Chuck Bednarik statue to be unveiled at Franklin Field on Nov. 19

FROM KEITH GROLLER

The University of Pennsylvania sent out a release on Thursday officially saying that the much-anticipated statue at Franklin Field to honor Chuck Bednarik will be unveiled prior to the Cornell-Penn game on Nov. 19.

Of course, there is no better location for any tribute to Bednarik than Franklin Field because that's where he played his college ball and also starred as a pro for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1949-62. He helped the Eagles win NFL titles in his rookie season of 1949 and their last championship in 1960.

Mike Mahoney, the University of Pennsylvania director of athletic communications sent out the release on Thursday to make it official about when and where this special moment would take place.

Here are all the details from the release:

The University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics (DRIA) has announced the formal dedication of the Bednarik statue on Saturday, Nov. 19, prior to the Quakers’ football game against Cornell that kicks off at 1 p.m. The statue will be located inside Gate 2 on the North side of Franklin Field, and will be complemented by a collage honoring the history of the Philadelphia Eagles during their time playing at Franklin Field (1958-70).



The Bednarik statue will honor “Concrete Charlie,” who played his college football at Franklin Field for the Quakers before embarking on a storied professional career at the same stadium for the Philadelphia Eagles.



The Bednarik statue is being done by Brian Hanlon of Hanlon Sculpture Studio in Toms River, N.J. Dubbed “New Jersey’s Sculptor,” Hanlon has works all over the world including the recent Shaquille O’Neal statue at Louisiana State University (LSU). Hanlon Sculpture Studio is the official sculptor of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.



"I am absolutely honored to sculpt the greatest warrior, maybe next to Smokin' Joe Frazier, in Philadelphia sports history,” said Hanlon. “I think it's great that Chuck's statue will be placed at the site of his college and NFL careers. Franklin Field is the most sacred, historic athletic venue in Philadelphia.”



The process to get a Bednarik statue done has been swift. In 2010, a group of Philadelphia businessmen approached the University with the aim of installing a statue of Penn’s greatest all-time player and their hero, Chuck Bednarik, at Franklin Field. Since then, nearly $100,000 has been raised toward the project, bolstered by stories from Philadelphia-area media outlets as well as outlets in the Lehigh Valley where Bednarik continues to reside in Coopersburg. Among the prominent names involved with the project are the president of NFL films, Steve Sabol; former Eagles and St. Louis Rams head coach Dick Vermeil; former Eagles players Ron Jaworski and Eddie Khayat; Bucks County State Rep. Paul Clymer; former Governor Tom Ridge; Dominic Toscani, founder of Paris Business Forms, Inc.; and Bednarik’s son-in-law, Ken Safarowic

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/2011/10/chuck-bednarik-statue-to-be-unveiled-at-franklin-field-on-nov-19.html