Hunzinger Construction Company had the honor of installing internationally renowned sculptor Richard Edelman’s latest work entitled Shofar Maccabi at the Bradley Center for the Sunday, August 2nd Opening Ceremonies of the JCC’s Maccabi Games. The sculpture was temporarily installed and outfitted with propane to serve as the caldron to be lit to start the games. At 5AM the next morning, a crew from Hunzinger moved the statue to its permanent home at the Jewish Community Center located at 6255 North Santa Monica Boulevard in Whitefish Bay, WI.
The JCC Maccabi Games is the largest Jewish youth event in the world and is being held throughout Milwaukee from August 2-7, 2015. Our community is welcoming over 1,000 visiting Jewish teens from across the globe. This international event includes 500 host families, 1,000 volunteers and 200 local teen athletes. It is five day athletic competition and community event that will see athletes from around the world compete in sports ranging from soccer to tennis to swimming and more. Along the way, they’ll experience Rachmanus (compassion) during the competition, Tikkun Olam (Repair the World) during the community action projects known as “JCC Cares”, and Amiut Yehudit (Jewish Peoplehood) during unique experiences that strengthen their connection to each other, their communities, and Israel.
Hunzinger is proud to have installed the Shofar Maccabi Sculpture which memorializes the 11 Israeli Olympic athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. The metal sculpture is comprised on 11 “Olympic rings” each representing a lost Israeli Olympian. Each ring was cut into multiple pieces and re-formed into an elongated inter-laced statue reaching upward, 17 feet into the air.
Hunzinger estimator, Brent Arnold, coordinated our team’s volunteer efforts to engineer the sculpture’s temporary and permanent foundations along with the multiple transports from its Jackson, WI studio to the Bradley Center and then the Bradley Center to the Jewish Community Center. Our efforts began a couple of months ago when we poured the foundation and prepped the site for landscaping. Hunzinger Field Superintendent, Will Wright, led our installation team of Dan Oderman and Larry Wenzel. Artist Richard Edelman said he was, “impressed with our people’s ability to handle the fragile piece of art without incident” and noted that, “even if the sculpture had been made of glass, it would have been installed safely because the Hunzinger people were so skilled and careful.” He said that our people did an “incredible, incredible job”.
For more information on the games or click here to see media coverage of the Maccabi Games.