Illinois legend Dick Butkus will become a permanent fixture at the university.
Athletic director Josh Whitman on Monday announced plans to erect a statue in the former linebacker's likeness overlooking the entrance to a future football performance center near Memorial Stadium.
Butkus played from 1962 to '64 at Illinois, finishing his college career with 374 tackles and leading the Illini as a senior captain to a Rose Bowl victory. He went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Bears.
Whitman called Butkus the "perfect person" to be memorialized with a statue.
"We've talked a lot about perfecting that Illinois identity, wanting to understand who we are and how we want to represent ourselves," Whitman said. "This is another great opportunity for us to solidify that Illinois identity."
A statue of Red Grange sits in front of Memorial Stadium. Butkus' statue will be erected in front of the 112,000-square-foot, $79.2 million indoor performance center expected to open for the 2019 season.
Illinois alumnus George Lundeen will create the bronze statue.
"I am very humbled about this," Butkus said in a statement. "Usually when you get a statue, you are in the dirt, so this will be very different. I appreciate the tribute, but it is very humbling.
"I certainly didn't come to the University of Illinois to play football and have a statue made, but I need to acknowledge my teammates I played with back then. It was a good group, and I think everybody had the same mentality when they came here to go to school."
