The finishing touches were put on the Chris Cline Athletic Complex in September when three giant bronze-plated bison were installed on a reinforced concrete pad adjacent to the drive-through next to the Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame and the new Marshall Sports Medicine Institute. The statues were a part of the Vision Campaign contribution made by Cline, a coal entrepreneur. Created by noted Athens, Georgia, artist Stan Mullins, the bison are very hefty. Each weighs in the 3,000-pound range and the rock pedestals for each weigh in between 17 and 20 tons. They took shape as 3-D foam molds that were covered by clay in Colorado before being coated with a bronze patina. Each buffalo began “life” in 60-80 pieces, which were then welded together and ground down into the finished product. The process took 14 months to complete, and then the bison were delivered by flatbed trucks down Third Avenue before multiple cranes lifted them into their Herd home.
