Long after hanging up their hats, Shootout Top Guns and their breathtaking runs persevere in fans’ memories. In 2013, at the event’s 25th anniversary, the Shootout Hall of Fame was unveiled, offering a concrete way to immortalize those who have pushed the limits of speed. The Hall of Fame stands in a courtyard at Captain Ron’s, and at its center is a statue of the man who helped propel the event to greatness: Bob Morgan.
Over the years, Bob Morgan was essential in helping bring some of the biggest names in boat racing to the Shootout. But on Nov. 9, 2011, at the Superboat International World Championships in Key West, he and driver JT Tillman were killed when their 46-foot skater, Big Thunder, crashed. It was a staggering loss for the racers’ families and friends, and a painful blow to the powerboat racing world that they had loved.
In honor of Morgan’s tireless work promoting the Shootout, the event committee agreed his statue would stand amid the names of the event’s top racers and other individuals who have labored for its success. The work of immortalizing Morgan’s legend was handed to a sculpter from Jefferson City: Mike Mistler.
Before taking up sculpting, Mike worked for decades in a steel yard. His wife AJ, familiar with his keen eye for design, challenged Mike to craft a replica of her favorite elephant figurine. The result was a 12-foot tall, steel creation weighing more than 2,000 pounds. It was strikingly beautiful, and Mike had found his new calling.
After the steel elephant, Mike took up other projects, and word soon spread about his uncanny ability to create beauty from rods of steel. By the time he received a call from the Shootout committee, Mike had worked on a host of projects, but he had only created one sculpture: a 10-foot statue of St. Joseph holding baby Jesus.
Given the project specs, Mike was confident that he could bring Morgan’s legend to life. “I’m not afraid to do anything,” he said. “If they have faith in me to build it, I’ll do my best… it’s a God-gift, that’s the best way I can explain it.”
Mike poured himself into the statue for months; working on it for several evenings in a row, then leaving it alone for a while.
“There’s parts that I think, ‘How am I going to do this?’” he said of the sculpting process. “And the next day, I know exactly how to do it… it just comes to me.”
He crafted the statue from 1/4-inch steel, and created its form with a hammer and anvil. The method requires Mike to work backwards: he hammered from the “inside” of the statue, and would then look at the outside to inspect his work. He would spend hours meticulously tinkering and nudging the steel, not satisfied until he could look at the outside of the section he’d been working on and finally say “I nailed it.”
When the final result was unveiled, Mike says Bob Morgan’s widow, Sue, wept.
“She said it was absolutely perfect, that it was like looking right at him,” Mike recalled. “I never really met the man… you can have photographs and pictures, but… people have distinguished things you need to pick up on. And I guess, in a way, I must have picked up on it.”
While only his second true sculpture, the Bob Morgan statue was not the first of Mike’s work to grace the Lake area. Osage National Golf Resort commissioned him to craft the statue that now greets golfers and visitors as they arrive. Towering 40 feet, it is the tallest freestanding statue on any golf course in the country, and it weighs 16,000 pounds.
Though more modest in size, Mike’s depiction of Shootout legend Bob Morgan is immensely significant to those who knew Morgan—and for all who love the Shootout. And year after year, as new names are inscribed on the Bob Morgan Memorial Shootout Hall of Fame, that statue will stand as a tribute to the man who helped build the race into something truly great.
