Samantha Chaffin
Editor-in-Chief
In July 2013, the papier-mâché bengal that stood in front of Reed Gym was removed for safety reasons, according to officials, and placed in storage on Facilities Services grounds at Idaho State University. The bengal has since been disposed of after it reportedly deteriorated beyond repair.
Phil Moessner, Associate Vice President of Facilities Services at ISU, said that former-ASISU President Kyle Son was looking at finding a way to either remount or recast the bengal during his time in office.
“When I first came in as president in the summer, it was brought to my attention that we still had [the bengal] in storage and that there might be some ways that we could try to bring it back,” said Son. “Not bring it back in the sense of the original statue, but use the original statue to create basically a replica.”
Son said the bengal, which was stored in a custom-built box in storage, was damaged and missing paws from when it was moved from Reed Gym and had actually tipped over.
“Between the time we built the box and the time we opened the box, Benny had finished falling apart,” said Moessner. “Basically he was in pieces on the ground inside the box. As we looked at it, we realized that there was really nothing structural inside and whatever had been structural in the past had rusted through completely.”
Moessner said Son asked Facilities Services to hold on to the bengal for a while longer so he could do more investigation into what could be done.
“After a couple of months [Son] and I spoke again and he said that they really couldn’t find something that they thought could be done with it and we were authorized to dispose of it so that’s what we’ve done,” said Moessner.
According to Moessner, the bengal was disposed of over time around early November 2014. Pieces of it were disposed of in trash receptacles as space allowed.
“I didn’t know that they disposed of it or when they did it,” said Son, “but I had talked with them and they had asked us, well me specifically, because they were holding onto it as long as possible while we were looking into it.”
Son said he told Moessner that he didn’t believe he had a need for the bengal with regard to the project he was looking into, as it had become clear that there was no way to stand or move the bengal without damaging it further.
“Really other than the measurements of it, which we could have gotten from the pictures and the photographic evidence, I said there was no need from us,” said Son. “From there I was pretty sure they were gonna get rid of it because it was kind of a sitting duck that you couldn’t really do much with.”
Son added, “I never said destroy the thing. I said we no longer had a use for it so if you guys were planning on getting rid of it anyways and were holding on to it for us, don’t let us hold you back because we can go on with our project later down the line without that version of it.”
Son and then-ASISU Vice President Taylor Tingey, who has since stepped into the role of ASISU President after Son’s December resignation, were working with the museum and looking to entities outside the university to create a replica of the bengal. Options the pair looked into included collecting photos, scanning and 3-D printing a replica, or casting a replica made from a colored plastic-like material that would require little to no upkeep.
“The project kind of fizzled out, because trying to collect photos and everything, it kind of got caught up honestly in the bureaucratic mess that is a university format,” said Son. “I didn’t want to put that much of the students’ money into creating this, that I’m not even sure that all the current students were even super passionate about as much as alumni.”
Son said a quote on the project was a minimum of $10,000 to create a replica.
Son reportedly reached out to the alumni association but said they were very busy planning homecoming and Welcome Back Orange and Black at the time and didn’t have the ability to “really tackle it” as much as Son and Tingey wanted, as the pair were aiming at an unveiling of a replica during homecoming week, according to Son.
“The whole project, the reason no one really knows about it, I [wanted to] keep it under radar until we knew it was even pursuable because the last thing I want[ed] was to get everyone hyped up just to tear ‘em down because it’s not doable,” said Son. And it was a challenging process because we just kept running into our own obstacles. [The entire process] was just extremely complicated.”
Complicated or not, Son said building a replica of the bengal would still be possible if there were “a couple more people on board [who could] stick with it.”
“That’s originally why I told [Moessner] we had no need for it for our project,” said Son. “If it’s taking up space and its obviously damaged beyond repair, you know don’t hoard it for us. We could still go forward with this project without it.”
Son added, “There’s a lot of people who probably wanted that exact same statue somewhere. It may disappoint them that it’s gone, but in my head and with the plans that we had, [the old bengal] was no longer part of the plan so much as the photo evidence from the past and the dimensions that we could use to remake it.”
According to Moessner, the bengal, which originally consisted of chicken wire and papier-mâché, weighed nearly 9,000 pounds after it had been modified with concrete over the years. Moessner speculated that a combination of weather and the weight of the bengal itself played into its deterioration over the years.
“It’s sad, because it was a great piece of the history of the university,” said Moessner. “But unfortunately it was made to live for a few years, and while we were able to stretch it for probably close to 50 years, it was past its prime.”
Son holds out hope that someone will take up the project of creating a replica of the icon.
“For anyone who is interested in bringing it back, we looked into it,” said Son. “It’s doable. An exact replica maybe not, but pretty darn close.”
