A stop on the Waco Sculpture Zoo trail

24Tyson

“Tyson” by Faducci (Solomon Bassoff & Domenica Mottarella), 2018 · steel & sculpted, pigmented concrete · given by Betsy and Clifton Robinson and Jackie and Rondy Gray · Waco Sculpture Zoo, a Creative Waco & City of Waco project, dedicated 2020

A tiger named after a football coach — and he knows it.

Tyson poses. That's the whole personality. Shoulders squared, stripes crisp, chin up, holding the exact expression of an animal who has been informed there is a photographer and intends to make it count. He may also be the only animal on this trail named after a football coach. Paul Leighton Tyson coached at Waco High from 1913 to 1942 and won so relentlessly that the city is still telling stories about it, and when the Sculpture Zoo needed a tiger, they gave him the coach's name and the old Waco High mascot's stripes. Eleven hundred and sixty-three pounds of civic pride, standing very still, waiting for you to notice. So notice.

📍 Walk me there See it on the trail map

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Tyson — Tyson, posing, as always — Tyson, posing, as always

Tyson — The stripes worked into the concrete — The stripes worked into the concrete