For Immediate Release
March 8, 2004
Wichita State to Unveil Baseball Mural on March 13
WICHITA, Kan. -- Wichita State will unveil an art mural tribute to Shocker baseball on Saturday, March 13, at 1:15 p.m. at Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field. The unveiling will precede the 2 p.m. game between WSU and Sam Houston State.
"This one of a kind mural is another symbol of this program’s continuing success," said WSU head coach Gene Stephenson. "I personally am as anxious to see the finished product as anyone. It should be a marvelous tribute to all Shocker baseball alumni who have made WSU the winningest program in America."
The mural, which is 78’-8” x 10’, will be the largest on campus sports art mural in the United States. It will hang in the concourse of Eck Stadium. The mural art features tributes to all of the Shocker All-Americans and other noteworthy baseball players and includes graphics devoted to the Shockers 1989 College World Series championship.
The mural was prepared by Ted Watts, the nationally famous sports artist from Oswego, Kan. Watts has completed two other murals in the past six years. His Oklahoma football mural on display in the Barry Switzer Center at Memorial Stadium was completed in December 1998 and updated in 2002. A tribute to Texas Christian football was unveiled in September 2000 in the John Justin Center.
"The quality of the WSU baseball art rivals other mural art that I have done in recent years," Watts said. "In fact, it may be a bit better. The Shocker baseball art is two and a half times larger than the Oklahoma football art and that was the largest piece that I had done before WSU."
Watts will be at the mural unveiling on Saturday along with a number of Shocker baseball All-Americans and others featured in the mural art.
The Diane Cline family of Wichita in association with WSU commissioned the work as a memorial tribute to the late Grant Davis, a long time and faithful WSU baseball supporter.