Misplaced Memory

This weekend, I watched the NFL Hall of Fame Game. I finally set in my mind that, God willing, I am going to Canton, OH, at some point, to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I love looking at displays that were designed to memorialize history, and I frequently design and write displays for my job. I am a pro-display, pro-public-history, pro-persistence-of-memory kind of guy.

However, sometimes displays do not belong in the location that people choose for them. Take, for example, the newly revealed Paul Hornung display in Louisville. The bronze statue, pictured below, looks great. The display has great information about the Louisville native, NFL MVP, and Heisman trophy winner. There’s only one problem. It’s outside of a baseball stadium!

For some reason, the Louisville powers decided to place the statue outside of Louisville Slugger Field, home of the Louisville Bats. Maybe alot of thought didn’t go into the action. Maybe they didn’t care. Maybe still-angry University of Kentucky fans managed to have the statue put there to thumb there nose at the boy who chose to go college in South Bend rather than Lexington.

Let me put this in context. Imagine going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and finding a statue of Secretariat outside the gates.

I don’t know why it is there. I’m not even bothering to research it. It’s not worth it. The thing should have been placed on a downtown street or something. And because it wasn’t, visitors to Louisville who attend a game will always wonder, “Why in the world is there a statue of a football player outside of a baseball stadium?” And they will go home thinking, “Do people in Kentucky only understand and respect basketball and horse racing.”