"The Chief," a statue of a Native American that has towered over Northwest Loop 410 for decades as a controversial marketing gimmick for a Red McCombs vehicle dealership, is coming down on July 31.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that McCombs Enterprises Vice President of Marketing Peter Brodnitz explained that the giant figure does not meet Hyundai's guidelines for the look and feel of their dealerships.
McCombs Superior Hyundai sits at the feet of the figure. The dealership is currently undergoing a major construction makeover.
"It is the end of an era," Brodnitz told the Express-News. "We're bummed about it," he added.
Made of fiberglass, including a feathered bonnet and raised hand, the statue has looked out at passing traffic on Loop 410, near Callaghan, since 1977. But the statue was first associated with McCombs Superior Pontiac on Broadway in the 1960s.
Pontiac is an automobile brand no longer produced by General Motors that was named after the famous chief of the Odawa.
The brand was also built in Pontiac, Michigan, also named for the chief.
McCombs Enterprises did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
The Express-News reported the statue was sometimes adorned with attention getting garb that matched the times it has weathered, such as a Spurs jersey during playoffs or a "Just Say No" T-shirt during Ronald Reagan's White House years. "Just Say No" to drugs was a public awareness campaign about the dangers of drugs launched by Nancy Reagan.
The figure may have been loved by some, but it also attracted controversy as an example of cultural insensitivity.
Ramon Vasquez, the executive director of American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions in San Antonio, told the Express-News in a 2019 interview that he had "no bad blood" with the McCombs family or the statue.
However, he said, he told the newspaper he wished the statue was more representative of a specific tribe, rather than a "generic symbol" of Native Americans.
Brodnitz told the newspaper that the statute could be moved to a museum for educational purposes.
