Speaker 1: Charles Barkley in bronze A mighty good look now on
Speaker 1: Legends Walk at the seventy six Ers Training Complex. I
Speaker 1: hope y'all appreciate my love of Philadelphia. My heart will
Speaker 1: always be here in Philadelphia. We'll talk with Barkley and
Speaker 1: the sculptors behind the design of his new statue with Charles,
Speaker 1: you know, he has to come through with thunder. This
Speaker 1: sculpture has to have his presence, It has to show him.
Speaker 1: This man was a little bit different in the sense
Speaker 1: of how he approached the game. Celebrating Sir Charles. On
Speaker 1: this episode of the broadcast, What's Good out There, seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers pod people, I'm Brian Seltzer. Grates you with
Speaker 1: you on the podcast. As always on this episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast, Yes, we are going to dive in to
Speaker 1: the Legends Walk sculpture unveiling for a one Sir Charles
Speaker 1: Round Bound of Rebound Barkley A great event held at
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers Training Complex on Friday the thirteenth. Charles
Speaker 1: was in the house his family, former coaches, teammates, seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers executives and staffers who all touched Charles in some
Speaker 1: way shape or form during his time with the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers in the mid nineteen eighties to early nineteen nineties,
Speaker 1: a great tenure that laid the foundation for a Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame career for Charles Barkley. So we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: with Barkley. We're also going to speak with the artists
Speaker 1: who designed and sculpted the new statue of Charles Barkley
Speaker 1: on Legend's Walk. But first, our customary reminder that if
Speaker 1: you are not yet a subscriber or a follower of
Speaker 1: the podcast, we encourage you to become one right away.
Speaker 1: Where just about everywhere you can find pods these days,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, tune in overcast, pocketcasts, Deezer.
Speaker 1: Just type in Sixers podcast Network and that will take
Speaker 1: you to our feed. So yes, we've got interviews with
Speaker 1: Charles himself and the design and sculpting team behind the
Speaker 1: new statue of Charles Barkley on the way. But first
Speaker 1: I wanted to play some highlights from the ceremony for
Speaker 1: Charles held at the seventy Sixers training complex last week
Speaker 1: before his sculpture was formally unveiled on Legend's Walk. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I haven't been that skinny. We're gonna
Speaker 1: hear from managing partner Josh Harris, co managing partner David Blitzer,
Speaker 1: general manager Elton Brand, and the head coach of the
Speaker 1: seventy sixers Brett Brown, putting the significance of Charles Barkley
Speaker 1: in their own words, I'm really very, very excited to
Speaker 1: be able to honor Charles Barkley, or Sir Charles, or
Speaker 1: Street Beef or the round Mound rebound. For you old
Speaker 1: timers that are in the in the audience, Charles, You've
Speaker 1: stood for excellence your entire career versus an NBA player
Speaker 1: and now is a leading voice in our sport. Whether
Speaker 1: you like it or not, today you are a role model.
Speaker 1: I grew up really worshiping him because he was different.
Speaker 1: He was different as a player, he was different as
Speaker 1: a person. He was always real. You talk me to
Speaker 1: three bees when it comes to speeches, be brief, brother,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna work on it. It's truly a tremendous
Speaker 1: honor to celebrate someone that I looked up to and
Speaker 1: emulate it in my game every day. Simply, we are
Speaker 1: privileged to have you a part of our past. You
Speaker 1: are referenced often. Your statue is not taken for granted.
Speaker 1: It's not something that just sticks it. We referenced that,
Speaker 1: and for me personally to be able to sit here
Speaker 1: and say that in front of you is a tijuana
Speaker 1: a montage about the man, the round Man, Charles Barkley,
Speaker 1: And following the unveiling of a sculpture on Legend's Walk,
Speaker 1: we had the opportunity to chant with Charles about what
Speaker 1: the honor means to him, his time with the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers and the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Why
Speaker 1: don't we start with you just walking us through what
Speaker 1: your day has been like so far. Tell us about
Speaker 1: that here's been a fine day. It's amazing. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate the Sixers honoring me. You know, Philadelphia means a
Speaker 1: great deal, you know, to come here as a twenty
Speaker 1: one year old kid had never been out of the
Speaker 1: South before, and the city welcomed me with open arms.
Speaker 1: And then for the opportunity to play with a doctor
Speaker 1: j and msim Alone and Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew, Tony,
Speaker 1: Clint Richardson, Clement Johnson. Guys like that, Bobby Jones, who's
Speaker 1: one of the most amazing man I ever been around.
Speaker 1: It was a great situation, you know, because a lot
Speaker 1: of times and Billy Cunningham was a great coach also,
Speaker 1: but they taught me more about life than about basketball.
Speaker 1: And I was so lucky that a guy like Moses Malone,
Speaker 1: who's the most influential person in my basketball career, you know,
Speaker 1: he you know, I asked him one day, it wasn't
Speaker 1: wasn't not it wasn't getting to play, and he said
Speaker 1: I was fat and I was lazy, and it's strong obviously,
Speaker 1: but I said, what do you mean. He says, you
Speaker 1: can't play basketball out of shape and at three hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: And for a guy that greeted basketball to take the
Speaker 1: time to get me in shape, it meant the world
Speaker 1: to me. And he made me lose fifty pounds and
Speaker 1: the rest is history, obviously. But if if a guy
Speaker 1: liked that didn't care, I wouldn't be sitting here today.
Speaker 1: So I was just lucky to come to a great situation.
Speaker 1: This is nothing away from the Nie Smith Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame because that is one of the ultimate individual liners
Speaker 1: in the sport. You get a jacket there nowadays here
Speaker 1: you have a sculpture and artistic embodiment of your likeness
Speaker 1: while you were playing, when you were walking up to
Speaker 1: take the cover off the statue, where you're feeling anxious,
Speaker 1: where you're curious, and then when you saw the sculpture,
Speaker 1: when I think of it, well, it's interesting you ask
Speaker 1: me that question, because the guy did a fantastic job.
Speaker 1: The guy did a fantastic job it. I said, it
Speaker 1: looks like me, but you know, so I got a
Speaker 1: statue at my college and the first time I saw
Speaker 1: it was awful. Look nothing like me, and it's not
Speaker 1: You're not putting that thing up anywhere. So I say,
Speaker 1: the first time I saw this this thing was when
Speaker 1: they asked the unveiled it, and I thought the artists
Speaker 1: did a fantastic job. It looks like me. But I
Speaker 1: think the main thing is just the honor the Sixers
Speaker 1: did not have to do it. I sincerely thank them
Speaker 1: from the bottom of my heart. But it's just a
Speaker 1: really cool thing, you know. So every time these guys come,
Speaker 1: they get to see it, but they also get to
Speaker 1: see dog Moses and all those other guys. So it's special.
Speaker 1: And like I said, Philadelphia means a great deal to
Speaker 1: me and I will always be thankful for this city.
Speaker 1: It's awesome. What was it like being able to mingle
Speaker 1: and interact with so many people from your life and
Speaker 1: your time here in Philadelphia throughout the day, former teammates,
Speaker 1: former coaches, staff members. What was that like? Well, it
Speaker 1: was special because they could have been doing something else.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't see each other that much anymore.
Speaker 1: We all live with scout it all over the world.
Speaker 1: You know, sports aren't like people think it is, like
Speaker 1: you might play with guys, but once a season over,
Speaker 1: you don't see them in again until the next season.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of guys go back to their
Speaker 1: hometown and things like that. So when you see these guys,
Speaker 1: you know, Johnny Dawkins, I'm watching his success as a
Speaker 1: college coach now is British special. One of my old teammates,
Speaker 1: Joe Henderson, was great to him. See my old coaches,
Speaker 1: the old actually the old owner of the seventy sixers.
Speaker 1: But also you know there's three or four guys who
Speaker 1: worked for the Sixers, and actually Scott Rigo and Adda
Speaker 1: Lumpkin are still there. And I saw Running Robina today
Speaker 1: who I hadn't seen in a minute. But you know,
Speaker 1: the one thing that I said in my speech, nobody's
Speaker 1: successful by themselves. And I want to repeat that. Nobody
Speaker 1: is successful by themselves. So, as I said, everybody who
Speaker 1: went to college with me, who coached me my first
Speaker 1: excuse me. I want to go back to high school.
Speaker 1: Every player who played with me in high school, every
Speaker 1: player who played with me in college, eight years in Philly,
Speaker 1: four years in Phoenix, four years in Houston, every coach
Speaker 1: I ever played for, they get a little piece of
Speaker 1: the statue. And because, like I said it, life is
Speaker 1: a journey, and there's so many people who've been on
Speaker 1: this journey with me. It's amazing. One of the themes
Speaker 1: of the speeches that were given before you got up
Speaker 1: to the podium and spoke was just the generosity of
Speaker 1: your spirit. What's the origin of that? Where does that
Speaker 1: come from? Man? I just be nice. You know, you
Speaker 1: know you do something stupid like dribble of basketball. You know,
Speaker 1: like I say, there's like three real jobs in the world. Teacher, firing, policeman, doctor.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a filming
Speaker 1: and all the police. When those jobs are really important
Speaker 1: and significant, we make a lot of money to dribble
Speaker 1: stupid basketball around, get to travel the country in the world,
Speaker 1: you know, work for seven months a year, get three
Speaker 1: or four months vacation with the luckiest people in the world.
Speaker 1: And I think you should always sign autographs. I think
Speaker 1: you should always take pictures. Is it a pain sometimes?
Speaker 1: Of course it is. But you have to look at
Speaker 1: the big picture to be able to dribble a basketball
Speaker 1: and have the things that have happened to me in
Speaker 1: my life. Man, I'm just a lucky dude. So I
Speaker 1: try to always be cordial to everybody and don't take
Speaker 1: myself too serious, and then to build off that. I
Speaker 1: know that when guys are playing, it's probably not something
Speaker 1: that's on the forefront of their mind. But as you're
Speaker 1: working your way through your life post plane crew, do
Speaker 1: you think much about, like what you want the legacy
Speaker 1: of Charles Barkley to be? You know, if someone had
Speaker 1: to write up what your legacy was, well, I don't
Speaker 1: think about that too much. What I think about is
Speaker 1: when you die, people say, oh, sorry, he's gone. He
Speaker 1: was a good dude. I mean, because you don't want
Speaker 1: to be one of those people says glad he gone.
Speaker 1: I mean, and I don't mean that to be more
Speaker 1: better whatever. I don't want people to cry for a
Speaker 1: week when I kill over. I'm not afraid of death.
Speaker 1: I know it's coming, but I mean, let's be realistic.
Speaker 1: When some people die, we're glad they're gone. That's just
Speaker 1: I want people to say, oh, good dude, and that's it.
Speaker 1: But like I said, I don't want to my legacy
Speaker 1: is when I kill over. I don't want people to
Speaker 1: be able to say I don't want them having part
Speaker 1: said I'm glad he's gone. Charles Barkley hard to find
Speaker 1: too many people like Chuck and just really a lot
Speaker 1: of fun and awesome to have the opportunity to sit
Speaker 1: down with him and talk the day of his sculpture
Speaker 1: unveiling on Legend's Walk here at the seventy six ers
Speaker 1: Training Complex, And it really was amazing that the recurring
Speaker 1: theme for virtually everyone who spoke in tribute to Charles
Speaker 1: up on the podium during the ceremony last week, the
Speaker 1: recurring theme was one of Charles just always giving back,
Speaker 1: never being too big. Despite all of his fame and success,
Speaker 1: he has this genuine, good natured wanting to make others
Speaker 1: feel good. Aspect of his personality that he's carried with
Speaker 1: him really for the majority of his life. Just a
Speaker 1: really excellent guy. Hey, some really exciting news from seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers land In recent days. The team has announced
Speaker 1: the details for its annual Blue and White Scrimmage. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be held Saturday, October fifth at one o'clock at
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers Field House in Delaware in Wilmington. It's the
Speaker 1: home of the Sixers ge League affiliate, the Delaware Bluecoats.
Speaker 1: Tickets are free, but to secure them, you've got to
Speaker 1: sign up for the sixth Man fan newsletter that's going
Speaker 1: to have all the information about how to sign up
Speaker 1: for free tickets to the Sixers Blue and White Scrimmage
Speaker 1: at seventy Sixers Fieldhouse in Wilmington, Saturday, October fifth at
Speaker 1: one o'clock. To sign up for the Sixers sixth Man
Speaker 1: Fan Newsletter, go to Sixers dot com slash sixth Man.
Speaker 1: The other interview we have for you on this episode
Speaker 1: of the podcast is a conversation with three guys who
Speaker 1: really formed the brain trust behind the design, execution, installation
Speaker 1: of the Charles Barclay sculpture on Legends Walk from Fisher Sculpture.
Speaker 1: It's Chad Fisher, co founder and lead sculptor on the project.
Speaker 1: His father Fran another one of the co founders of
Speaker 1: Fisher Sculpture, and Doug crew Girl, who was the assistant
Speaker 1: of Chad Fisher on this project. Official Sculpture has created
Speaker 1: each of the now eight statues on seventy six Ers
Speaker 1: Legends Walk. And we started the conversation with Chad and
Speaker 1: I asked him how was it that his family's company
Speaker 1: got to be involved in this initiative in the first place.
Speaker 1: We got involved when Moses Malone passed. We have friends
Speaker 1: over at NFL Films and they suggested that we should
Speaker 1: reach out to the seventy six Ers because they will
Speaker 1: probably do a statue for Moses. And so we reached
Speaker 1: out and said, you know, if there's any interest in
Speaker 1: doing a statue of Moses, we would like to participate somehow,
Speaker 1: some way of honoring him. My dad. You know, we're
Speaker 1: from the Philadelphia area. My dad porn in Philly, so
Speaker 1: you know, we're pretty we have an emotional connection to
Speaker 1: the Sixers and you know, four or five or five teams,
Speaker 1: you know, and uh, it was it was important not
Speaker 1: only to my father and to myself to honor Moses
Speaker 1: if possible, UM bringing the championship, and you know, my
Speaker 1: dad always talked about him and Julius, and so when
Speaker 1: we reached out UM, we then had a meeting with
Speaker 1: Chris and Chris Heck and Katie O'Reilly and they proposed
Speaker 1: doing a walk outside of their new facility which was
Speaker 1: being built, which would honor all other retired numbers and
Speaker 1: it would be called their Legends Walk. And at first like,
Speaker 1: it's great, you know, um that that's that's going to
Speaker 1: be incredible. Why don't we do well, are we going
Speaker 1: to do portraits of them? Like how do you want
Speaker 1: to organize this? And they said no, we would actually
Speaker 1: like to have the full figure in this space, just
Speaker 1: outside of one of the buildings. And it's like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: we get an opportunity to actually make the figure in motion,
Speaker 1: so it's not just doing a portrait. We get to
Speaker 1: compose these little harmonized I guess designs of basketball players
Speaker 1: that hasn't been done before. So because really, you know,
Speaker 1: there may be a basketball player here or there at
Speaker 1: a stadium or you know, at a facility, but to
Speaker 1: have this what Christ has described as an outside gallery
Speaker 1: for the seventy six ers was phenomenal. So as soon
Speaker 1: as that conversation took place, we got started and it's like,
Speaker 1: how can we You know, we're all about harmony, so
Speaker 1: we wanted to have each figure in harmony. But then
Speaker 1: we also wanted them to be unique in their own way,
Speaker 1: so they'd have their own anatomy, their own personality, and
Speaker 1: each one would be a piece of art in itself,
Speaker 1: but also they would be one unit of legends that
Speaker 1: any viewer could observe and see differences and similarities within them.
Speaker 1: So it has I have grown so much through this
Speaker 1: project because it's been challenging on one end and it's
Speaker 1: just been so satisfying on another end, and it's just
Speaker 1: been wonderful. It is a really awesome point of pride
Speaker 1: just speaking to someone who comes into the building day end,
Speaker 1: day out, like you look forward to making that walk
Speaker 1: at least I do, from the business office, which is
Speaker 1: where I work, to the Basketball Operations building because you
Speaker 1: get to have a glimpse of these statues and figurines
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. And now, as you said, I mean,
Speaker 1: this isn't the first one. We're starting to get up
Speaker 1: there where I won't give away any spoilers, but after
Speaker 1: the installation of Charles Barkley, there's two left in the series,
Speaker 1: so we're kind of getting there and you can see
Speaker 1: it all come together and fan I gotta because it
Speaker 1: almost like, I don't know if bitter sweet is the
Speaker 1: right word, but it really is. Now the whole vision
Speaker 1: coming together with this project. It's both. It's interesting that
Speaker 1: seeing the lineup and talking to the points of harmony
Speaker 1: and how they all work together with the ball moving
Speaker 1: up and down as you go through the lineup, it
Speaker 1: is bitter sweet to see just the last two, which
Speaker 1: we won't talk about yet to be installed shortly. But
Speaker 1: it's been a wonderful journey with the Sixers. We're probably
Speaker 1: four years into this from first discussion to today, and
Speaker 1: it's been a wonderful experience. We have helped make the players,
Speaker 1: the staff, and I think the fans see a different
Speaker 1: aspect and Chad and our team has had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to create true fine arts sculpture and bridge the gap
Speaker 1: between worts and fine art sculpture and portray harmony excellent portraiture,
Speaker 1: and it helps the fan base actually become fans of
Speaker 1: good fine art no question, Chad. It starts with hal
Speaker 1: Greer and then it goes through different eras and periods
Speaker 1: of the seventy six ers in their history. Talking about
Speaker 1: the sculptures on the Legends Walk, what distinguishes this specific
Speaker 1: sculpture of Charles Barkley from the other installments in the series.
Speaker 1: So with this one, yeah, and it does with Charles
Speaker 1: that you know, he has to come through with thunder.
Speaker 1: You know, like this sculpture has to have his presence.
Speaker 1: Not only you know, it has to look like him,
Speaker 1: but it also has to be you know, his movements,
Speaker 1: So it has to have some personality, it has to
Speaker 1: it had. The idea of the sculptures is to present
Speaker 1: the souls of the figure, so they're just not mannequins.
Speaker 1: And that's where that's what differentiates fine art from other stuff,
Speaker 1: which is it's not factory work. It's fine arts. So
Speaker 1: they breathe and they have a soul. And with Charles,
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, he has to come through with thunder,
Speaker 1: he has to come through with power. You know, his anatomy.
Speaker 1: I mean, he was just a very well built man.
Speaker 1: I mean his his calves are huge, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and just like so I've analyzed Will and I've analyzed
Speaker 1: how Greer, and I've analyzed like Bobby Jones, and then
Speaker 1: you analyze Charles anatomy and his his caves are enormous.
Speaker 1: I don't believe how big his arms are, Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's very well built. And then the fact that he
Speaker 1: had this athleticism and finesse. It's it was. It was
Speaker 1: a delight going back through highlights and going back through
Speaker 1: all of his different you know, uh, poster material photographs
Speaker 1: with Chris and Katie and we worked with des Ron
Speaker 1: and my going it's just and Jacqueline. It's just like
Speaker 1: going through everything with the Sixers team of saying like
Speaker 1: does this represent Charles's best and we it's really been
Speaker 1: like a collaboration with the Sixers. It's like because it's
Speaker 1: not like this is what we're doing. It's more of
Speaker 1: been like, all right, let's do this, but like can
Speaker 1: we push it a little bit? You know, how how
Speaker 1: much can we take this to the edge of the
Speaker 1: engineering and the anatomy to make this the best work
Speaker 1: of art possible? And so Charles, Yeah, he's coming through
Speaker 1: with some power. That's the idea is to his differential
Speaker 1: is just it has to be. It has to show him,
Speaker 1: you know, as he stepped on the court that this
Speaker 1: man was a little bit different in the sense of
Speaker 1: how he approached the game. These probably aren't the finest
Speaker 1: details of the piece, but Doug, something that jumped out
Speaker 1: to me was even down to like the seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: logo on the warm up shorts for Charles that in
Speaker 1: the pose on this sculpture when he's going up for
Speaker 1: the tomahawk dunk, like the shorts are raised and you
Speaker 1: can see the Sixers logo. The detail on the sneakers
Speaker 1: give us some insight. Dug on more of what Chad
Speaker 1: was talking about, the depths that you guys go to
Speaker 1: and researching the subjects that you're sculpting, the lengths do
Speaker 1: you go to to make sure that all the details
Speaker 1: are there in the piece. Well, I've only been working
Speaker 1: with Chad for a few projects now, but I've already witnessed, yeah,
Speaker 1: just how intensely he researches things, and he goes as
Speaker 1: far as to order, you know, pairs of shoes off
Speaker 1: at eBay that he finds that are the exact match
Speaker 1: of the shoes he's looking for. And really I've seen
Speaker 1: stacks and stacks of photocopies of every angle he can
Speaker 1: find of, you know, the subject matter to make sure
Speaker 1: the portraits right on, and the whole stance and position
Speaker 1: of everything. So yeah, the details are what early makes
Speaker 1: it true to that person and the whole era and
Speaker 1: the sport itself. So that's amazing, Like that something that
Speaker 1: just the layman and myself would never think of. Of course,
Speaker 1: like yeah, you order the shoes, it's just going to
Speaker 1: give you that much a better sense of what these
Speaker 1: guys are wearing. What is it like for you? And
Speaker 1: I can ask guys, since since you guys have been
Speaker 1: with it from the start, Chad and France, what's it
Speaker 1: like for you the day of the sculpture unveiling when
Speaker 1: you're here. I know you've brought family in the past,
Speaker 1: you obviously are a family, but to be here to
Speaker 1: see I would presume some of your heroes having this
Speaker 1: moment and being honored in this way. What is that
Speaker 1: day like for you? Guys? It's very specials and the
Speaker 1: Sixers make it special, you know, um, you know we
Speaker 1: they're open to inviting my kids and it becomes this
Speaker 1: whole thing of teaching. It's a teaching point for me
Speaker 1: as a father and and the history of the game,
Speaker 1: what basketball represent and what um human achievement represents, and
Speaker 1: why these players are being revered with a bronze statue,
Speaker 1: Like what did they do? Um and so um? When
Speaker 1: I was when it was Julius Irving, I was showing
Speaker 1: my kids um different YouTube videos and different images and
Speaker 1: him dunking from the foul line, and you know, just
Speaker 1: showing them as much as possible who this man was
Speaker 1: to the history of the game with the ABA, how
Speaker 1: he changed. My daughters are now playing basketball within their
Speaker 1: school be just it really has an effect. And you know,
Speaker 1: the cities are great because they're they're just so warm
Speaker 1: to my family and so that's been wonderful. But I
Speaker 1: remember my daughter when I said, you know, mister Irving,
Speaker 1: do you mind taking a picture with my family? My
Speaker 1: daughter's like he touched me. So they they've learned to
Speaker 1: look at them with admiration as I did because of
Speaker 1: the way my father spoke with them. And whether it's
Speaker 1: the earlier figures like Hal Greer, who has unfortunately passed
Speaker 1: since his statue, but he was able to see himself
Speaker 1: immortalized in bronze and I think that's a really special
Speaker 1: moment for you know, you see your when you question
Speaker 1: your mortality, I think it's a good thing and to
Speaker 1: question your achievements and to question what are you doing
Speaker 1: with your time? And how they used their time, how
Speaker 1: they persevered, and so it's been a really great element
Speaker 1: as a father and as a person too. I've grown
Speaker 1: quite a bit. I learned from them, you know, reading
Speaker 1: how much how hard they practiced, what they had to do.
Speaker 1: How Julius would stand underneath the basketball hoop practicing over
Speaker 1: and over with his left hand and over and over
Speaker 1: with his right hand, and it's just like wow, you
Speaker 1: know there is no ceiling, like you can go further
Speaker 1: and um. So it's each statue then on that day
Speaker 1: of the unveiling is a chance for us to be
Speaker 1: together in the education, but also a moment for us
Speaker 1: to to watch everyone react to the statues and and
Speaker 1: then that that's that's the fulfilling end the mind and
Speaker 1: is to see the reaction and saying oh, it looks
Speaker 1: like him, or that you know it actually looks like him,
Speaker 1: or this is the portrait. The portrait is right, or oh,
Speaker 1: look at Bobby Jones, you know, diving for the ball
Speaker 1: or that's the way Billy shot, you know, his jumper.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's it's nice to see that people
Speaker 1: look at all the little nuances in the details and
Speaker 1: they're happy. You know, you actually get when as soon
Speaker 1: as the veil goes off. I tried to look at
Speaker 1: whoever's being represented and the family members that are with
Speaker 1: them to see if they're happy, because if they're happy,
Speaker 1: then it's like, Okay, we did our job, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we don't want any anyone looking at like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, because um there there as
Speaker 1: statues like that, and we're trying to do our best
Speaker 1: and honoring them because it's their legacy. This is this
Speaker 1: is their representation at the six Ers, so you have
Speaker 1: there's a responsibility on our end to do it right.
Speaker 1: The sense of pride is very high with the reveal,
Speaker 1: and I always reflect on the first sketch that I
Speaker 1: saw Chad do and all of the effort, the hundreds
Speaker 1: of steps behind the scenes that it takes to get
Speaker 1: a and a thought into final bronze. It's great for
Speaker 1: our family. There's a lot of pride in the family
Speaker 1: for what Chad has achieved and what we've achieved as
Speaker 1: a small family company. I also see something interesting, and
Speaker 1: it was Chris had mentioned this. Chris, I could mention this.
Speaker 1: The players always glance down the line, and I know
Speaker 1: some of them, if not all of them, imagine themselves
Speaker 1: on one of those pedestals at some point in time
Speaker 1: in the future. And I think that was part of
Speaker 1: their intention. And it's brilliant. You know, you capture the city,
Speaker 1: you teach people step by step how art is made.
Speaker 1: Number Two, you inspire the players. You create a transformation
Speaker 1: as you and other people come to work. You know
Speaker 1: you're in a special place. When you see a company
Speaker 1: like the seventy six ers provide the funding for this
Speaker 1: Walk of Fame, it is tremendous. It's got to light
Speaker 1: people up at work here. It's got to light up
Speaker 1: to players. And then, of course those that are honored
Speaker 1: can't be anything but proud of their achievements to see
Speaker 1: their image there permanently in bronze. I know I said
Speaker 1: earlier that there are two more sculptures remaining in the series,
Speaker 1: but I think we should put a date on the
Speaker 1: calendar twenty to twenty five years from now, maybe get
Speaker 1: a couple more Larry O'Brien trophies in the building, and
Speaker 1: some guys in the current roster we might need some
Speaker 1: statues as well. Well. This has been terrific guys. Congratulations
Speaker 1: on a project, well done, awesome stuff. Appreciate at the
Speaker 1: time and congrats thank you. Yeah, I mean it is
Speaker 1: not far fetched in the least to think about guys
Speaker 1: on the current seventy sixers roster who who knows, someday
Speaker 1: may like Charles Barkley, be immortalized with some bronze and treatment. Hey,
Speaker 1: coming up next time on the broadcast, we're going to
Speaker 1: dive into how the seventy sixers starting five stacks up
Speaker 1: against its competition, not just in the Eastern Conference, but
Speaker 1: around the rest of the league. That episode will be
Speaker 1: coming away, most likely early next week, so be on
Speaker 1: the lookout. Talk to you them here on the broadcast.
Speaker 1: See it that that