Kalas fans hope to honor him with statue

Philadelphia’s late great Phillies sportscaster – Harry Kalas – could soon be honored with a statue created by his fans.

Philadelphia’s late great Phillies sportscaster – Harry Kalas – could soon be honored with a statue created by his fans. Right after Kalas passed away earlier this year, a sculptor began tinkering with clay portaits of him in his spare time. Now, interest in a sculpture of the Phillies fixture is building.

The sculptor is Philadelphia native Lawrence Nowlan – now living in Vermont. Until last month he believed his idea of a sculpture was a pipe dream until he learned of an online petition asking if fans wanted to memorialize Kalas.

Nowlan has already created the pose – it’s Harry standing casually, leaning on a baseball bat with one foot kicked over the other.

Nowlan: The pose reflects how comfortable we all felt with Harry. I always felt he was like a friend or an uncle who got to sneak into the ballpark and let us know what’s going on. He was much more of a fan than an employee.

The ad-hoc “Dear Harry Inc.” has already raised several thousand dollars. It’ll cost $80,000 to build the 7 foot bronze statue, which will be given to the Phillies as a gift.