A few weeks ago, a humongous hand-painted portrait of was hung on a wall outside his old Hamilton high school. It was designed to celebrate his being named most valuable player in the NBA. And honestly, it was amazing.
Don’t go looking for it, though. Because what’s left of it today is lying on the grass at the school in a crumpled pile.
It’s a real shame. So what’s going on?
The chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board says the mural — that was donated, installed and painted for hours at Sir Allan MacNab by shoe company Converse — was put up in a downpour. More wet weather that followed shortened its lifespan.
“We would have loved the temporary install to last a bit longer (until after the NBA Finals) but, due to its initial application in a downpour on his announcement day, the adhesive was affected,†trustee Maria Felix Miller wrote in an email to the Hamilton Spectator.
Note the word “temporary.†It was never intended to be up forever, she adds.
The mural of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that hung on the wall outside Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School.
The Hamilton Spectator file photoThat fact wasn’t clear to most around here — but if that was the plan all along, so be it.
That said, to just see it just lying like garbage on the grass is unfortunate. The subject of the piece just completed one of the greatest seasons in NBA history — and undoubtedly the — and yet the art celebrating the achievement ends up like a used Tim Hortons cup in a public park.
Though it was only meant for a limited run, that was never part of the plan, according to a Converse source who wouldn’t speak on the record because he’s not an official spokesperson.
“People would be outraged if this was Connor McDavid in Edmonton,†says Mike Morreale, commissioner of the Canadian Elite Basketball League.
“It’s shocking and totally disrespectful,†says longtime college referee and NBA supervisor Ron Foxcroft.
This is vaguely reminiscent of what happened a few years ago when all the Hamilton Bulldogs’ championship banners were found rolled up and collecting dust in the catwalk of what was then FirstOntario Centre.
Surely we have more regard for great achievements around here than this. You’d hope, anyway. Yet it’s long been an issue that we don’t do particularly well at marking Hamilton’s successes or holding them in the same way other places do.
The mural of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander that once hung on the wall of Sir Allan MacNab is now folded into a crumpled heap on the grass outside the school.Â
Scott Radley/The Hamilton SpectatorNearly four decades after the 1987 Canada Cup, there’s never been anything inside Copps/FirstOntario/TD Coliseum to mark it as the site of the Gretzky-to-Lemieux goal, one of the biggest moments in Canadian sports history.
Is there an obvious public marker at Hamilton Stadium about it being the home of the inaugural British Empire Games? Or the 1972 Grey Cup? How about something marking where the Hamilton Forum once stood since it was home to the city’s NHL team? Or something that identifies the spot at Wellington and Barton where the first goalie pads were made?
And now, a reminder of a spectacular accomplishment even more recent gets rolled up and left to lie in the rain, to the point it now seems unsalvageable. The material is all stuck together and would likely tear if anyone tried to untangle it.
Nobody’s suggesting anyone did this with malice. But even if someone comes and scoops it up now — which will happen — it doesn’t change the fact that until the issue was raised publicly, nobody thought it was an issue.
Bruce Arthur: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is part of NBA royalty now — but he still belongs to the GTA
Thunder star is the child of our Caribbean influence, soaring basketball culture and where people from many backgrounds come to live.
Bruce Arthur: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is part of NBA royalty now — but he still belongs to the GTA
Thunder star is the child of our Caribbean influence, soaring basketball culture and where people from many backgrounds come to live.
That’s the problem. That nobody seemed to even consider this might be a bad look. That the symbolism isn’t great.
While we’re working on getting better at this kind of stuff — hopefully we will — perhaps there’s a fix.
Since the mural was an ad for Converse shoes (Gilgeous-Alexander has a sneaker line coming out soon with them), the school board should see if the company will replicate the mural — directly on the wall this time — in exchange for allowing the logo to remain.
That way, both sides get something — one gets an ad for shoes, the other gets a permanent piece of art that’s meaningful, inspiring and a whole lot more interesting than a bare and grey brick wall.
And the community gets a reminder that this town produced someone who has done something uniquely spectacular.
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