Sculpting Panthers’ Sam Mills Pro Football Hall of Fame bust

While Hammond can create the model for a bust in as few as 25 to 30 hours, he estimated he spent closer to 80 getting Mills’ just right.

Making the clay mold (which Hammond finished in early May) is just the first step in an eight-to-twelve-week process. After it’s cast in wax, it’s checked again, before the final bronze is poured at the Baer Bronze foundry in Springville, Utah.

When it’s finished, a final check at Hammond’s studio and a few professional photos later, he’ll have the bust overnighted to the Hall, where it won’t be unveiled until the Aug. 6 enshrinement ceremony. Even Mills’ son, Sam III, hasn’t seen the models yet, he said this week, and Hammond was unable to provide photographs of his work on this one. But he did allow that he was pleased with the end result, and believes fans will be as well.

“Nobody is harder to please than the artist himself sometimes,” Hammond said. “It’s important to me that the final product represents the careers these men had.”

The fact it took longer than normal to create the Mills bust also creates a parallel to the legendary linebacker’s own journey to Canton — since he was elected in his 20th and final year of eligibility as a modern-era candidate.

So when he’s unveiled in August, the hope is that it will create a moment that’s worth the wait — for the artist, for the family, and for so many fans across the Carolinas and beyond.