- Utah artist Blair Buswell — a former BYU football player — has sculpted the bronze busts of more than 130 players on permanent display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Buswell has also crafted the busts of three Latter-day Saint leaders — Presidents Harold B. Lee, Thomas S. Monson and Russell M. Nelson.
- The Pleasant Grove-based figurative sculptor combines his athletic background with his artistic talents to create his unique works.
PLEASANT GROVE — When Blair Buswell was a BYU running back in the early 1980s, a team surgeon devised makeshift protective hand pads for him.
The doc wasn’t worried about Buswell fumbling the ball — he simply wanted to protect the hands of a promising young sculptor from being stomped on by 300-pound linemen.
“He would check me out before the game, shake his head and say ‘You’re stupid to be out there,’” recalled Buswell, laughing.
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, points out details of one of his Native American pieces in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Buswell’s artistic mitts have proven to be his meal ticket — and have given him access to a roster of celebrated folks, including golf’s Jack Nicklaus, actor Charlton Heston, scores of pro football greats and a few Latter-day Saint prophets.
For decades, the North Ogden native and returned missionary has been the lead sculptor for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
To date, Buswell has sculpted more than 130 busts of Hall of Fame inductees that are on permanent display at the famed Canton, Ohio, museum — about a third of the collection.
When Class of 2025 inductees Eric Allen and Jared Allen unveil their bronze busts later this week, they will be seeing Buswell’s work.
But Buswell’s creations in bronze, capturing some of America’s most legendary sports figures, stretch beyond the gridiron.
His life-size-plus figure of “The Golden Bear” raising his Masters-winning putt is aptly on display in Augusta — while statues of basketball’s John Wooden and Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle are found outside UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion and Oklahoma’s RedHawks Field, respectively.
And countless Utah State football fans have snapped selfies with Buswell’s larger-than-life statue of Aggie legend Merlin Olsen, located at Romney Stadium.
He’s also sculpted icons Oscar Robertson, Bear Bryant, Warren Miller, Doak Walker and others.
Meanwhile, his bronze busts of President Harold B. Lee, President Thomas S. Monson and President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are prominently displayed in the “Hall of the Prophets” in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
Not bad for a dentist’s kid from Weber County.
“I still pinch myself,” admits Buswell.
Busts sculpted by Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News An artist in cleats and shoulder pads
Buswell’s athletic/artistic journey, culminating with his ongoing connection to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was one of those “Talent plus Preparation plus Opportunity” stories that belongs in a movie.
But first, rewind several years.
Art and athletics both came naturally to Buswell while a child growing up in northern Utah.
“I made my toys out of clay — cowboys and Indians and race cars,” he told the Deseret News.
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, talks about some of his pieces in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
To keep young Blair quiet during church services, his mother, LauRene Buswell, would hand him a Sucrets lozenges tin filled with molding clay and flat toothpicks — “and then I’d make my toys right there in church.”
Buswell was also a gifted athlete. His two passions — arts and athletics — he said, “went hand-in-hand.”
At Weber High School, Buswell was that rare student who claimed All-State honors in football and track — and was also the school’s Sterling Scholar in art.
He was recruited to play football by the local universities. “But they were looking at me for down the line, and I wanted to play right away.”
So he took his diverse talents to Ricks College on a combined athletic-art-academic scholarship. After enjoying football success for the Vikings, he enrolled for a short time at Utah State University — primarily to study at the school’s renowned illustration and design program.
Following a Latter-day Saint mission to Washington, D.C., Buswell decided to play for BYU on pass-happy Cougar squads that included Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young and Robbie Bosco.
“So, if and when I ever got in, I blocked,” he said, smiling.
Buswell jokes that he was a favorite of BYU head coach LaVell Edwards.
“LaVell liked me because I was free — I was on an art scholarship,” he said. “I played three years of Division 1 football on an art scholarship.
“Don’t know many who have done that.”
During his senior year, the Cougar running back even taught a BYU night class in sculpting.
Buswell’s early sculptures were primarily Western-themed pieces. (He’s since become nationally renowned in the Western art community.) “But I really wanted to do sports action.”
His first bronze was the “Competitor Award” trophy that he sculpted for the Cougar Club.
The recipient of that first trophy? Former BYU linebacker — and current University of Utah head coach — Kyle Whittingham.
Unexpected patrons: Coach Bill Walsh and 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr.
During his senior year in 1982, Buswell was approached by three-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Walsh at BYU’s annual Cougar Club Banquet.
Walsh was the banquet’s guest speaker and had learned of Buswell’s skill as a sculptor.
“After the banquet, Coach Walsh grabbed me and asked me if I would consider doing a sculpture of Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the owner of the San Francisco 49ers, as a gift to him for winning the Super Bowl,” recalled Buswell.
Buswell immediately accepted the unexpected commission. He would ultimately sculpt busts of both DeBartolo and Walsh. “I called them a ‘World Championship Combination.’”
Buswell flew to DeBartolo’s hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, to present the 49ers owner with his copy of the sculpture. Thrilled with the bust, DeBartalo asked the young artist what he hoped to do with his talent.
“My dream is to work for the NFL,” replied Buswell, “especially for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”
Debartolo smiled, picked up his phone, called the Pro Football Hall of Fame director Peter Elliot and said that there was a young man that he needed to meet named Blair Buswell.
Canton was only an hour’s drive from Youngstown.
“So I drove to the Hall of Fame and they hired me — that was 43 years ago,” recalled Buswell, who still shakes his head while remembering that life-changing moment.
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, talks about some of his pieces in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News Welcoming pro football’s titans — to Pleasant Grove
Buswell’s first Hall of Fame inductee sculpture was of veteran NFL coach Sid Gillman in 1983.
That same year, he received a piece of advice from Hall of Fame inductee Merlin Olsen that still serves him well.
“Merlin pulled me aside and told me, ‘If it’s possible, let the inductees see what you’re doing before it’s unveiled so you can make any changes, if needed.”
Buswell agreed with Olsen. Each inductee’s bust would be forever seen by legions of pro football fans — so it’s essential that the athlete is satisfied with the end result.
So each year, Buswell arranges time to consult with each of the inductees he’s assigned to sculpt. He collects initial measurements during the week after the Super Bowl after each new class of inductees is introduced. Afterward, he returns to Utah to get started on an early version of each bust.
Then the inductees will typically make a trip to Buswell’s studio, located in an industrial corner of Pleasant Grove.
Once inside Buswell’s “office,” the artist and the athlete work together to design the bust, bouncing around ideas on everything from facial expressions to hairstyles.
Prior to the posing sessions, Buswell will collate a picture board with images of the inductee from different football seasons and ages to help best inform their decisions.
“I’ll joke with them and ask, ‘Do you want to look like you want to bite someone’s head off? Or look happy? Or somewhere in between?’
Photos of some subjects of Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
“I tell the players I don’t want them to leave the studio until they are comfortable with the direction I’m going.”
As a former college football player, Buswell speaks fluent “gridiron” with his subjects while he’s working with them. That builds trust. It helps put the athletes at ease.
The artist remembers every posing session with the scores of players he has sculpted — but there are a few specific memories that still prompt a laugh and a smile:
- During a consultation with Hall of Fame inductee Terry Bradshaw, the former Steelers QB with the bayou-sized personality got a bit restless and invited Buswell to take a break from sculpting and catch a few passes.
“I’ve caught passes from some pretty good quarterbacks — Wilson, McMahon, Young, Bosco,” he said. “But I’ve never had a ball come at me like that. There was no rise or fall. Just bullets.”
When Buswell returned to Bradshaw’s bust, his hands were red and swollen.
- Hall of Fame inductee John Madden was famously afraid to fly,
So the NFL coaching/broadcast legend arrived at Buswell’s Pleasant Grove studio in his customized Greyhound bus dubbed the “Madden Cruiser.”
“Madden was as down home and as easy and comfortable to be with as anybody I’ve ever been with. Just chill and sincere. I fell in love with Madden as a person. He was really good to me.”
- While working with Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson in 1999, Buswell reminded the Southern Methodist University alum that the two were on opposing sidelines during the 1980 Holiday Bowl.
Dickerson ribbed Buswell about the game, saying that the late game touchdown reception by Cougar receiver Matt Braga was a “lucky catch.”
“I told Eric that Braga’s first seven or eight catches that season were all touchdowns. He only taught touchdowns. We called him ‘Touchdown Braga.’
“So we just had fun going back and forth.”
- Years before Steve Young was a Hall of Fame inductee, he was Buswell’s teammate at BYU.
Utah sculptor Blair Buswell shows Steve Young the bust of Young he created in his Pleasant Grove studio on June 30, 2005. The bust of Steve Young was placed at the NFL Hall of Fame when Young was inducted in August. | Stuart Johnson, Deseret News
The artist remembers bumping into his old quarterback shortly after Young had claimed his first NFL MVP award.
“I told him, ‘Steve, if you keep this MVP stuff up, you and I are gonna spend some time together,’” recalled Buswell. “Steve thought that was the biggest joke he had ever heard.”
Fast forward to 2005 when Young became the first left-handed quarterback to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The two men would meet again shortly after news broke of Young’s Hall of Fame selection.
“Steve gave me a big hug and said, “You told me I’d be here, and I didn’t believe you.
“That was a cool thing.”
And, as predicted, Buswell sculpted the bust of his old Cougar QB.
Young later narrated an ESPN-produced documentary about Buswell’s studio consultation with 2018 inductee Randy Moss.
Many of Buswell’s Hall of Fame subjects are now lifelong friends.
A month or so ago, he received a random text from Steeler icon Troy Polamalu standing in front of Buswell’s massive wagon train sculpture park installation in Omaha.
“What’s up, Bus?” read Polamalu’s text.
“And then,” Buswell added, laughing, “I’ll get a text from Warren Sapp while he’s scuba diving.”
Testimonies shared in bronze
Buswell’s artistic talent also affords him unique ways to share his faith.
While a full-time missionary in Washington, D.C., a local Latter-day Saint woman who was a high school ceramics teacher gave him 25 pounds of sculpting clay.
Elder Buswell spent his next Preparation Day sculpting a bust of an imagined church investigator he named “Mr. Brown.”
He began formulating ideas to blend his artistic talents with his missionary efforts.
“So I asked my mission president in an interview about doing a fireside and incorporating (his sculptures) with the missionary discussions about the Creation and the Apostasy and the Restoration.”
Enthused by the idea, President Lyle Ward arranged for a fireside in his home ward.
“It was a success,” remembered Buswell. “I did that fireside several times during my mission.”
Decades later, Buswell secured his first commission to sculpt the bust of a Latter-day Saint leader.
President Harold B. Lee had already died when Buswell began crafting his likeness for the “Hall of the Prophets.” So the artist worked closely with President Lee’s daughter and son-in-law to help him best represent, in bronze, the church’s 11th president.
He was able to collaborate directly with President Monson and President Nelson for their respective sculptures.
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, talks about some of his pieces in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Both church leaders came to Buswell’s Pleasant Grove studio for posing sessions. “And both men were great to work with.”
Buswell admits feeling a unique level of pressure while creating the busts of faith leaders beloved by millions of Latter-day Saints worldwide. But he’s learned to embrace the process.
The personal memories of associating with the church presidents and their families will remain with him forever.
“President Monson’s daughter (Ann M. Dibb) came up to me after we were finishing the final details on her father’s bust and said to me, ‘You captured my dad.’
Latter-Day Saint artist Blair Buswell works on a sculpture of President Thomas S. Monson in his Utah studio in 2011. | Courtesy of Blair Buswell
“That meant a lot to me.”
A sculptor’s legend-filled studio
Walking through Buswell’s Pleasant Grove studio doubles as a visit to a one-of-a-kind museum celebrating sport, faith and the American West.
Most prominent are replicas of his larger-than-life sculptures of a wagon train monument that are part of a sprawling installation in Omaha, Nebraska, commemorating the American Western migration.
Buswell was joined in the project by his friend and fellow sculptor, the late Ed Fraughton.
There are also heroic-sized clay reminders of his figurative work capturing his love of sports and his religious devotion.
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, talks about some of his pieces in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Buswell’s never really alone in his studio.
It’s populated with copies of his Hall of Fame inductee busts — including one of Deion Sanders sporting a red bandana.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame does not permit hats or other headwear to be included in its official bronze busts, so Buswell playfully added one to his completed “Primetime” sculpture — a sartorial tribute to the colorful defensive back-turned-college-coach.
A family man, Buswell and his wife, Julie, are the parents of three adult children.
“They all inherited the artistic gene,” he said. “They don’t want to be Dad. They don’t want to do sculpture. But they do drawing, design and photography.”
All of the NFL greats that Buswell has worked with have retired from the game.
But sculptors enjoy far longer professional shelf lives than football players. The former Weber High/BYU running back has not lost his artistic chops. That same enthusiasm he felt crafting his first Hall of Fame bust of Coach Gillman remains today.
“People ask me when I’m going to retire — and my joke is, ‘Not until Andy Reid retires,’” said Buswell.
“I need to do Andy before I retire.”
Blair Buswell, a former BYU football player turned professional sculptor, poses near several of his NFL Hall of Fame busts in his studio in Pleasant Grove on Monday, July 28, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News