Mario Lemieux stands tall in Pittsburgh -- and so does his statue

Mario Lemieux owns hockey in Pittsburgh -- and that’s not just because he bought the Penguins more than a decade ago.

The man who brought three Stanley Cups to the city -- two as a player and one as an owner -- has now been immortalized with a statue outside of Consol Energy Center, the home of the Penguins.

The 10-foot-plus, 4,700-pound statue was unveiled Wednesday during a ceremony that included Lemieux, Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

“When they have a statue like this in your honor, it’s something special for myself, my family and, of course, the fans who have followed my career,” Lemieux told the large crowd.

Nonetheless, it took years of convincing before Lemieux finally allowed the statue to be created in his honor. “He said he didn’t want it five times, so Ron Burkle finally told him we were going to do it anyway,” Penguins CEO and president David Morehouse said.

The statue, called “Le Magnifique,” was sculpted by Bruce Wolfe based on a picture that ran in Sports Illustrated of a breakaway goal by Lemieux in 1988. In the play, Lemieux split New York Islanders defensemen Rich Pilon and Jeff Norton, who then collided as Lemieux was scoring the goal.

Lemieux is widely credited for hockey’s tremendous popularity in Pittsburgh. Not only did he have a storied playing career, which six Art Ross Trophies as the league’s leading scorer and three Hart Trophies as MVP, he purchased the team out of bankruptcy in 1999 and later helped keep it in town by getting the current arena built.

“He played for the team, he bought the team, he owns the team, he IS the team,” said Mike Lange, the Penguins announcer and the host of Wednesday’s ceremony.

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