Why is there a statue of a giant golf ball on Humboldt Street?

Why is there a statue of a giant golf ball on Humboldt Street?

Artist: Lisa Robinson [Photos: David Kramer, 523/2019]

Outside WROC’s headquarters on Humboldt Street Artist: Lisa Robinson [Photos: David Kramer, 5/23/2019]

The other day when walking past WROC’s headquarters on Humboldt Street, I glimpsed an odd looking 5 or 6 foot statue that from a distance resembled a scoop of ice cream on a cone.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered the fiberglass statue is an artist’s rendition of a giant golf ball on a tee on which an image of the Oak Hill Country Club clubhouse and its surrounding area is painted.

pga

Given that the Senior PGA begins today at Oak Hill, my interest was piqued when reading the accompanying plaque explaining the statue was created in 2013 by Lisa Robinson as part of “Golf Balls on Parade,” coinciding with the 2013 PGA Championship held at Oak Hill.

To learn more, I turned to Lauren Dixon, CEO of Dixon Schwabl Advertising. Lauren explained that in the spring of 2013, 100 limited-edition, 5-foot-tall fiberglass golf balls on tees were created and showcased throughout Western New York with a couple of dozen in the Greater Rochester area. The initiative was a community-relations arts project supporting upstate New York nonprofits on behalf of the 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Dixon Schwabl helped advertise and market the project that Lauren very much enjoyed.

A 3-foot-tall Jim Boeheim golf ball created by Rolling Stone magazine sketch artist Philip Burke as part of Golf Balls on Parade (2012)

A 5-foot-tall Jim Boeheim golf ball created by Rolling Stone magazine sketch artist Philip Burke as part of Golf Balls on Parade (2012, Nunes Magician)

After the tournament, the statues were auctioned to the general public. A portion of the sale of each artist-decorated golf ball was split equally among four charities: Hillside Work Scholarship Connection, Golisano Children’s Hospital, Reach for the Green, and the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation. As Lauren says, philanthropically motivated and avid golf fans were the primary purchasers. The statues are now mostly in private collections.

I wondered if the Humboldt Street statue is the only one still publically displayed in its original location. Lauren is pretty sure it is. I also spoke with WROC’s sportscaster Thad Brown who covered the 2013 PGA and will be covering the current Senior PGA. Thad is also pretty sure the statue is the last one still showcased.

So, that’s why there a statue of a giant golf ball on Humboldt Street.

ALSO ON GOLF SEE Having defeated Trump in 1961, Rochestarian Peter Roby welcomes a rematch

Peter Roby when winning the CC of Rochester Invitation in the ’90’s.

Peter Roby when winning the CC of Rochester Invitation in the ’90’s. From Having defeated Trump in 1961, Rochestarian Peter Roby welcomes a rematch

 

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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