Poway dedicates Tony Gwynn statue, plaza
What would have been Tony Gwynn’s 57th birthday was celebrated Tuesday with the unveiling and dedication of a Lake Poway statue and plaza honoring the baseball player, family man and community member.
The 11-foot-tall bronze statue by Texas artist Seth Vandable shows Gwynn in his San Diego Padres uniform tipping his cap with his left hand and holding his young daughter in his right arm. The statue is the centerpiece of a baseball-shaped concrete plaza near the park’s baseball field and concession stand. A donor wall lists the names of those who contributed over $190,000 toward the monument’s costs. Also recognized are businesses that donated an estimated $108,000 in goods and services.
“If it brings back a cherished memory, then the piece is successful,” Vandable told several hundred people who attended the Tuesday morning ceremony under cloudy skies.
Gwynn spent all 20 years of his career as a Padre, earning eight batting championships, five Golden Glove awards for his defense and 15 All-Star selections. He raised his family in Poway and was often spotted attending a game at Poway High School or shopping at a local market. After retiring in 2001 he served as head baseball coach at his alma mater, San Diego State University, until succumbing to cancer in 2014. In 2007 he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Last year the annual award given to the National League player with the highest batting average was named in his honor.
But Gwynn was much more than an outstanding baseball player, legendary sports broadcaster Dick Enberg reminded the dedication crowd. Gwynn, he said, was a “great hearted” individual who loved his family and the Poway community. Enberg, also a Hall of Fame member, recounted a day when he and Gwynn were walking toward the Petco Park broadcast booth and how people wanting Gwynn’s autograph were slowing the pace. Later, when Enberg asked Gwynn if he ever tired of signing, Gwynn replied “My goal is for everyone in San Diego County wanting an autograph to get one.”
“I know that Tony is looking down today and is smiling,” said John Boggs, Gwynn’s longtime friend and agent. He said that Vandable’s statue showing him holding his now-grown daughter, Anisha, was appropriate because “Tony’s love of family was off the charts.” Boggs said there was talk of “Mr. Padre” leaving the Padres near the end of his career, perhaps for a contending team, but that Gwynn knew that would not happen.
“San Diego was always in his heart,” Boggs said. “The San Diego Padres were always number one.”
Gwynn’s son, Tony Jr., recalled he was 17 when his father toyed with the idea of leaving for another team. He said he urged his father – daily – to do so. It wasn’t until he watched his father enter the Hall of Fame that he said he understood loyalty.
“I totally get it now,” he said.
Mayor Steve Vaus emceed the event. Of the statue and plaza he asked, “What better way to honor a life well lived?”
Alicia and Anisha Gwynn also spoke, thanking the Poway community for its support both now and when their husband and father was alive.
“Poway is my home,” Alicia said. “It will be my home … until God calls me home.”
The path leading to Tuesday’s dedication started in June 2014 when the City Council asked the Community Services Department to come up with a design for a tribute to Gwynn. A modest, initial proposal called for a bronze plaque on a large boulder. That idea was rejected a few months later.
In October 2015 the council hired a consultant to shepherd the process through the design and construction phases. A nationwide call for interested artists was put out in January 2016 and resulted in nearly 200 applications. The list was narrowed down to seven finalists, whose proposals were reviewed by a panel including Gwynn family members, local art experts and Vaus.
On Tuesday, Vaus said Vandable’s proposal was the first of seven to be considered by the panel. He recalled that when a slide of a clay model was put up on the screen, “I swear, all the air went out of the room … it was a snapshot of Tony’s life.”
At the end of the ceremony small replicas of the statue, called “maquettes,” were presented to top donors Alexander and Heather Favelukis, Alexander and Amber Pellegrino and Swinerton Builders. Another was given to the Gwynn family. Vaus offered a fourth maquette to anyone willing to donate $10,000 toward plaza maintenance costs. “Within 30 seconds,” he said, the offer was accepted by Poway residents Bill and Tina Howe.
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