PROVO, Utah — As Utah's team continues to prepare for their games in the Little League World Series, another Utahn is packing up his art supplies and also heading to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to cast his mark on the town.
“A funny story: My dad hired a sculptor to do some things and I was kind of watching the process,” sculptor Matt Glenn said of how he got started. "One night, I took home a box of clay and started about 4:00 in the afternoon sculpted through the night, and then my first bust of Porter Rockwell, and from there on I was just, like, addicted.”
In his Provo studio, Glenn is working on some larger-than-life characters. But as he works, his mind drifts to thoughts of baseball.
“The great thing about baseball is it really, in my opinion, brings families together,” he said. "You come out to watch the little brother or your cousin or whoever it may be, and you go to the ballpark and have a have a hot dog and some popcorn and you relax, but you're with your family.”
While he loves the game, it is especially important right now with Utah's team heading to the Little League World Series.
But Glenn will also be a part of this year's event because one of his statues will be unveiled Saturday in Williamsport.
“There's going to be a life-size sculpture of George W. Bush, Jackie Robinson and Cy Young," he said. “So the unique thing about the piece is that all three of those men visited the Little League World Series at some point in their life.”
He started working on the piece in February before any pitches were thrown for the season, and it's been a marathon to get it done.
The idea behind the sculpture is that the three men, all of whom are important parts of baseball history, are talking to each other while watching a game and sharing baseball stories.
All three were part of Little League World Series history. Bush and Young were fans and supporters and visited the Series. Robison covered the games as a reporter after his historic baseball career.
But this won't be Glenn's first piece in Williamsport. In 2014, as a part of the 75th anniversary, he built statues using his sons as models that now adorn the birthplace of Little League baseball.
“They were able to come into the studio and put on the old-school baseball uniforms, and it was a great opportunity," he said. "So when you drive into Williamsport, the first intersection you come to, there's actually a baseball diamond, and on each corner, there's a base, so as you walk through the city, you can see the whole game and process.”
Now, the three baseball icons can watch that game that is cast in bronze for all time.
The final piece will be unveiled this weekend, and Glenn will also be there to cheer on Utah's Little League team and offer support for 12-year-old Easton Oliverson, who is recovering from a serious head injury he suffered on the night they arrived.
So as eyes turn to the historic event, Glenn is proud to represent Utah as the master behind the many sculptures that will forever be a part of the game.
“We get great baseball players out of Utah and we have some great artists that come out of Utah as well," he said.
