Stanislav “Stan” Mikita, 2011
Julie Rotblatt-Amrany
Bobby Hull, 2011
Omri Amrany
United Center
1901 West Madison Street
Unveiled on October 22, 2011 on the northeast plaza of
the United Center, these statues honor the careers of two renowned hockey players
associated with the Chicago Blackhawks, Slovak-born Canadian Stanlislav “Stan”
Mikita (born 1940) and Canadian Bobby Hull (born 1939). Both helped the
Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup in 1961 and both were inducted into the
Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.
Mikita played his entire career (1958-80) with the
Blackhawks and was considered one of the best centers of the 1960s. He is the
Chicago franchise’s all-time leader in assists, points and games played and his
number 21 was retired on October 21, 1980.
Hull, described as the “Golden Jet,” was, perhaps, the
greatest left winger of all time and the first to use the slapshot as a scoring
weapon. In 1966 he became the first player in the National Hockey League to
score 50 goals in a season (doing so a total of four times during his career)
and he holds first place in goals and second place in games played and points
for the Blackhawks.
Working closely with the retired players and using
detailed measurements from their faces, portrait artists Julie Rotblatt-Amrany
and Omri Amrany created larger-than-life (7 feet tall) statues in white bronze,
using zinc and nickel to create the silver sheen of their skin and red patina
for the jerseys. Placed atop 5-foot tall black granite pedestals, the hockey
greats join the Amrany studio’s famous statue of Michael Jordan, located near
Gate 4 of the United Center. Mikita and Hull were present for the unveiling
ceremony, across the street from the old Chicago Stadium location, where they
played a combined 2,430 games.
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