The idea came to TCU football supporter Steve Gray when the Horned Frogs were on the road.

In 2009, Gray was with the 15th-ranked Frogs when they slogged out a 14-10 victory in a rainstorm at Clemson on the way to the program’s first 12-0 regular season and trip to the Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl.

Like many Frog fans there that day, Gray took note of Howard’s Rock, a boulder sent to the school by an alumnus in 1966 and placed in the stadium. Players took to rubbing the rock for luck as they took the field.

Gray thought TCU ought to have something like it when Amon G. Carter Stadium was renovated.

Yesterday, the Horned Frogs got their landmark — an 8-foot, 1,200-pound bronze of a horned frog crouched fiercely on a rock and will guard the venue’s east plaza. Plans call for Horned Frog players and coaches to touch the statue when they arrive in Frog Alley 2 1/2 hours before kickoff on game days.

“My thought was that we could have something that not only involves the football players but involve everyone in the TCU community and Frog nation,” Gray told a crowd of several thousand who watched the unveiling ceremony during TCU Football’s Spring Fan Fest.

“Gary Patterson personifies excellence with his football team. There isn’t any body who’s played for Coach Patterson who hasn’t gotten to the top without hard work, effort, dedication, commitment,” he said. “This bronze statue was meant to show what a successful Horned Frog can do. He doesn’t just sit there and look around. He got on top of that rock because he earned the right to be up there.”

While the team inspired it, the statue is a message for everyone in the TCU community to aspire to excellence, he said.

“It’s because of the drive and dedication and everything it takes to be successful a Horned Frog — as a student, as a parent, as a coach, as a professional. I want all of you to be a part of this horned frog. The only way to get there is through hard work.”

The artwork was not a part of the original stadium plan, said John Denton ’85, director of major gifts for TCU Athletics.

“[Gray] had an idea. He saw an opportunity and brought it to us,” Denton said. “The athletics director said, ‘If you can raise the money, we will do it.’ ”

Two more donors — Bill Shaddock ’73 and Ricky Stuart ’96 — joined Gray and the project was on its way. Together, they commissioned Gray’s friend and New Braunfels sculptor Paul Tadlock to create the icon. Tadlock previously had designed the 7-foot Ben Hogan bronze, which overlooks the 18th green at Colonial Country Club, just a mile from campus.

TCU board of trustees chairman Clarence Scharbauer III ’73 accepted the statue on behalf of the board and administration.

“We appreciate this more than you know,” Scharbauer said. “You three guys will be commended forever.”

Opposing fans will take notice, too, he said.

“Whenever these Longhorns, these Red Raiders, these Bears and whoever else come in this stadium, this is the first thing they’re going to see,” he boasted to the delight of the crowd. “When they leave, after Gary hands their hat to them, they’re going to see it again. For all those people out there that don’t know what a horned frog is, they’re gonna get it. ‘Cause this is real.”

Patterson, who was the first to rub the statue’s nose after the dedication, said he’s proud of Gray, Shaddock and Stuart for “stepping up above the call of duty.”

“For these three families to do something like that is very special for us,” the coach said. “And to know they didn’t just do it because they wanted their name on a Frog, they did it because they knew it was important to us, and it represented something.”

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