WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
Workers with All Seasons Planning, Inc. hammered, chiseled and sawed out the All-American stone Thursday morning bearing Aaron Hernandez’s name in front of the Heavener Complex at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Hernandez was charged with murder last month in the killing of his friend Odin Lloyd. A few days later, his name surfaced in the investigation of a separate 2012 murder.
Then, the Orlando Sentinel and others uncovered a 2007 incident at The Swamp restaurant in Gainesville, when Hernandez was involved in a bar fight while he was underage.
These events led the UAA to decide to remove Hernandez’s name from a variety of locations this month. UAA spokesman Steve McClain emailed to WUFT News the following statement Wednesday:
We didn’t feel it was appropriate to celebrate Aaron Hernandez. We put together an immediate plan after the initial news broke to remove his likeness and name in various private and public areas in the facility, such as the South Endzone team area, locker room, football offices, Heavener Complex Kornblau Lobby and the brick display entrance to the football facility.
We were able to implement some of the changes immediately and this (brick removal) was a more complex process to complete with our vendors.
The plan was to have everything completed before the end of July.
All Seasons Planning did the original work on the complex, said Sean Skowron, a company employee. They’ve been back to repair or remove other stones, but not because of the names they displayed.
“We’ve actually replaced a couple that have been broken, that had gotten cracked,” Skowron said, “but certainly not for this reason.”
