{"id":4056,"date":"2018-10-16T10:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T14:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2018-10-16T10:12:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T14:12:48","slug":"larger-than-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/larger-than-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Larger Than Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything changed when Bob Roggy died. It was August 1986 and the Holmdel, New Jersey, track star was ascending toward the peak of his athletic career. Having set the American record in javelin just four years prior, Roggy was firmly ensconced on the national track and field stage, with his sights fixed on competing in the 1988 summer Olympics. But that dream came to a sudden and tragic end when Roggy was thrown from the back of a pickup truck in Houston and died a few hours later. He was 29.<\/p>\n

Brian Hanlon \u201988 was beginning his first year at Monmouth as an art education major when he heard about Roggy\u2019s death. The news hit him especially hard. Hanlon had grown up with Roggy in Holmdel, attended the same high school as the track star, and he felt immediately moved to pay tribute to the young man. So Hanlon shuttered himself in his dorm room and began working on a clay sculpture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole town was in shock. And I was just moved to make that sculpture for the sake of tribute and remembering,\u201d recalls Hanlon from the bright, sunlit interior of his home office in Toms River, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

In the 32 years since that moment Hanlon has gone on to become the United States\u2019 premier sculptor of athletes, coaches, mascots, and celebrated moments in both sports and American history. He\u2019s the official sculptor for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame\u00a0 and the Rose Bowl. And he\u2019s been commissioned to render more than 500 pieces over the course of his career\u2014which can be found everywhere from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico and dozens of states in between\u2014including nuanced and evocative bronze sculptures of legends like Shaquille O\u2019Neal, Evander Holyfield, Jackie Robinson, and Yogi Berra.<\/p>\n

But back in 1986 Hanlon was just an unassuming Monmouth undergrad with a tenuous notion of the future ahead of him. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any formal training when I did that piece for Roggy,\u201d he says. \u201cI just did it from my gut.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brian
Hanlon works in his home studio space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using an image from the cover of Track & Field News<\/em> showing Roggy about to release a javelin from his intimidating right arm, Hanlon worked tirelessly on the piece. Less than a year later it was unveiled in a formal ceremony at Holmdel High School\u2014where the two-and-a-half foot bronze likeness remains to this day\u2014and it was there, at the unveiling, that Hanlon knew his life would never be the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget the look on Mrs. Roggy\u2019s face that day. It was a look of momentary mercy. Of letting go, even for just a few seconds. She\u2019d been on my mind the entire time I was working on that sculpture and she was the only thing that was important to me in that moment,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cIf you know that your art has the potential to make that kind of difference, then you must pursue it. And it was in that moment that I knew what I would do for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanlon never aspired to become an artist, even though he had an almost instantaneous and innate talent for working with clay that was fostered and encouraged by his high school art teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cClay was easy for me. It wasn\u2019t just some pile of mud. I realized early on that I could actually makes things out of it. And it made me feel like Superman,\u201d says Hanlon, who\u2019s as perpetually bright and enthusiastic as he is contemplative about his work. \u201cIt was also striking to me that clay came from the earth, and I always felt some strange connection to it. But never in a million years did I think I\u2019d become an artist. I just didn\u2019t see the practical application at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

After high school Hanlon embarked on a somewhat aimless and potentially dangerous path. Without any college plans, he spent several years employed as an ironworker in New York and then as a teamster at Monmouth Park Racetrack. The money, he says, was \u201creally good.\u201d But the lifestyle\u2014which included an ongoing struggle with substance abuse\u2014was slowly eroding away his mind, body, and spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t focused on becoming a contributor to society whatsoever. I was bad news, man. I was not a good citizen. I was mostly a trouble to myself, and I realized that I was destined to just crash and burn,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cEventually I looked around and thought, \u2018This is not what I\u2019m supposed to be doing with my life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So he decided to hit the reset button and enroll at Monmouth as a 25-year-old freshman, and it was there that a series of revelations washed over him, providing him with a dawning sense of humility, courage, and purpose. After completing the Roggy sculpture he abandoned his plans to become a teacher and doubled down on his own sculpting, which led him to create his second piece\u2014The Involved Student.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s his favorite to this day, and it depicts a young woman lying on her back reading a book, her right leg propped up by a soccer ball, her head resting peacefully on a gym bag. Hanlon\u2019s then-girlfriend and now-wife Michele (n\u00e9e Adamkowski \u201990) modeled for the sculpture, which is located outside Woodrow Wilson Hall, and the meaning behind it still has a powerful resonance for the 57-year-old artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to create something that embodied my experience as a student at Monmouth,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cIf you\u2019re involved in government, athletics, and academics, that\u2019s a worthy experience. I never knew that until I felt it myself. I wanted to put that into a sculpture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three decades later, Hanlon has once again lent his artistry to Monmouth\u2019s campus with a gargantuan bronze sculpture of the University\u2019s Hawk.<\/p>\n

Measuring 15 feet high with a 22-foot-long wingspan, the 29,000-pound sculpture was unveiled this fall on Brockriede Common. It was a gift to the University made possible through generous donations from Hanlon and the Brockriede family (including Monmouth University Trustee John A. Brockriede Jr. \u201907, \u201910M). No university funds were used for the sculpture, which Hanlon says he created to represent much more than athletic pride.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Hawk at Brockriede Common was installed on campus in mid-September.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about the physical hawk. It\u2019s about the symbolism and the energy and enthusiasm of students, alumni, faculty, and anyone else who passes by. It\u2019s not about sports. It\u2019s about creating and fostering spirit,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cMonmouth gave me a new start on life. I discovered the talent and courage to pursue the artist\u2019s life at Monmouth. That was a profound experience, and that\u2019s the energy I put into making this sculpture.\u201d<\/p>\n

~<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I<\/span><\/strong>t\u2019s an uncharacteristically cool, breezy August morning as Hanlon sinks into a comfy loveseat and sips his daily glass of pressed juice. He\u2019s still buzzing from the ELO concert he attended at Madison Square Garden two nights ago with his brother Al.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were walking to our car and I just kept saying, \u2018Why do I feel so damn happy?\u2019 It\u2019s that music, man,\u201d he says. \u201cEvery single song was a hit. Every song. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanlon unfurls an infectious smile punctuated by a burst of high laughter, his signature glee always right around the corner. He could just as easily talk about music\u2014or American history, or the trees in his yard, or the joys of his family\u2014as he could about his own artistic pursuits.<\/p>\n

A mounted television that faces Hanlon\u2019s desk plays ESPN on mute and an in-ground pool in the backyard paints his large windows with soothing shades of blue, casting wisps of watery reflections against the ceiling and walls. Various paintings of his five children dot the interior landscape. This is where Hanlon does his design work, and nearly every corner of the office contains evidence of his long, celebrated career as a master sculptor, with dozens of miniatures resting on shelves, tables, and even the floor.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a miniature version of the James Naismith statue that stands outside the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a miniature of the life-size statue of Boston Celtics point guard Bob Cousy, which stands in front of the Hart Recreation Center at Cousy\u2019s alma mater, Holy Cross. There\u2019s another miniature, this one of college basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian seated on a bench clutching a towel between his teeth, which mirrors the eight-foot-tall bronze installation that Hanlon did for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2013.<\/p>\n

And there, inconspicuously perched on a nearby table, is a small sculpture depicting John Elway\u2019s famous helicopter leap in Super Bowl XXXII, which Hanlon hand-delivered to the legendary quarterback\u2019s home a few years ago. He says he eventually hopes to make a larger installation of it for the Denver Broncos organization.<\/p>\n

But despite the eye-popping nature of his subjects, Hanlon is not your stereotypical fanboy. Sure, he\u2019s rubbed shoulders with some of the most celebrated names in American sports, but he\u2019s not interested in the vaunted mythology of the individuals he sculpts\u2014or even in the games in which they competed. He\u2019s interested in the stories behind the athletes and the moments they helped create.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I get to do some really cool stuff for some cool people, but I\u2019m more of a social scientist than I am a sports fan,\u201d says Hanlon, who is currently in the middle of an astounding 17 sculpture projects in this second half of 2018. \u201cI\u2019m fascinated by the culture of stadiums and athletics. When I unveil a statue at a stadium I don\u2019t usually even go to the game. I stand outside the stadium and I watch the people coming and going. I\u2019m more interested in everything that leads up to the game than I am in the game itself. I\u2019m not into the rah-rah and all that, and I think that\u2019s why my perspective is so effective. It\u2019s the unearthing of stories and moments that gets me out of bed every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For instance, Hanlon recently completed a memorial statue of LSU running back Billy Cannon that will be unveiled at his alma mater in late September. To college football fans, Cannon is interesting because of his athletic accomplishment as the only Heisman Trophy winner to ever come out of LSU. But what Hanlon finds most fascinating is Cannon\u2019s life story.<\/p>\n

After retiring from the NFL Cannon started a successful dental practice, but he fell into financial turmoil due to bad real estate investments and a crippling gambling addiction. The football star eventually got wrapped up in a counterfeit money racket and wound up printing more than $6 million worth of hundred-dollar bills in his basement. He served nearly three years in federal prison, and after his release he decided that he wanted to start practicing dentistry again\u2014but this time he\u2019d do it at the same federal prison in which he\u2019d been recently incarcerated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wound up doing that for 45 years! Now that\u2019s what I call a redemption story,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cThat Cannon sculpture is one of the most interesting projects I\u2019ve ever done. Not because of the athletic accomplishment, but because of the story behind the man. And I love the backstories, man. I love them even more than I love the statues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanlon\u2019s refined ability to see his subjects from a unique perspective goes back to his time spent working on a fine arts master\u2019s degree at Boston University, which is where he landed after graduating from Monmouth. While there Hanlon was commissioned to create a statue of Saint Francis for the Church of Saint Leo. After that he was commissioned to sculpt a statue of Saint Mary in Marlboro, New Jersey, and then another bust for a church in Rumson shortly after that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly my schoolwork was getting in the way of my professional work, and I had to decide if I was going to work hard for a grade or work hard for a paycheck,\u201d he says. \u201cI chose the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, early in his third semester at B.U., Hanlon packed up his things and came home to work out of his mother\u2019s garage in Manahawkin, where he became increasingly busy sculpting liturgical statues for churches throughout the region. And that was his exclusive area of focus for the next 10 years\u2014crafting detailed, evocative works of religious art that not only reflected the individuals but also the passions and stories they carried in their hearts.<\/p>\n

Eventually he \u201cupgraded\u201d from his mom\u2019s garage to a cold, dark, dirt-floor cemetery garage in Toms River, where he remained for a while before eventually settling into the 3,000-square-foot abandoned chicken coop that remains his studio space to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re sequestered in a cold garage and crawling around on the freezing ground by yourself, knowing that these statues are your only source of income, you\u2019re humbled every day,\u201d recalls Hanlon. \u201cThat\u2019s how I really learned my craft. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here. Now I\u2019m doing the things I\u2019ve always wanted to do, paying tribute to interesting historical markers and moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hanlon\u2019s body of work isn\u2019t confined to the world of athletics. It\u2019s remarkably diverse and includes several sculptures honoring first responders and American tragedies, including a 9-11 memorial called Angel in Anguish, which was unveiled in 2011 to honor eight residents of Brick Township who died on that infamous morning 17 years ago.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also currently working on two historical pieces\u2014a seven-foot-tall statue of Harriet Tubman for the Equal Rights Cultural Heritage Center in Auburn, New York and an eight-foot-tall bronze installation of Susan B. Anthony that was commissioned in April by the Adams Massachusetts Centennial Celebration committee. The Anthony piece will feature two depictions of the celebrated suffragist\u2014one of her as an adult speaking atop a flight of steps with her childhood likeness sitting at the base reading a book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do research on everyone I sculpt, and in the case of Susan B. Anthony I wanted to create a link between her reading as a child and the way that made her into the strong woman and public speaker she became,\u201d says Hanlon. \u201cThat\u2019s more than just a sculpture. That\u2019s telling a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admittedly, those stories are sometimes emotionally draining for the artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was emotional sculpting Billy Cannon. I met with his daughter and she cried to me,\u201d recalls Hanlon. \u201cAnd the piece I did for Brick? When I started that project I met with a widow who was pregnant with the child of the husband she lost on September 11. I was eventually hospitalized for dehydration while I worked on that piece because I wasn\u2019t eating or drinking. I was so consumed by it. I\u2019m not a priest or a rabbi. I\u2019m an artist. I\u2019m not wired to hear some of the things I hear. But that\u2019s what you do sometimes to capture the truth of a piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the physical and emotional toll of his work, Hanlon shows no signs of slowing down. After all, there are still so many subjects left to sculpt. For instance, he has a miniature of guitarist Duane Allman that he one day hopes to do for the city of Nashville. And another of Amos Alonzo Stagg, one of the founding fathers of American football. In the meantime, Hanlon remains propelled day after day by perpetual gratitude and disbelief at the life he\u2019s managed to sculpt for himself and his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was walking through Monmouth\u2019s campus just the other day thinking about the Hawk, and I was hit by this wave of emotion. Like, Whoa! How did this happen? Why me? Why didn\u2019t someone else get this gift?\u201d he says. \u201cBut art is so much bigger than us, and it always will be. I\u2019m going to be a little blurb in history as far as my contribution to art. And it\u2019s only when you understand your size and your humility that you can really make a difference. When you think you\u2019re bigger than the stories or the art itself, you will always fail. Always.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Hanlon \u201988 sees his subjects\u2014athletes, coaches, mascots, religious and historical figures\u2014from a unique perspective. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":4059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":66,\"y\":35}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Features","issue":"Fall 2018","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4762,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/4762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}