A ceremony was recently held to unveil a new bronzed statue of Pepperdine founder, George Pepperdine, seated on a bench he named “Barney’s Bench,” in honor of alumnus and football star Barney Barnhart.
George Pepperdine founded the university in 1937 after selling his interest in his Western Auto Supply Company. Pepperdine University is deeply rooted in the Church of Christ tradition, of which George Pepperdine was a lifelong adherent. For the first 30 years of its life, the institution was a small, mostly undergraduate college located in Los Angeles. In 1972, the university opened its campus in Malibu.
Barnhart played halfback on the championship gridiron team of 1947, and married his college sweetheart, Jane, the day after her graduation from George Pepperdine College in 1951. Barnhart died in 2007, and he traveled every Wednesday morning to attend meetings of the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council, providing guidance, inspiration and perspective to Seaver College’s elite service organization.
The sculptor of the statue, Christopher Slatoff, was also in attendance at the event. Slatoff is the current sculpture chairman of the California Art Club, and is known for his life-size public art pieces that include “Sheltering Wings,” which was commissioned by the Port District of San Diego and is installed on Coronado Island. He is also the official sculptor of the Via Dolorosa Society.