Kalas, Frazier Sculptor Passes Away at 48

Sculptor Larry Nowlan, perhaps best known around these parts for his Harry Kalas statue at Citizen’s Bank Park and the uncompleted Joe Frazier statue, passed away in his New Hampshire home last week. He was 48.

Nowlan, a graduate of Millersville University, started his career as a designer and art director at an ad agency in town, but found the work miserable. Luckily, inspiration struck at the viewing of the Auguste Rodin museum, with Nowlan finding the perfect call against the abstraction that plagued his advertising career. An instructor at a sculpture night class at the Academy of Fine Arts pushed Nowlan to attend art school, which he pursued at the New York Academy of Art before moving to New Hampshire in 1995.

The long-awaited Joe Frazier statue, which Nowlan started work on back in April, for now, appears to be at a stand still. Which, of course, begs the larger question: Who will sculpt Philadelphia’s idols now? [Valley News]