{"id":412341,"date":"2026-08-20T23:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412341\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T23:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:50:12","slug":"texas-football-bronze-statue-of-a-longhorn-is-newest-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412341\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas football: Bronze statue of a Longhorn is newest addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN \u2014 Texas<\/a> unveiled a new 1,200-pound longhorn steer complete with an impressive 8-foot wingspan in the lobby at its Moncrief Complex football home Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

One of the bronze variety.<\/p>\n

The sculpture of the iconic Texas mascot arrived and was secured in place at its new home amidst individual and team trophies and video boards in the spacious lobby leading into the recruiting lounge.<\/p>\n

Steve Sarkisian<\/a> took one look at the new home decor after Thursday\u2019s practice and said, \u201cThat\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The addition came courtesy of mega booster and Texas graduate Bill Duvall, the former president of Lincoln Property<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s largest, diversified commercial real estate companies that does business worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was Steve\u2019s brainchild,\u201d said John Bianco, Texas\u2019 long-time sports information director. \u201cWhen you walk in, he wanted people to feel something impactful.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar 8-foot longhorn statue created by Dick Idol that once stood sentry outside the since-demolished Erwin Center basketball arena for years now resides as a centerpiece inside the $17.1 million Frank Dennis Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in the north end zone of Royal-Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n

Duvall has been one of Texas\u2019 most influential donors and a constant at Longhorn football and basketball games. He also donated similar longhorn statues for the Texas Golf Club in northwest Austin that decorate the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat thing\u2019s a beauty,\u201d Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said of the new longhorn steer that greets visitors to Moncrief Complex. \u201cIt\u2019s a classic. Coach said it\u2019d be cool to have a longhorn in the lobby.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea originated in Sarkisian\u2019s mind and led to a conversation between Del Conte and Duvall as long ago as last January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I got a phone call from Bill on Tuesday, and he asked me, \u2018Where do you want it?\u2019 \u201c Del Conte said. \u201cSo I called Steve and told him to go put an X where he wants it. That\u2019s a Duvall special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duvall and friend Baker Montgomery have been ubiquitous fans both home and away. Del Conte said, \u201cWe\u2019ll be playing a basketball game, say, in Minnesota, and Bill will be flying back from China and show up at the game.\u201d Duvall was such a close friend and supporter of former basketball coach Rick Barnes that he\u2019ll attend some Barnes\u2019 Tennessee games.<\/p>\n

Former athletic director DeLoss Dodds once joked when the duo walked in at a hastily called press conference in November 2008 announcing then defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as head coach-in-waiting, \u201cWell, the team owners are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Conte never starts a project on the Forty Acres that doesn\u2019t involve Duvall in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a man who loves this institution. He just loves it,\u201d Del Conte said. \u201cBill Duvall is one of the most selfless individuals I know. He just gives of his time, treasures and talents. It\u2019s unbelievable. This statue is a perfect example of that. An absolute treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duvall couldn\u2019t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN \u2014 Texas unveiled a new 1,200-pound longhorn steer complete with an impressive 8-foot wingspan in the lobby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-412341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}