Oregon bronze sculptor, Alison Brown, recently installed a 700-pound bronze sculpture of Oregon State University mascot “Benny Beaver” in the lobby of the new OSU Valley Football Center.
The monument, standing 7-feet tall (on its pedestal), was unveiled in the building’s spacious front lobby.
This is the first bronze monument to OSU Benny Beaver ever created or installed on campus.
Brown says “There are so many enthusiastic alumni proud of their university, who want to highlight Benny Beaver. He’s a bold symbol of OSU athletic and scholastic achievement, representing students, faculty and alumni.”
Several of those alumni banded together to generously provide funding to make the bronze statue possible. One of the contributors is the original Benny mascot himself, Ken Austin, Jr.
Austin says “I’m just (very) proud the history goes on.”
Installation of the statue follows completion of the Oregon State Valley Football Center expansion project. The project, a $42 million upgrade, added close to 38,000 square feet and upgraded 26,000 additional square feet of existing space. The Center includes a new training room, football locker room, outdoor viewing terrace for games and new coach’s offices.
Brown is a 2011 graduate of the University of Oregon. Her company, Campus Sculptures, headquartered in Troutdale, specializes in creating college and university mascots in bronze. Brown launched her career initially creating the Oregon duck mascot. Since then, she’s been commissioned to create Sparty—the Michigan State University mascot, the University of Southern California Trojan mascot, a life-sized bronze of legendary athlete, Bill Walton, in San Diego, and many more.
Benny Beaver—installed in OSU’s Valley Football Center, is her most recent installation.