Coach Maskill sculpture expected to be unveiled in the fall
Joshua Diedrich is pictured working on the Bill Maskill sculpture in his studio.
(Photo by Ian Jeffrey)By Bruce Rolfe
A Kalamazoo artist who has nearly completed a sculpture of legendary Galesburg-Augusta football coach Bill Maskill, said his overall experience with the family and making the sculpture, has been a pleasant one.
Joshua Diedrich said the Maskill family wanted to keep the sculpture making project local so they contacted him. He began discussions with the Maskill family in May, 2023 and started the design process in October. He has been working earnestly on the sculpture since the beginning of the year and was scheduled to have the family review the sculpture earlier this week to approve before he completes final detailing. He is currently negotiating with metal foundries for the bronze finishing process, He estimates the sculpture should be installed and unveiled at a home game this fall at Maskill Field.
Diedrich said he was honored to have the family commission him to make a sculpture of Maskill, who was respected and loved by so many.
“It goes with the job. This has been great because everyone is so universally celebrating him. He’s just so universally beloved. I haven’t heard a single bad thing about him. So that makes this kind of easy. It makes it tough because it means everyone has their own image in their mind of who he was and what he looked like. I think I’ve gone through 18 revisions on the portrait bust, just trying to really get it right and get the spirit just right,” offered Diedrich, who said revisions are common in the sculpture making process.
“It’s been really great. It’s been one of the best projects I’ve worked on in that respect just because the family’s behind it, the community’s behind it, the school is behind it. Everyone is thrilled about it and that’s a very unusual thing in public art. Usually, some one’s mad putting up a statue in a public place. Here, no one’s mad about it,” adds the local sculptor.
The family gave Diedrich photos of Maskill and then he started developing the sculpture. He said many times photos may not offer an accurate depiction of what a person looks like then that they look like in person. He said because most people remembered how Maskill looked later in life, the hall of fame coach will look a little older on the sculpture.
“It’s a lot of detective work and measuring just to try to figure out what the three dimensional shape his head is from a handful of two dimensional pictures from 40 years ago,” explained Diedrich, who is originally from the Detroit area but attended and graduated from the Paw Paw School District.
Diedrich said with a sculpture like the Maskill project, he might have a two-year window to complete project. However disagreements on what the finished product should look like among family members can shorten the actual time he would have to work on the project. However the Maskill sculpture process has gone fairly smoothly.
“In this case, it’s really been great to work with the Maskills. Everyone’s been really cooperative,” said Diedrich.
Diedrich said the finished project will be a three-quarter full sized figure, life size, but cut off at mid thigh. The sculpture will show Maskill being raised up on the shoulders of his football players.
“You will have three football helmets and he’s up there holding the football with his hand on one of the helmets. That kind of said everything right there. It shows the community lifting him up. We’re making it so the pedestal is high enough that the football helmet should be about the height of people’s heads going into the field. So as there is a crowd around, it looks like he’s lifted up on the shoulders of the crowd as they go in to see the game,” said Diedrich, who said the pedestal is three to four feet tall and the actual sculpture is another three to four feet tall.
Diedrich recalled his interest in sculpting started when he was a toddler when he made a woodpecker out of tin foil.
He started studying sculpture while he was in high school under Dora Natella when she was teaching at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. He attended the University of Michigan where he obtained his degree before he went to France to study sculpture. He returned to Kalamazoo and has been sculpting professionally since 2005. He worked at the Kalamazoo Institute Of Arts as the Sculpture Department head for four to five years. Since 2008, he has been working out of a professional studio doing sculpture, painting and drawing. He welcomes apprentices and trains artists.
Born in Detroit April 10, 1923, Maskill began his coaching career with a six-year stint at Sheridan High School where he compiled a 31-18-1 record. However most of his 40 years teaching and coaching was spent at G-A High School where he coached football 34 years, taught physical education for 25 years, was athletic director and spent 18 years teaching science.
Known as “Coach” by most people, Maskill coached at G-A from 1957-1990. He guided four G-A football teams to state championships (1962, 1966, 1967, and 1970), two state runner up finishes in 1990 and 1959 and compiled a 241-66-1 record. Longtime G-A football historian Dale Martin thought Maskill helped coach for one year at the JV level after he stepped down as varsity coach in 1990. Once recognized as having the most high school wins in the State of Michigan, Maskill’s final win-loss record stands at 272-84-2 over a brilliant 40-year career.
A Kalamazoo artist who has nearly completed a sculpture of legendary Galesburg-Augusta football coach Bill Maskill, said his overall experience with the family and making the sculpture, has been a pleasant one.
Joshua Diedrich said the Maskill family wanted to keep the sculpture making project local so they contacted him. He began discussions with the Maskill family in May, 2023 and started the design process in October. He has been working earnestly on the sculpture since the beginning of the year and was scheduled to have the family review the sculpture earlier this week to approve before he completes final detailing. He is currently negotiating with metal foundries for the bronze finishing process, He estimates the sculpture should be installed and unveiled at a home game this fall at Maskill Field.
Diedrich said he was honored to have the family commission him to make a sculpture of Maskill, who was respected and loved by so many.
“It goes with the job. This has been great because everyone is so universally celebrating him. He’s just so universally beloved. I haven’t heard a single bad thing about him. So that makes this kind of easy. It makes it tough because it means everyone has their own image in their mind of who he was and what he looked like. I think I’ve gone through 18 revisions on the portrait bust, just trying to really get it right and get the spirit just right,” offered Diedrich, who said revisions are common in the sculpture making process.
“It’s been really great. It’s been one of the best projects I’ve worked on in that respect just because the family’s behind it, the community’s behind it, the school is behind it. Everyone is thrilled about it and that’s a very unusual thing in public art. Usually, some one’s mad putting up a statue in a public place. Here, no one’s mad about it,” adds the local sculptor.
The family gave Diedrich photos of Maskill and then he started developing the sculpture. He said many times photos may not offer an accurate depiction of what a person looks like then that they look like in person. He said because most people remembered how Maskill looked later in life, the hall of fame coach will look a little older on the sculpture.
“It’s a lot of detective work and measuring just to try to figure out what the three dimensional shape his head is from a handful of two dimensional pictures from 40 years ago,” explained Diedrich, who is originally from the Detroit area but attended and graduated from the Paw Paw School District.
Diedrich said with a sculpture like the Maskill project, he might have a two-year window to complete project. However disagreements on what the finished product should look like among family members can shorten the actual time he would have to work on the project. However the Maskill sculpture process has gone fairly smoothly.
“In this case, it’s really been great to work with the Maskills. Everyone’s been really cooperative,” said Diedrich.
Diedrich said the finished project will be a three-quarter full sized figure, life size, but cut off at mid thigh. The sculpture will show Maskill being raised up on the shoulders of his football players.
“You will have three football helmets and he’s up there holding the football with his hand on one of the helmets. That kind of said everything right there. It shows the community lifting him up. We’re making it so the pedestal is high enough that the football helmet should be about the height of people’s heads going into the field. So as there is a crowd around, it looks like he’s lifted up on the shoulders of the crowd as they go in to see the game,” said Diedrich, who said the pedestal is three to four feet tall and the actual sculpture is another three to four feet tall.
Diedrich recalled his interest in sculpting started when he was a toddler when he made a woodpecker out of tin foil.
He started studying sculpture while he was in high school under Dora Natella when she was teaching at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. He attended the University of Michigan where he obtained his degree before he went to France to study sculpture. He returned to Kalamazoo and has been sculpting professionally since 2005. He worked at the Kalamazoo Institute Of Arts as the Sculpture Department head for four to five years. Since 2008, he has been working out of a professional studio doing sculpture, painting and drawing. He welcomes apprentices and trains artists.
Born in Detroit April 10, 1923, Maskill began his coaching career with a six-year stint at Sheridan High School where he compiled a 31-18-1 record. However most of his 40 years teaching and coaching was spent at G-A High School where he coached football 34 years, taught physical education for 25 years, was athletic director and spent 18 years teaching science.
Known as “Coach” by most people, Maskill coached at G-A from 1957-1990. He guided four G-A football teams to state championships (1962, 1966, 1967, and 1970), two state runner up finishes in 1990 and 1959 and compiled a 241-66-1 record. Longtime G-A football historian Dale Martin thought Maskill helped coach for one year at the JV level after he stepped down as varsity coach in 1990. Once recognized as having the most high school wins in the State of Michigan, Maskill’s final win-loss record stands at 272-84-2 over a brilliant 40-year career.
(Photo by Bruce Rolfe)
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