In French, "le mieux" means "the best," and to reflect on one of the best careers in hockey, the statue, titled "Le Magnifique," was unveiled today outside of the CONSOL Energy Center in honor of Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux.
The image for the sculpture was taken from a 1988 Sports Illustrated photo that depicts Lemieux skating between two New York Islander defenders before scoring one of his 690 regular season career goals. David Morehouse, President and Chief Executive Officer for the Pittsburgh Penguins, said they picked that image for a reason.
"We wanted to choose something that not only captured his career on the ice, but actually encapsulated his life off the ice, too," Morehouse said.
Morehouse added that picking an image for the statue was not the only challenge in the project. He said it took some convincing to get Lemieux to allow the owners to go through with the idea.
The Pittsburgh Penguins chose Lemieux as their first overall draft pick in 1984, and Lemieux reflected on his first Pittsburgh visit.
"[I] remember driving from the airport to downtown and not knowing how my career was going to turn out, not knowing anything about the city of Pittsburgh," Lemieux said. "I remember driving through the Pitt Tunnel and seeing the city for the first time. That's when I fell in love with the city of Pittsburgh."
Lemieux added that he could not have accomplished much without the support of his family, teammates, parents, and others.
The statue was made by bronze sculptor Bruce Wolfe, who has created similar sculptures of sports figures like Lamar Hunt and political figures like Margaret Thatcher. James Frederick, of the James Gallery in Pittsburgh, was the art consultant for the project.
