Penn State alum builds Beaver Stadium with LEGOs

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — Garrett Gourley has been a Penn State alum for nearly a decade, but a LEGOs fan since the beginning.

“I’ve had a love for LEGOS my entire life,” said Gourley. “I just I love creating a building with LEGO. It’s a daily thing that I do, and I just think that it gives people an outlet for their creativity.”

Gourley founded his company Back 2 Brick and their slogan is “Building Dreams Brick By Brick” and Garrett’s dream was to bring his two loves together; Penn State and LEGOs. With Beaver Stadium about to undergo a transformation, Gourley decided to take on the challenge of building a replica of Beaver Stadium built entirely of LEGOs. The finished product is a three-dimensional model made up of 7,647 pieces.

“It’s life changing,” Gourley said. “I’ve always wanted to have my name in this stadium with Penn State and knowing that people are going to come enjoy it, see the little, little hints and tricks that I’ve hidden in the model and have their memories brought back from the time that they were here. It’s just truly amazing.”

“This project is the perfect marriage of his two loves and what have become my two loves, which are Penn State and Lego,” said Garrett’s wife Danielle.

The project took 96 hours to build as Gourley tried to get every last detail right.

“I took a lot of photos when I was here for football games, a lot of Google Earth and a lot of just my own history with it,” said Gourley. “You’ll see the rock that is outside the student section and the cars with the tents for tailgating. And I just thought it has to be as detailed as possible because the whole point is so that people can see it and remember that exact moment that they were there.”

The LEGO replica of Beaver Stadium is displayed in the lobby of the Penn State All Sports Museum. Executive Director Lew Lazarow is always looking to add unique items and he couldn’t wait to add this to the museum.

“Beaver Stadium is iconic. It’s a place that we as Penn Staters all love,” said Lazarow. “It’s a place that we feel at home. So, for people to be able to come in and see it sort of rendered in that way and especially to have it rendered in Legos and that it’s completely unique there’s not another one like it in the entire world.”

Knowing that Penn State fans from all around the state will be able to see the LEGO Beaver Stadium on display when they come on a gameday is something that has really hit home for Gourley’s parents.

“We’re so proud of him. Anyways, he’s a lot more than LEGO,” said Garrett’s father Mark Gourley. “He’s a sharp kid and he’s done really well and we’re very proud of him.”

“And I believe his industrial engineering degree from Penn State is really a put an icing on the cake here with his LEGO” said Garrett’s mother Deborah Gourley.

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