Bill Walsh always had a knack for recognizing talent.
Some of his more prominent discoveries: Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Blair Buswell.
The first two former San Francisco 49er greats already have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The next two are on their way.
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Blair Buswell (top right, measuring the features of Jim Kelly), and the retired Jack Worthington (right, working on Jim Thorpe’s bust) have produced the most busts in Hall of Fame history. Worthington has done 144, while Buswell has crafted 46.
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And Buswell?
You might say he is the Hall of Fame.
As the lead sculptor of the busts that rest in Canton in perpetuity, he produces what football fans across America often visualize when they hear of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“I think it sets us apart from some of the other halls of fame,” said Buswell, who played college football with Young, Jim McMahon and Marc Wilson, among others, at Brigham Young University. “The busts are really unique.”
Buswell has been crafting that uniqueness for the last two decades. He has become the Hall’s most prolific — some say best — sculptor, thanks in part to Walsh, the former 49ers head coach.
In 1982, Walsh was speaking at a Brigham Young sports banquet, where Buswell’s art was being displayed. Walsh had been seeking a gift for a man who had everything, then-49er owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
Walsh commissioned Buswell to produce a sculpture of the two 49er executives together. So pleased with his copy, Walsh flew Buswell to Youngstown to present the work to DeBartolo. Walsh then contacted officials at the Hall, recommending they consider the young artist.
“I did one (bust) for the first two years, then two to three ever since,” Buswell said. “It put me on the map. I have some national awards, and that brought legitimacy to what I’m trying to do. It was a good thing for both of us.”
Buswell’s first piece was the bust of Sid Gillman, the former San Diego Charger coach. When Buswell crafted a standard tie on Gillman’s bust, the soon-to-be inductee cringed.
“He told me he didn’t own one of those kinds of ties,” Buswell said. “He got a bow tie, tied one, and that’s what we went with.”
Buswell is so accomplished these days that he chooses which Hall of Famers he will sculpt. Each year, he flies to Hawaii, site of the Pro Bowl, where the new enshrinees congregate for the first time.
He meets each man, gauging the enshrinee’s interest in his bust. He takes their picture, measures their facial features, then insists on spending a day or two with them in their home.
“I would rather go cross country to (sculpt) someone who wants me there and who thinks his likeness is important,” Buswell said, “than go next door to someone who doesn’t care.”
Posing sessions can last several hours.
Some work better than others. The busts of Tom Landry and Dan Dierdorf are considered two of his best works.
Others don’t go as well.
Buswell remembers his session with O.J. Simpson, Class of 1985.
“At that point, I was not going to Hawaii to take measurements,” he said. “I was going with a standard, life-size head.”
Simpson’s head, however, is larger in proportion to his body.
“Instead of working on his likeness and expressions, it seems all I was doing was adding clay,” Buswell said. “I almost needed to have a session again, but I did the best I could. That’s one I’d like to do again.”
Then there was Al Davis, Class of 1992, the irascible owner of the Raiders. Buswell spent 10 hours at team headquarters waiting for Davis, but he was granted just 30 minutes with the reclusive enshrinee.
“When I got there, he let me know he did not want to have anything to do with it,” he said. “If it didn’t look like him, it reflects on me. I stuck around ... got as much as I could.”
Ten years later, the 46-year-old Buswell is the standard by which most sculptors are judged. He has done life-sized statues of Oscar Robertson, Jack Nicklaus and Charlton Heston. Recently, the city of Omaha, Neb., commissioned him to sculpt a bronze, block-long, wagon train that will commemorate where the frontier began. Each wagon will be 50 to 60 feet long, and the pioneers will be 6 or 7 feet tall. It will take him and another artist 10 years to complete.
“It’s my Mount Rushmore,” he said.
Next week, Buswell will meet with Class of 2003 members Marcus Allen and James Lofton, whom he will sculpt in the next month.
He hopes to continue producing busts as long as possible, with an eye toward sculpting Young, his ex-BYU teammate.
He last visited Canton in 1993, the year Walsh was inducted. Buswell, of course, created Walsh’s bust.
“All the great quarterbacks are coming up,” said Buswell, alluding to Dan Marino, John Elway and Young. “I love to sculpt the running backs and linebackers. I really relate to that.”
You can reach Repository sports editor Don Detore at (330) 580-8345 or e-mail:
don.detore@cantonrep.com
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