Photo courtesy of American Artstone Pictured is a sculpture honoring Jack Trice, the first African-American athlete to play for Iowa State College. The sculpture was manufactured by the American Artstone Company.

AMES, IOWA — A new sculpture at the Iowa State University honoring Jack Trice has its origins in New Ulm.

The sculpture was engineered and manufactured by the American Artstone Company.

American Artstone President Nick Meyer said the company completed a smaller project for ISU earlier in the year and was asked to help on this important sculpture.

Jack Trice was the first African-American athlete to play for Iowa State College. He played for the Cyclone football, and track and field teams.

Trice died on Oct. 8, 1923, at age 21 from severe injuries suffered in his second college football game. Two days earlier, Trice and his team played against the University of Minnesota. During the second play of the game, Trice broke his collarbone but insisted he could still play. He suffered further injuries thought the game. After the game, Trice was sent to a Minneapolis hospital. Doctors declared him fit to travel and he returned to Iowa with his team. He died two days later from hemorrhaged lungs and internal bleeding.

ISU’s stadium is named after Trice. It is the only Division I FBS college football stadium with a black person as its namesake.

The sculpture manufactured by Artstone will honor the centennial of Trice’s death. The sculpture is named “Breaking Barriers” and depicts Trice’s outline breaking through a stone block.

The sculpture weighs 200,000 pounds. The stone used was a cast stone, which Meyer described as a higher-grade cement. Meyer said it was fabricated in six pieces. The largest piece weighing 34,850 lbs. Artstone worked with a team from Kimball, Minnesota to carve out Trice’s silhouette.

The entire manufacturing process took two weeks. The sculpture was shipped to ISU and installed during the last week of October.

Meyer said Artstone was proud to have a hand in creating such an important piece for ISU. He also wanted to credit Artstone employee Bill Ubl for coordinating the project. Ubl has worked with Artstone since 1974 and will be retiring at the end of the year. The Trice sculpture is a strong end to a great career.

The “Breaking Barriers” sculpture is located in the Albaugh Family Plaza north of Jack Trice Stadium. The placement of the sculpture is the start of ISU’s year-long plan of honoring Trice.