Athletes often leave some of the greatest legacies when they step off the field for good. For many people, modern greats like Simone Biles, Patrick Mahomes, and Rafael Nadal are not just people with incredible talent and decorated careers—they represent the traits that people want to emulate in their day-to-day life. As such, humans idolize and recognize them in a multitude of ways, but perhaps the most meaningful expression is the immortalization of building a statue. Because even as endorsements and fandom pass on, a statue won’t erode with the memories of how an athlete played and how they lived. Case in point: the recent erection and re-erection of two different statues on two different ends of the United States, yet entwined in the great legacies of athletes they immortalize.
The first of these statues, brought up on the West Coast, celebrates Kobe Bryant, or otherwise amicably known as “Black Mamba”. On February 8th, a statue of Kobe Bryant was unveiled outside of the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. The statue is 19 feet tall, made entirely of bronze, and depicts the late Lakers legend pointing to the sky in a pose reminiscent of his celebration after scoring a record 81 points against the Toronto Raptors in 2006. That moment was so defining in Kobe’s legacy that he chose the pose himself when he helped plan the creation of the commemorative statue. And his involvement does not stop here, this statue is merely the first of a trio of Kobe statues which will be built outside the arena in an exhibition titled “The House That Kobe Built”. It is certainly true that Kobe built a public image that housed incredible ethics on and off court that will be respected and followed for years. Former Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar expressed that same sentiment.
“This statue may look like Kobe, but really it’s what excellence looks like,” professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said at the statue’s unveiling. “What discipline looks like. What commitment looks like. We’re all here today to honor a man who represents not just extraordinary sports achievement, but also timeless values that inspire us all to try harder to be not just better, but our best.”
But for every step forward people take in honoring their heroes, there are steps taken back. On January 25th, a commemorative Jackie Robinson statue near a youth baseball field in Wichita was sawed off at the ankles and stolen. The statue, which was built and funded by a local nonprofit youth baseball organization called League 42, was found destroyed and burned in a trash can, and the former convict Ricky Alderete was arrested for property damage and theft. Though Alderete has been appropriately punished, the community and League 42 are distraught at the desecration of what they now consider a community staple. Evidently, the news has found immediate sympathy with an audience with League 42 raising six times the money required to replace the statue in less than a month.
The Robinson statue, though not as official or notable as the official commemorative statue of Kobe Bryant at the Crypto.com arena, has had a similar effect on the people. It is truly astonishing that those people, in spite of the fact that Jackie has been deceased for about half a century, still pooled together the funds to restore the statue because they cared that much. His legacy managed to raise money for the youth to play a sport they loved even if he couldn’t be there to see it. And at the end of the day, remembrance should do just that. It should not just bring fame to a name and breed exemplary people from extraordinary role models but go beyond and make the world better for them to play in and live in. The placard at the foot of Kobe’s statue has a quote saying it best: “Leave the game better than you found it. And when it comes time for you to leave, leave a legend.”
