landmarks on campus.
    In the plaza outside Emerson Alumni Hall on Wednesday, UF President Charles Young and other dignitaries unveiled a bronze statue of what Young called the school’s “two most recognizable icons” - Gator mascots Albert and Alberta.
    Standing on a masonary base and looking across W. University Avenue toward Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, each coppery-brown figure holds aloft a single claw in a cheerleading pose forever frozen in time.
    “This marks a new era for the University of Florida,” Wayne McDaniel, executive director of the UF Alumni Association, told about 100 people gathered for the event. “Visiting this monument will become a new tradition on campus.”
    After the ceremony UF students Ryan Asdourian, Brian Laplant and Kourtney Long suggested one new tradition they’d like to see established.
    “On every game day, everybody should come and rub the statue for good luck,” said Asdourian, a fifth-year computer science major who was first non-official to be photographed with the new landmark.

 The $75,000 for the statue and pedestal was donated by Gainesville building contractors Charles Perry Construction - which built the year-old Emerson Hall - and Robinshore Inc. Charles Perry and Robinshores’s Tom Robinson and Jack Greer helped remove the blue shroud from what Young earlier had called “our mystery guests.”
    A California artist, Peter Forster, based his original sculpture on retired costumes worn by students portraying Albert and Alberta, The mascot suits were filled with foam to make them look lifelike for the sculpting process.
    The various pieces of the statue were cast in bronze by a Sanford firm, American Bronze Fine Art Foundry, Inc. It took almost six months to complete the 1,510-pound statue one the received the mold, said Carol Mayer, vice president of sales for American Bronze foundry.
    "Bronze is know to survive for thousands of years," Mayer said during the unveiling.  "Now is the moment when two beloved mascots take a permanent place of honor in a community that loves them."
 

Article By: Bob Arndorfer
Sun staff writer