Iconic San Jose State monument gets a touch-up before the Olympics

“Victory Salute,” the statue commemorating the Black Power salute given by Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the medal stand in 1968, has become an iconic landmark at San Jose State since its dedication in 2005. And that’s exactly what Rigo 23, the artist who created the 22-foot-tall artwork, had hoped would happen.

“It’s been really nice to see so many young people interact with it over the years,” Rigo 23 said. He arrived on campus this week from Los Angeles with artistic collaborator Christian Haas to make minor repairs and clean the statue, originally commissioned by San Jose State’s Associated Students.

Rigo 23 — born Ricardo Gouveia in Portugal — said he intended the statue to honor not only Smith and Carlos but student activism itself. That’s why the third spot on the medal stand, where Australian silver medalist Peter Norman stood in Mexico City, is open for people to stand in.

He remembers the first time the statue seemed to become a focal point — in 2007 when it was the destination for a march protesting the plight of Hurricane Katrina survivors. “When Obama got elected, students celebrated here. When Trump got elected they protested here,” Rigo 23 recalled. “It was embraced that way, without me going around and telling people to use it like that.”

Rigo 23 said he also was pleased to see students protesting the Israel-Gaza conflict use the statue as a rally point and posted a message on Instagram supporting the statue’s role as a backdrop for the protests in May.

Don’t be misled into thinking that Rigo 23’s work on the statue this week was necessitated by damage done by student activists, either. San Jose State contacted him back in February to see if he could take a look at the statue and make any repairs as it approaches its 20th birthday in October 2025. No doubt, it’s also a good thing to have the statue looking pristine while the Olympic Games are happening in Paris as Smith and Carlos’ track victory, their protest and its ugly aftermath are often brought up during the Summer Games.

Rigo 23 says he inspected the statue in April and then came back in May as well. He reported to John Carlos that the only thing he saw not caused by age and the elements were some left over duct tape that probably held signs. Working with Haas on 30-foot ladders, Rigo 23 said there was some minor water damage most likely caused by errant sprinklers, and he brought along handcrafted ceramic replacement tiles to replace any cracked or broken ones.

“It’s made of different elements — concrete, steel, fiberglass and metallic tile — that all react to heat differently,” he said. “But 20 years later, it’s been remarkably OK.”

By the way, that’s not the only civil-rights monument on the San Jose State campus to get a makeover this summer. The “Arch of Dignity, Equality and Justice,” designed by artist Judith F. Baca and dedicated in 2008, came out from behind fencing this month with a bright new paint job. The arch and accompanying fountain, near the Diaz-Compean Student Union, honors legendary labor leader Cesar E. Chavez and includes images of Dolores Huerta, Mahatma Gandhi and farmworkers toiling in the fields.

PLAYING AROUND: Raffi Cavoukian — you probably know him just as “Raffi” — was the guest of honor at this year’s 24th annual Legacy for Children Award celebration at the Children’s Discovery Museum in downtown San Jose on June 22.

The world famous children’s singer, songwriter, ecology advocate and author was feted by nearly 300 people at the Purple Museum, who enjoyed food by Smashing Plates and sipped on drinks themed around Raffi’s well-known song “Baby Beluga,” a champagne offering called “Bubbly Beluga” and a non-alcoholic “BeBe Beluga.”

The entertainment included a performance by the improv hip-hop comedy troupe Freestyle Love Supreme and a medley of Raffi songs in English and Spanish by the youth choir B-PART.  Raffi wove some singing into his acceptance remarks in which he talked about the the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring and seeing “the whole child” for who they are and what they think life has to offer them.

The event raised nearly $1.2 million, which will support the museum’s Open Door Policy for free or reduced admission. The access program aimed at low-income families has existed since the museum opened more than 30 years ago, but use of the “pay what you can” program has doubled in the past year, museum officials say.

LIGHTING UP SUNNYVALE — WITHOUT THE BOOM: Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein was impressed with a drone show he saw last June when he was attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, and thought, why can’t we do that in Sunnyvale?

And that’s exactly what’s happening in Sunnyvale for July 4 in lieu of a fireworks show over Baylands Park. Sunnyvale’s free Independence Day celebration starts at 6:30 p.m., with a DJ playing tunes for a couple of hours before the 10-minute drone show — accompanied by music — hits the sky at around 9:15 p.m.

“We don’t have a Fourth of July event, and I thought it would be good to finally have one — without the noise or the environmental effects of a standard fireworks show,” Klein said.

LEGENDARY LORE: I was saddened to hear about the death of Yosh Uchida at age 104 on Thursday. He was always known and deservedly so as “legendary San Jose State judo coach Yosh Uchida.” I didn’t get to meet Coach Uchida until he was in his 80s, and I was always struck by his joyfulness and sense of humor. I remember him joking that he preferred the bench at San Jose State named after him more than the building named after him because he could at least sit on the bench and read.

And I remember a story shared with me by former Merc sports editor Dan Hruby, who got to know Uchida at San Jose State and at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and once doubted Uchida’s claim that a small man could beat a bigger man in judo. Uchida told him to meet him in the parking lot — and to bring a photographer.  “Five minutes later, the 5-foot-2-inch-tall Yosh had lifted my 6-3, 192-pound frame above his head, and he was spinning me around,” Hruby told me in 2016. “I get dizzy thinking about it.”