan has been immersed in the life of Kinnick, the University of Iowa’s first and only Heisman Trophy winner. Nowlan is about halfway complete with a two year project to create art work for the university’s $87 million renovation of Kinnick Stadium. Nowlan was commissioned to creat two pieces for the project: a 12-foot high bronze statue of Kinnick and a large, high relief sculpture depicting a moment from a game Kinnick played. Kinnick was the star halfback for the University of Iowa’s famed 1939 team, know as The Iron Man Team. The team earned it’s name because so many players battled it out on offense and defense. Taking a team not known for great football, Kinnick and the rest of The Iron Men went 6-1-1 that season by defeating powerhouses, including then top-ranked Notre Dame. By 1939 standards, Kinnick was a football stud. He led the team in passing by throwing for 638 yards and 11 touch downs on only 31 completions. He also rushed for 374 yards with five rushing touchdowns and returned kickoffs for another 604 yards. The offense was matched by his punting. He averaged 39.9 yards and hit 11 out of 17 drop kicks. The glory on the field earned Kinnick the recognition as an All American, the Heisman Trophy and the Big Ten MVP award among others. In 1951, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. For all the athletic achievements, Nowlan said he wants to bring out the rest of Kinnick through his work. The clay sculpture for the 12-foot bronze statue is painstakingly close to being finished. It stands impressively in Nowlan’s Main Street studio, a portrait of the young man as a scholar. “As a real student athlete, he had a grade point average of 3.4,” Nowlan said. “He was going to accomplish a lot with his intellect.” Kinnick turned down a chance to play professional football and instead entered law school. Also a reservist for the Navy Air Corps, Kinnick was soon serving in World War II. In 1942, his fighter plane went down during a training flight in the Caribbean. Nowlan, a nationally renowned sculptor, has some experience working on depictions of heroes. His sculpture of a World War II soldier for the Windsor War Memorial on Main Street attracts numerous visitors to town every year. “We don’t do sculptures of bums,” Nowlan said. “We pay tribute to those we look up to.” Nowlan said he plans to have the Kinnick statue shipped out to the bronze casting company in Colorado by the end of the month. There it will go through a seven month process before the completed bronze work will be installed at the stadium in Iowa. The other part of the commission, the high relief of Iowa’s victory over Notre Dame, will be 20-feet by 10-feet once it is completed, though Nowlan is keeping much of the work under wraps. The excitement of the Iowa community has somewhat astounded Nowlan. He said the last time there was a newspaper article in Vermont about the project he was inundated with calls from Iowa. “The story ran on a Saturday and by Monday I had 12 calls from different media outlets out there,” Nowlan said. That kind of attention is great for any artist, but it still takes Nowlan by surprise. Despite the recognition he has earned, Nowlan considers his career as an artist part hard work and part good fortune. “I took a night class 12 years ago and in a year I was the artist in residence at Saint-Gaudens,” Nowlan said. “I couldn’t have imagined any of this stuff happening".

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A hero cast in bronze

Sculptor working on statue of Iowa's gridiron legend

Damien Fisher

Staff Reporter

Few people in New England may know about Nile Kinnick. Sports fans in Iowa are a different matter. Their reverence for the college football legend has created an fervent level of excitement around Windsor-based sculptor Lawrence Nowlan’s latest work.

“The people in Iowa are very excited about this,” Nowlan said “This is their guy. He won every award imaginable and then in two years, he was gone.”

For about the past year, Nowlan has been immersed in the life of Kinnick, the University of Iowa’s first and only Heisman Trophy winner.

Nowlan is about halfway complete with a two year project to create art work for the university’s $87 million renovation of Kinnick Stadium. Nowlan was commissioned to creat two pieces for the project: a 12-foot high bronze statue of Kinnick and a large, high relief sculpture depicting a moment from a game Kinnick played.

Kinnick was the star halfback for the University of Iowa’s famed 1939 team, know as The Iron Man Team. The team earned it’s name because so many players battled it out on offense and defense.

Taking a team not known for great football, Kinnick and the rest of The Iron Men went 6-1-1 that season by defeating powerhouses, including then top-ranked Notre Dame.

By 1939 standards, Kinnick was a football stud. He led the team in passing by throwing for 638 yards and 11 touch downs on only 31 completions. He also rushed for 374 yards with five rushing touchdowns and returned kickoffs for another 604 yards.

The offense was matched by his punting. He averaged 39.9 yards and hit 11 out of 17 drop kicks. The glory on the field earned Kinnick the recognition as an All American, the Heisman Trophy and the Big Ten MVP award among others. In 1951, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

For all the athletic achievements, Nowlan said he wants to bring out the rest of Kinnick through his work. The clay sculpture for the 12-foot bronze statue is painstakingly close to being finished. It stands impressively in Nowlan’s Main Street studio, a portrait of the young man as a scholar.

“As a real student athlete, he had a grade point average of 3.4,” Nowlan said. “He was going to accomplish a lot with his intellect.”

Kinnick turned down a chance to play professional football and instead entered law school. Also a reservist for the Navy Air Corps, Kinnick was soon serving in World War II. In 1942, his fighter plane went down during a training flight in the Caribbean.

Nowlan, a nationally renowned sculptor, has some experience working on depictions of heroes. His sculpture of a World War II soldier for the Windsor War Memorial on Main Street attracts numerous visitors to town every year.

“We don’t do sculptures of bums,” Nowlan said. “We pay tribute to those we look up to.”

Nowlan said he plans to have the Kinnick statue shipped out to the bronze casting company in Colorado by the end of the month. There it will go through a seven month process before the completed bronze work will be installed at the stadium in Iowa.

The other part of the commission, the high relief of Iowa’s victory over Notre Dame, will be 20-feet by 10-feet once it is completed, though Nowlan is keeping much of the work under wraps.

The excitement of the Iowa community has somewhat astounded Nowlan. He said the last time there was a newspaper article in Vermont about the project he was inundated with calls from Iowa.

“The story ran on a Saturday and by Monday I had 12 calls from different media outlets out there,” Nowlan said.

That kind of attention is great for any artist, but it still takes Nowlan by surprise. Despite the recognition he has earned, Nowlan considers his career as an artist part hard work and part good fortune.

“I took a night class 12 years ago and in a year I was the artist in residence at Saint-Gaudens,” Nowlan said. “I couldn’t have imagined any of this stuff happening".