First there was the cannon, Old Jeremiah. Then came the Begging Bear and the Gryphon sculptures. Now, U of G’s “#StationaryCrew” – a collection of icons around campus – has a fourth member: The Hand-Off.

U of G’s newest bronze artwork took up position in front of Alumni Stadium earlier this fall.

This two-metre-tall piece is meant to be an interactive work of art that fans will make part of their game-day traditions.

The statue was funded by a donation from former Gryphon football coach Stu Lang.

The piece is a collaboration among Lang, the Gryphons football team, professor emeritus Maurice Nelischer, U of G landscape architecture grad Robert Cram and Frontiers Landscape based in Georgetown, Ont.

Says Nelischer, “This bronze figure and other new elements in front of Alumni Stadium are meant to get people excited and interacting with each other on game day.”

How The Hand-Off Came to Life

Starting with Lang’s concept of an interactive piece, Cram worked with Gryphons quarterback Theodore Landers to develop the figure’s stance. Cram made a series of 3-D scans of Landers to accurately capture a quarterback making a hand-off.

Cram aimed to create the statue with a level of detail like that of the original Olympic figures in Greece.

The work was given a dark patina with blue undertones. As The Hand-Off is exposed to the elements – and to fans, students and alumni – over time, those undertones will come to the surface.