AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n
Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n Luke Kuechly had an NFL career built on movement \u2014 anticipating, reacting, running and hitting.<\/p>\n Read more $25.6 million fix underway for chronically congested Lake Norman intersections<\/a><\/p>\n But for two days in late May, he tried to develop a different talent:<\/p>\n Learning to be still.<\/p>\n During those two days, Kuechly posed for sculptor Ben Hammond.<\/a> As one of the three sculptors employed regularly by the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Hammond had been commissioned to create the Kuechly bust that will be unveiled at the former Carolina Panther\u2019s induction into the hall on Aug. 8.<\/a> Kuechly\u2019s face will become the 53rd one that Hammond has sculpted for the hall of fame.<\/p>\n For both Kuechly and Hammond, the process was enlightening.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s phenomenal what Ben could do,\u201d said Kuechly, who flew to Provo, Utah, for the sitting. It lasted 13 hours overall, all inside Hammond\u2019s studio. Kuechly didn\u2019t have to be utterly still the whole time; he would walk around and sneak peeks at a clay version of his face occasionally.<\/p>\n \u201cLuke is cool because he\u2019s kind of like me,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t care about social media. He was obsessed with playing football and was really good at it when he played, but now he wants to talk about other things. We talked more about recipes for smoking chicken thighs than about football.\u201d<\/p>\n The sculpture exhibited in the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with hundreds of others \u2014 Kuechly is officially hall of famer No. 386 \u2014 will be made of bronze. But first, a clay model of Kuechly\u2019s face had to be created. That process began with measurements before this year\u2019s Super Bowl, as Kuechly\u2019s skull was measured by lead sculptor Blair Buswell. Those numbers were then sent to Hammond.<\/p>\n \u201cI began by blocking out kind of a generic head according to those measurements,\u201d said Hammond, who also studies multiple videos and photos of players whose careers ended recently, like Kuechly. \u201cBy the time they come and pose, I\u2019ve got it far enough along that it kind of looks like them, but also maybe looks more like a brother or a distant cousin.\u201d<\/p>\n Said Kuechly: \u201cI showed up and he had about 80 percent of it done. And I said, \u2018That\u2019s really cool.\u2019 but he said, \u2018Oh dude, you haven\u2019t seen anything yet.\u2019 And then he just looks at you and puts clay on and uses his tools to take it off. After the first day I was like, \u2018Wow this is great.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Wait until I put the eyes in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The detailing of the eyes is one of the final steps, Hammond said, because once the eyes are done, the sculptor finds it hard to look anywhere else while he\u2019s working. But there were also decisions to be made along the way. One of them included Kuechly\u2019s hair. It was longer and messier earlier in the first half of his career (2012-15), then shorter and neater in his final years (2016-19) before his early retirement at age 28.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cArtistically,\u201d Hammond said, \u201cI told Luke that I loved it when his hair was longer and a little more all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n Kuechly agreed and so Hammond got to experiment with making the hair somewhat unruly. The end result, Hammond said, was \u201cthe funnest hair I\u2019ve ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more $25.6 million fix underway for chronically congested Lake Norman intersections<\/a><\/p>\n Hammond sculpted Kuechly, who\u2019s still only 35, in the early part of his prime years as a Panther \u2014 so roughly around age 24. Since Kuechly\u2019s playing days ended following the 2019 season, Kuechly (now an analyst for the Panthers\u2019 radio team, a role he will continue in 2026) has dropped a little weight. He also is no longer involved in the endless collisions that make up the average day of an NFL linebacker.<\/p>\n Because of all this, Kuechly said, is \u201cthe Luke sculpture looks like it could beat me up.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the process, Hammond asked Kuechly and his family members for advice on details and anything he might need to change. Hammond said one of his fears as a sculptor is to make a bust or statue that a lot of people don\u2019t think looks much like the subject at all \u2014 sculptures of the NBA\u2019s Dwyane Wade<\/a> and soccer\u2019s Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> have both suffered that fate over the past decade.<\/p>\n The Kuechly family, though, never offered much in the way of criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen it get to probably 98 percent of the way there,\u201d Kuechly said of his bust, \u201cand it\u2019s phenomenal. I haven\u2019t seen it after it goes through the whole process of bronzing, though \u2014 that won\u2019t be until the hall of fame weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n For the five-person Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026, Hammond also was the sculptor for former San Francisco 49ers running back Roger Craig. The busts of the other three members of the class \u2014 quarterback Drew Brees, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and kicker Adam Vinatieri \u2014 were created by the two other men who sculpt for the hall of fame.<\/p>\n Kuechly\u2019s sculpture was literally in good hands. Hammond, 49, has done so many of these busts that this wasn\u2019t even the first Panthers linebacker he\u2019s been assigned. He also created the bust for the late Sam Mills in 2022, although Mills\u2019 death in 2005 meant that he had to do that one based mostly on old videos and photos.<\/p>\n The entire process from beginning to end for a hall of fame bust takes Hammond around 60-80 hours. As for the particular challenge in sculpting Kuechly, Hammond said: \u201cHe\u2019s a very handsome guy, which is actually kind of tough. He\u2019s got a face for a \u2018Superman\u2019 movie. Usually people are considered handsome because they have some unique and delicate bone structure. That\u2019s tricky in a lot of ways. Compare it to a big offensive lineman \u2014 somebody that\u2019s got real character to his face. That\u2019s almost easier to capture, as compared to really subtle features.\u201d<\/p>\n Subtle? Kuechly?<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t on the field, that\u2019s for sure. But when you see photos of the Kuechly bust next month, know that the sculptor tried to inject a little subtlety in it. And, if you take a close look, make sure to check out the hair.<\/p>\n