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A statue of two ambassadors of the University of Florida was revealed in a ceremony held August 27, 2003 at the UF Gator Club Plaza next to Emerson Alumni Hall. However, the bronze representatives weren’t wearing a suit and tie like most of the statues around campus.
Life-sized versions of Albert and Alberta, the university’s alligator mascots, were unveiled in a brief ceremony with speakers including UF President Charles Young, Wayne McDaniel, executive director of the UF Alumni Association, and Carol Mayer, vice president of sales for the American Bronze Foundry Inc., the company commissioned to create the statue. Representatives from the two companies that funded the project, Charles Perry Construction and Robinshore, Inc. also spoke.
“The statue will serve as a meeting spot before football games and will make for great photos,” McDaniel said. “With the two gators holding hands, it makes the perfect space for someone to step in and have their photo taken with UF’s most recognizable ambassadors.”
Charles Perry Construction, builders of Emerson Alumni Hall last year, and Robinshore Inc. donated $75,000 for the statue and the masonry pedestal.
The American Bronze Foundry, based in Sanford, Florida, created the statues using genuine Albert and Alberta costumes. Artist Peter Forster packed the suits with foam, shaped them to look like the real thing and layered them with clay that was then sculpted. The foundry used the “lost wax” process of bronze casting to create the sculptures in sections, which were later welded together to create the whole statues.
“People will say, ‘Meet me at Albert and Alberta by Emerson,’ and everyone will know exactly where it is,” McDaniel said.