Sculptor Rich Haines now glad gym class was full

PARK CITY — Twenty-one years ago, when he was 15 years old and entering ninth grade in his hometown of Cheyenne, Wyo., Rich Haines ran head-on into disappointment.

He went to sign up for the one elective he was looking forward to — and gym class was full.

A friend of his sister's had a suggestion for a substitute.

"If you want an easy A," she said, "take sculpture."

So Rich signed up for sculpture.

And he's been sculpting ever since.

Fast forward those 21 years and Rich Haines, at 36, is counted among the top sculptors in the country. Specializing in wildlife and Western themes, his bronzes can be found in both private and public collections across the West, as well as in his gallery on lower Main Street in Park City.

And as of this past October, his reach extended all the way to Georgia.

Next time you're passing by Fort Benning, the massive U.S. Army base outside Columbus that annually processes some 150,000 soldiers, check out the 12-foot-high eagles that stand atop the 50-foot pedestals at the entrance to the base.

Haines cast them in his studio not far from the Salt Lake International Airport. They were then shipped to Fort Benning, where on Oct. 13, 2011, they were unveiled as part of the base's gateway monument, a $6.8 million project five years in the making.

Next to one of Haines' eagles is a sculpture of a horse and rider named "Old Bill," a replica of a Frederick Remington original. Next to the other Haines eagle is a sculpture of an infantryman known in army lore as "Iron Mike."

Maj. Gen. Robert Brown has proclaimed the monument "the most magnificent entryway to any military base in the world." And while the general might be biased, considering he's Fort Benning's commander, he also might be right. (You can judge for yourself at YouTube. Search for "Fort Benning National Monument.")

The civilian head of the gateway project, a man named John Flournoy, commissioned Haines to sculpt the eagles after strolling into Haines' gallery in Jackson, Wyo., a couple of years ago.

Flournoy had been scouring the country looking for just the right eagle to appropriately symbolize "power to the soldiers."

He saw a bronzed eagle on display. His search was over.

"I want two of those," he told Rich. "Only bigger."