|
click on any image to enlarge
Don Hunt
Neal Gay Monument
in the studio more photos
1 1/4 life-size,
10' H x 10' L
Don Hunt at dedication |
Articles:
|
|
A Living
Legend in Bronze
Southwest Sports Group Journalist, Kurt Daniels
January 2004
For 47 years he has welcomed
people to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, thundering into the arena on
his ride, signaling the start of the night's events with the Grand
Entry. Now, this undeniable image of Neal Gay will forever be honored.
On September 27, 2003, a statue of Gay was unveiled as part of the city
of Mesquite's Neal Gay Day. Depicting the Mesquite Championship Rodeo's
founder waving to the crowd atop his trusty horse, the bronze figure was
placed at Rodeo Center in front of the Mesquite Convention Center &
Exhibit Hall, just a few paces from Resistol Arena.
The man who first initiated the concept of creating a bronze image of
Gay was Jack Beckman, former general manager of Resistol Arena and a
longtime friend of the family. Beckman had been involved in a similar
project while working with Reunion Arena years earlier, helping to bring
the landmark Pioneer Plaza Cattle Drive sculpture to downtown Dallas.
"It was completely Jack's idea," says Kay Gay, Neal's wife. "He thought
it would be good for the rodeo and the city of Mesquite to have
something like this."
Beckman took the first steps by setting up the proper legal and
accounting logistics to begin fundraising. With printed brochures at the
ready, he then made up a list of potential donators from the thousands
of people whom Gay has come across over the years. Within a manner of
six months, the necessary funds were raised.
One of the biggest contributors to the project was the city of Mesquite
itself. Not only did they donate money to honor one of their own, but
they also graciously dedicated the property.
"They were very involved," Beckman says of the Mesquite City Council.
"They had to okay the land because once you put the statue there, you
can't use it for anything else. They endorsed it."
Now with the money ready and waiting and the land all set to go, all
that was left was actually getting the statue. Beckman turned his
attention towards finding an artist who could capture the essence of
Neal Gay.
But in some ways, the artist who eventually was awarded this project
actually found Beckman. From his home in Loveland, CO, Don Hunt had
heard that someone in Texas wanted to do a sculpture of a man named Gay.
"Of course, I knew immediately that it was either Don Gay or Neal Gay,"
remembers Hunt. "I didn't know which one it was, but I called down there
and I talked to Mr. Beckman."
|
Rodeo World Honors
Favorite Son
Daren Watkins, The Mesquite News October, 2003
For more than 40 years, Mesquite Championship Rodeo founder Neal Gay never
sought the spotlight. Rather, he tried to create a venue where others
could shine in the sport of rodeo.
Saturday, for about an hour,
Neal Gay and his family were front and center as friends and family
gathered for a moment in the sun.
A 1 ¼-scale bronze statue of
Neal Gay on horseback – depicting his participation in the opening
ceremonies of each rodeo – was unveiled on the plaza joining Resistol
Arena to the Mesquite Convention Center.
Mayor Mike Anderson said it
was appropriate to honor a man who helped put Mesquite on the map and who
had developed legendary status to so many young men who had grown up in
the community.
“Mr. Gay represented
something to us young men growing up … he was a legend in our town,”
Anderson said. “I get the opportunity to do a lot of traveling on behalf
of the city. When I get into a cab in New York City and I tell people
where I’m from, they know exactly where Mesquite is because of the rodeo.”
Anderson proclaimed Sept. 27,
2003 as Neal Gay Day in the city of Mesquite.
Congressmen Pete Sessions
(R-Texas) also spoke at Saturday’s ceremony – reading congratulatory
letters from Senior Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas), and from
President George W. Bush.
“You have earned a special
place in the history of the state of Texas,” Sessions read from Bush’s
letter.
James Jennings, emcee for the
event, said Gay created “the best piece of oiled machinery in the world of
rodeo” from very humble beginnings.
“There were times when people
told him it would never last,” Jennings said. “There were times when it
probably shouldn’t have lasted.”
Jennings also mentioned that
of all the people assembled at the ceremony, the last person who would
have wanted a statue bearing his likeness in the front of the rodeo was
Neal Gay.
“I couldn’t believe all of
these people came here to talk about me,” he said in an emotional speech
following the unveiling of the statue.
“There are a lot of people
here who are way more deserving of something like this than me. My wife
Kay deserves his honor as much as I do because without her, we wouldn’t be
standing here today.”
Rodeo legend and original MCR
partner Jim Shoulders said one of the greatest things Neal Gay did was
marry Kay.
“She was one of the hardest
working hands in the rodeo business,” he said.
Rodeo announcer Bob Tallman
read congratulatory letters from former Dallas Cowboy great Roger Staubach,
and former Cowboy great and rodeo participant Walt Garrison.
|
|
"Living Legend"
continued below
|
"Rodeo
World"
continued below
|
Don
Hunt Bronze Sculpture
San
Antonio, TX
210.375.3629 phone/fax
210.355.0811 studio
www.donhunt.net
|
Detail of Neal Gay face and hat |
back to top
|
.A
Living Legend in Bronze (cont.)
A true
renaissance man, while Hunt spent most of his childhood doing the
rough and rugged work of a rancher for his family's livestock
business, he also discovered his love for art and in particular
sculpture. Originally fulfilling his creative spirit through drawing
and sketching, Hunt found his true calling in 1976 while studying as
an apprentice with Randy Steffen. That was when he cast his first
bronze.
He has since become an accomplished sculptor. His works include a
bear mascot for Baylor University, a six foot eagle that stands atop
the Coryell County (TX) Courthouse in Gatesville and a Tom Landry
bronze that is showcased at the Dallas Cowboys offices in Valley
Ranch. His Monumental
Commissions in
2002 included a statue entitled "On Top of the World," featuring an
eagle holding the earth in her talons, which was placed at the Port
Imperial on the Hudson river overlooking mid-town Manhattan.
While Hunt has cast a wide range of subjects, his first love is the
western way of life he knew as a youth. A 2002 commission for the
Kiowa, Kansas 1890 Historical Monument was a one and a quarter life
size bronze of a man and his horse titled "This Land is My Land."
With a background embedded in Texas and the rodeo, Hunt had
obviously known of the Gay family throughout his life. When the
project with the Mesquite Championship Rodeo was first introduced,
he knew he had to be involved. Hunt and his wife Mary flew to Texas
on December 7, 2002 to meet with Beckman and Gay's wife Kay.
"We interviewed a number of artists," says Beckman. "Our decision
was based on how much they wanted to charge and the credentials they
had. It was a balance. We got a good artist, a good Texas
artist to do it for us."
By the end of February 2003, Hunt had the maquette completed, which
is a smaller clay version of what the sculpture would look like.
Both Neal and Kay flew up to Loveland to inspect his work, and were
impressed with the results.
With their approval, Hunt next began working on enlarging the piece.
While the maquette was only a couple of feet tall, the final bronze
would stand more than 10 feet high, one and a quarter life size.
Everything, every last little detail, would have to be made nine
times larger.
"I've been doing this, enlarging things, for about 20 years,"
describes Hunt. "I even enlarge for other artists."
He began the process of enlarging the Gay maquette by creating a
foam and metal brace, a skeleton of sorts. One inch pipe was used
through the legs, neck, head and body while it sat on 2"x6" wood
planks atop rollers for easier movement.
 |
Rodeo World Honors Favorite Son
(cont.)
“You always went by the rules
and there should be more people like that,” Garrison’s letter said
Tallman said he worked for
Neal Gay after being recommended to him from associates in the industry.
He said he learned the values of putting in a good day’s work for honest
pay from Neal Gay – and he learned to try and stay out of being taken to
the tack room for a session of “tough love” from Gay, the father figure.
“Neal Gay raised no less than
10,000 kids in addition to his own family,” Tallman said of those who have
worked at or have passed through the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
Gay has also produced the
Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo for 26 years.
Executive Director Bob Watt
said in those 26 years, the association has never had a formal agreement
or contract with Gay.
He said at the end of the
rodeo each year, Watt asks Gay what he owes him and Gay always replies,
“Whatever you think is fair.”
Also, Watt took pride in the
fact that more than half of the money it took to complete the statue
project came from Fort Worth organizations and individuals.
“Anytime you have something
that can get people from Fort Worth to send money to Dallas County, well
you have a serious project going,” Watt said.
Congressman Sam Johnson said
the entire U.S. Congress knows about the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
“You have created a legacy of
what America is all about,” Johnson said. “The fact you provide bulls
rather than bull---- is honorable.”
Jennings said last year, he
challenged the membership of the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce in a speech
at one of the monthly luncheons to honor the founder of the rodeo with a
monument.
He said it would be a shame
if some sort of permanent monument to Neal Gay wasn’t pursued.
Jennings praised the work of
Jack Beckman, a former director of the rodeo and consultant to Southwest
Sports Group, for taking on the project and following it through from
start to finish.
“Jack Beckman logged hundreds
of hours into this project and followed it through,” Jennings said.
“Without his hard work, this event might not have happened – and it
certainly wouldn’t have happened with the class we’re enjoying.”
end
|
|
"You
have to have a sturdy brace that will hold the weight of the clay,"
describes Hunt. "I put over 900 pounds of clay on that thing. Then
the mold maker comes in and puts about 800 pounds of rubber and
plaster on it to make the mold. The frame has to hold all of that
up. It has to be strong."
This process of scaling everything to a larger size normally takes
Hunt about three months to complete, but for this project he was
able to do the work in just two because, as he says, 'I was so
involved in it and enjoyed it so much because of the subject."
Once the enlargement was complete, Kay and her sister visited Hunt
for a final approval.
"Oh my
gosh, it was huge," Kay says about the final piece. "I knew it was
going to be big, but this was really big. We toured some foundries
while we were up there and he showed us the process that the statue
would go through next. It was a fun experience."
After going to the foundry for bronzing the final work, the art was
shipped to Mesquite and placed for the unveiling ceremonies in early
September of last year. All agreed that the statue indeed captured
the spirit of Neal Gay.
"Sometimes you see statues and they just lack something" says Kay.
"They've got a hollow look. But this one doesn't. It's got a real
warm look in the face and in the greeting. I thought it was
wonderful."
"It's a very, very good piece of art," agrees Beckman. "From the
saddle that he rides to the belt buckle to his type of hat, it's a
very good likeness of Neal."
On hand for the dedication of the statue, Hunt was stirred by Neal's
tearful reaction to his work.
"That touched me because I did it with my hands," says Hunt "It
gives you a good feeling to create. It was such a challenge and such
an honor. It was very meaningful to me because I've done everything
in the world, but my heart is in the rodeo and ranching subjects."
A living legend, Neal Gay continues to be a symbol of the rodeo,
showing his passion for the sport every time he settles into the
saddle to begin the Grand Entry ceremonies. Now, with his trademark
wave to the crowd, that passion will always welcome visitors to the
Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
Reprinted with permission from the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
end
|
|
|
