Tuscaloosa Postpones Unveiling Of Marshall Football Player Statues

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The City of Tuscaloosa on Friday announced that it is postponing the unveiling for the “Marshall Four” statues at the Benjamin Barnes YMCA, which was originally slated for Feb. 6.

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The city said the decision was made due to material quality concerns with the statues that were initially expected to be installed the week of Feb. 3.

However, quality issues were found when the statues were delivered from the foundry on Thursday.

The city said a rescheduled date will be determined as soon as possible.

As Patch previously reported, the statues will honor Tuscaloosa natives Freddy Wilson, Larry Sanders, Joe Hood and Robert VanHorn, who attended Marshall University to play football and were killed in a plane crash with most of the team on Nov. 14, 1970.

The four young men were some of the first Black athletes from Tuscaloosa on athletic scholarships at a major university.

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Caleb O’Connor — a renowned artist and sculptor known in Tuscaloosa — is responsible for sculpting the statues and also credited with the Minerva statue at Manderson Landing and the Deontay Wilder statue at the Visit Tuscaloosa Welcome Center.

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