Wow! Does this building ever make a statement. But where is it? Send your guess about the location of this photo to feedback@statehousereport.com. And don’t forget to include your name and the town in which you live.
Our previous Mystery Photo
Our Oct. 18 image, “Mystery statuary,” is an art installation in Bishopville that shows three stages of hometown hero Felix Anthony “Doc” Blanchard, a winner of football’s Heisman Trophy. Thanks to Summerville reader Frank Bouknight for sending along the photos. And a bit hat tip to those who correctly identified the statuary: Barry Wingard and Jacie Godfrey, both of Florence; David Lupo of Mount Pleasant; Dale Rhodes of Richmond, Va.; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Randy Herald of Lexington; Bill Segars and Don Clark, both of Hartsville; Gwen Strickland of Marion; Tray Hunter of Bluffton; Vic Carpenter of Lugoff; and Jay Altman of Columbia.
Segars shared: “Felix Anthony “Doc” Blanchard was born in McColl, S.C., on Dec. 11, 1924. At the age of 7, he and his family moved to Bishopville where his father practiced medicine as a doctor. “Doc” went on to graduate from West Point in 1947 where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1945 as a part of a team that won three consecutive national championships in 1944, 1945 and 1946. He is the only native-born South Carolinian to win the Heisman Trophy.
“In the 1946 NFL draft, Doc was drafted number three overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers, an invitation that he turned down to be a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. I wonder how many #3 picks would make this choice these days? Blanchard retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1971 and died on April 19, 2009.
“Sculptor Robert Allison designed and built this memorial in 2008 to depict the three stages of Blanchard’s life: as a boy growing up, as a football player and a military career man. It is located near the South Carolina Cotton Museum and the Lee County Veterans Museum in downtown Bishopville.”
Clark added, “Amazing how those fellows played back then — he was a running back, linebacker, kicker, and kick returner, or so I read somewhere. He also lived in McColl for a time. I met his sister some years ago at Big Jim’s in Sumter, where she lived.”
- Send us a mystery: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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