TWO LEGENDARY ASSISTANT COACHES ADDED TO GAITHER STATUE

THE WIDOWS OF LONGTIME ASSISTANT COACHES BOBBY LANG AND ROBERT MUNGEN UNVEILED THE NEW BUSTS

BY [ VAUGHN WILSON ]

Bobby Lang

Thanks to donations by the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Football Reunion, the depiction of former head football coach Alonzo Smith “Jake” Gaither was erected by former FAMU art professor Chester Williams in 2001. Two years later, the Football Reunion revisited the statue, adding busts of Gaither’s assistant coaches to adorn the structure. Former FAMU Sports Hall of Fame football player Rudy Givens developed the initiative and raised the funds to get the project completed.

For the last 20 years, the statue has been one of the most photographed areas on campus. Visiting fans, parents, and alumni all pose with the structure to capture the likeness of one of FAMU’s most legendary coaches and his assistants. But on September 9, 2022, the final additions were added to the Gaither statue, which include the busts of longtime assistant coaches Bobby Lang and Robert Mungen.

The widows of both coaches, Dr. Gladys Lang and Dorothea “Peaches” Mungen, attended the unveiling and pulled the tarps from the busts to a roaring applause. Scores of family members, friends, and relatives attended the ceremony, which was also acknowledged at the President’s Convocation by FAMU’s 12th President, Larry Robinson, Ph.D.

Once the project was approved, the challenge was finding an artist. The original artist had passed away. Approximately 18 years ago, the FAMU Football Reunion evolved into the National Rattler “F” Club. FAMU Sports Hall of Fame football player Curtis Taylor took the helm of the National Rattler “F” Club, which began supporting FAMU Athletics.

Taylor contacted Bradley Cooley, one of the nation’s best sculptors based roughly 30 miles from Tallahassee. Cooley has erected the Bobby Bowden statue at Doak Campbell Stadium, the Ray Charles statue at the museum in Greenville, Fla., and the giant Rattler

Mungen

that sits in front of the Center for Access and Student Success (CASS) building on FAMU’s campus. Cooley began working diligently in early 2022. He collaborated with both families and attained the photos necessary to make a 3-D model. From there, Cooley made his initial moldings. The families were then brought in to assist with establishing the final details and looks.

The additions of Bobby Lang and Robert Mungen were a long time coming, Taylor said. He felt he owed it to former FAMU coach Costa “Pop” Kittles, who had stated that the statue was not complete without Lang and Mungen when the original version of the statue had been announced.

“Pop told us we’d be back here over 20 years ago,” Taylor said. “When the coaches were originally chosen to be added to the statue, Pop said that this was just the beginning.”