HONOREE:

Fred Sington

YEAR:

1999

NAME OF ART PIECE:

Winged Victory

ARTIST:

Brad Morton

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HONOREE INFO:

Frederick William Sington, born in Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the greatest players in the history of Alabama football, leading the Crimson Tide to the 1930 national championship. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He was later elected to the National Football Hall of Fame. He became a professional baseball player, playing with the Atlanta Crackers and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sington opened a sporting goods store in downtown Birmingham after World War II. For the next 40 years, he and his wife Nancy and their sons ran that landmark store. Sington Sporting Goods. Other new shops followed, as did a buyout by Hibbett Sporting Goods.

Fred Sington, one of our most active civic leaders, was known to many as "Mr. Birmingham" for his enthusiastic promotion of our community. He was a leader of men and women who tackle the odds and persevere. He dedicated his life to helping individuals with physical disabilities to develop their unlimited potential and participate fully in life's opportunities and was especially dedicated to the work of the Lakeshore Foundation.

ART PIECE INFO:

Fred Sington. "Winged Victory" was inspired by a 2nd century BC sculpture honoring the goddess Nike (Victory).

ARTIST INFO:

Brad Morton studied Industrial Design at Auburn University from 1969 through 1972 before declaring his Art major and subsequently earning his BA from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned his MFA in sculpture from the University of Georgia in 1981. Morton's preferred materials are bronze, cor-ten steel and stainless steel, and his approach to his work is rooted in the idea of "truth to the materials". Some of his cast bronze pieces tend to be organic, natural forms, while others are models for fabricated pieces that utilize smooth lines, flat planes, and hard edges to convey the contemporary minimalism of the man-made world. He has work in public and private collections throughout the country, and his work is currently on exhibit in Alabama and New Mexico.