LOVELAND, Colo. — Art Castings of Colorado in Loveland houses thousands of statue molds, but one mold is on the radar of a Kansas youth baseball league.
League 42 erected a statue of major league baseball hall of famer, Jackie Robinson, outside a baseball facility in Wichita, KS. The statue was cut off at the ankles and stolen Jan. 27, and later found in pieces Jan. 30. The statue stood for less than three years.
Art Castings of Colorado general manager, Tony Workman, said the bronze art foundry worked with artist John Parsons back in 2020 to complete the statue. Parsons passed in 2022, but his mold of the sports legend is still on the foundry's shelves, allowing for another statue to be constructed.
"We have everything here to take it from a rubber and plaster mold state it’s in, to a finished bronze that they’ll be able to reinstall," Workman said. "It'll look exactly the same."
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Workman said he thinks fondly of his time working with Parsons.
"He was one of the good ones," Workman said.
He said the artist probably would have been upset and frustrated to hear about the alleged crimes committed against his work.
"People are just looking to making a fast buck, but bronze statues are probably not the way to go about it," Workman shared.
Workman said having the mold is a major part of the restoration process, but it'll require significant time and work to replace. He said the foundry is currently facing a backlog on products.
"Small pieces will take 12-14 weeks, life-size would take 6-8 months right now," Workman explained.
Despite the work demands the foundry is dealing with, Workman said Art Castings of Colorado is ready to add the memorial project to its queue when funding becomes available.
With the current state of a GoFundMe organized by League 42, it looks like it won't take long to get the money needed to replace the statue.
"When we get done with the next one and it goes back up, it’ll be there forever, hopefully," Workman said.
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