The group spearheading a project to honor the Miracle on Ice Hockey team with a permanent monument accepted its first fundraising check today in Lake Placid.
Hailed as the Miracle on Ice, the U.S. hockey team’s unexpected victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics is nearing its 50th anniversary.
A five-year plan is underway to create a life-size bronze statue depicting all twenty players as they celebrated on the gold-medal podium following their win. To complete the sculpture, more than $5 million must be raised.
The Uihlein Foundation, a Lake Placid philanthropic organization, presented a $125,000 check to the Friends of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Hockey Team to kick off the Monument to a Miracle effort. Friends Chair Jeff Potter said it is a remarkable start to the project.
“Our hope is this is the first step which will inspire others in the community, the greater Olympic region, across New York State and around the nation to get behind our efforts,” Potter said. “We have 4-and-a-half years to get this done and we will need everyone’s support.”
Uihlein Foundation CEO Jim McKenna said they are proud to support the project which celebrates Lake Placid’s Olympic legacy.
“Henry Uihlein, the founder, is the person responsible for bringing in the first international winter sports event here back in 1920. In addition to that 99 years ago Henry was also the person that sponsored Charlie Jewtraw, a native Lake Placid speedskater. He sent Charlie to the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924 and Charlie won the gold medal. The foundation feels that this is continuing the legacy that Henry started with the connection of international sports and the Olympic Winter Games,” McKenna explained.
Sculptor Rob Eccleston said he met with the Miracle on Ice team as he developed the design for the sculpture.
“I came up with a couple of sketches. One based on them in their hockey uniforms so everyone would know the individual’s names. And one being the iconic photograph where they’re on the podium. And they unanimously said it’s not about us. It’s about the team. It’s about the United States Olympic team and we want the USA to be highlighted and not our individual names. That’s what we want. And that’s what we went with,” Eccleston recalled. “So that speaks to them and it’s an honor to do this for them because they’re such a humble group of great guys.”
Friends of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Hockey Team says while many individual sports figures have been honored with a statue, this is the first time an entire team has been cast in one life-size sculpture. Eccleston says he has finished four of the 20 members of the team.
“The goal, if everything works to plan, is that I will do 7 to 8 figures this first year and then we will start the process of casting those. So that way the foundry is working on those while I’m working on the next group of figures,” Eccleston said. “We’re trying to mimic the event. So the granite podium will not only be for the statue, but the bronze and the silver podiums will be there on both sides like it was during the games. So that way people could take selfies next to the 1980 Olympic team.”
A separate statue of speedskater Eric Heiden, who won multiple individual gold medals and set 4 Olympic records in 1980, will also be crafted by Eccleston.
“The team was pretty adamant about having Eric Heiden honored because of the 5 medals that he won,” Eccleston said. “Once again, it speaks to the 80 team. It’s just not about them. They want to honor him as well.”
Monument to a Miracle is planned to be unveiled in February 2030 during the 50th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice victory.
