Fertitta Center

Whatever happened to the statue of Roy Hofheinz that was supposed to be placed in front of the Fertitta Center; or the renaming of Holman Street in front of the center to Hofheinz Street?

Does anyone know?

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Wonder if it’ll come next year, but the statue was almost done last year:

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Story said it was almost done in clay form and then it would be sent to a foundry to be set in bronze. And that would take 3-6 months. Guessing a fall unveiling.

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With all due respect to the Hofheinz family, I think the statue is a bit over board. They’re renaming the street, I think that’s more than plenty.

Hofheinz was a legendary player in Houston’s growth into a world-class sports entertainment city. And was renown for his success in radio and other communication media.

He is a giant in Houston sports history and put his resources behind developing UH into a great sports university.

If I could get a replica of that statue I’d put it in my ### yard.

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I know his background and the tremendous things he did for the city. I just think a statue of him would probably be better at city hall versus at UH. But to each his own. I guess I opened a can of worms with this one.

You sure did open a can of worms…read and research what he did for his alma mater.

from his donation to build Hofeinz Pavillion to how he was instrumental in UH using the Astrodome to play its home football games and the UH game of the century.

if you could name 5 men who put UH on the map Athletically…it would be

Corby Robertson
Roy Hofeinz
Bill Yoeman
Guy Lewis
Dave Williams

we don’t have too many pioneers and my friend Roy Hofeinz was a giant political machine…read your history!!!

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I should have checked the history more. I didn’t know that he was a Coog and did those specific things for the University.
P.S- I would argue that John Moores belongs in that group.

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And speaking of statues…the great statue of the cougar that was in the old University Center atrium has been kept in storage for some reason for nearly eight years now.

http://thedailycougar.com/2012/08/27/uc-statue-story-closed/

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Don’t forget about Harry Fouke!

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Add Harry Fouke.

I love that statue. A cougar mauling a Longhorn as it cries out in pain.

They need to find a place for it, especially after the failed UT-Houston strike.

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I will call it now…Renu Kahtor and Tillman Fertitta later down the road.
If we are lucky maybe even discussing coaches Dana Holgorsen, Kelvin Sampson and Leroy Burrell in our future.

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INDEED; without his leadership, we would have NO athletics of any kind! I have been trying for years to get someone interested in naming The Athletics Alumni Building (HATE that name!) after Harry Fouke.

After all, they used to have a building named after him, but they tore that one down when they built the new horribly-named building. Since donors of the new building did not want that one named for themselves, the University missed a golden opportunity to name it for Harry Fouke; they hung that horrible name on the building instead!

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The Judge gave UH a million dollars when no one was giving any school anything like that kind of money. He was a huge part of our rise to prominence

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Iol…UH, you didn’t know the Pandora’s Box you were opening.

lol yeah I really didn’t…I knew Hofheinz did many important things in the city, one being the construction of the dome but I didn’t know that he was so connected to UH. I though he just had naming rights to the building.I was wrong. It is what is. Therefore, I questioned why a statue was warranted. It obviously ruffled some feathers. My bad.

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Regardless of what one thinks about it, it was part of the deal to renaming the Fertitta Center. We should always honor our word.

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Could we maybe knock out some shrubs or trees and put in a statue of a palm tree?

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To add to this, if you recall the Estate of Hofeinz sued the school as they claim since we were renovating and not building a brand new arena UH could not change the name…the School and Hofeinz’ family settled and agreed to create a small area dedicated to the late judge which included some type of statue in dedication.

All is well…no one’s feathers ruffled just a trip down memory and history lane!!!

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