![\"largerThanLife\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/largerThanLife.jpg\")
<\/a>of coach Erk Russell he wanted to erect. But less than a year later, Sills has raised $60,000 of the estimated $80,000 needed to construct the monument at Paulson Stadium.<\/p>\nA Georgia Southern Athletic Foundation board member, Sills sees the job as a personal duty to his alma mater.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt not only honors a legend, which is what we should do, it gives our stadium the presence and pageantry of the game; and you can\u2019t beat the pageantry of the game of college football,\u201d Sills said.<\/p>\n
Sills has managed to get some big names in football to reach into their pockets to show their appreciation for Russell. Former colleague of Russell and University of Georgia head football coach Vince Dooley; ESPN Game Day contributor, Tony Barnhart; former Auburn defensive coordinator and Eagle coach Hugh Nall; and former Eagle head coach Paul Johnson are among the contributors to Russell\u2019s monument.<\/p>\n
Sills has been discussing with fellow University alumnus Brandon Boyd the idea of Boyd\u2019s business donating the base of the statue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would polish the granite and etch in the \u2018We\u2019re Georgia Southern\u2019 quote from Erk,\u201d Sills said. There are several options for the statue\u2019s design, but Sills says one strong consideration is Russell wearing his iconic \u201cOne More Time\u201d t-shirt, which the coach sported during Georgia Southern\u2019s win in the 1989 FCS National Championship game.<\/p>\n
In January, Sills gave sculptor Stan Mullins a guided tour of campus to introduce him to Georgia Southern\u2019s history and traditions. The experience included a visit to Russell\u2019s bust at Paulson Stadium and the coach\u2019s artifacts in the football office. Mullins created the likeness of Georgia coach Vince Dooley in Athens.<\/p>\n
Sills has plans to hold additional fundraisers to complete the project. One possibility includes selling \u201cOne More Time\u201d t-shirts and hosting another \u201cEagles for Erk\u201d barbecue and pig patty party. Last year\u2019s creative benefit raised almost $20,000 toward the project.<\/p>\n
Sills is hoping that the statue can be finished in time for the 2012 season.<\/p>\n
One thing is certain \u2013 he will remain steadfast in his mission to honor a football legend, and won\u2019t quit until the job is done.<\/p>\n
For more information, call the Athletic Foundation at 912-478-5520.<\/p>\n
\u2014Matthew D\u2019La Rotta<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drive To Construct Erk Statue Nearing Goal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-spring-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}