HUNTSVILLE, Texas — They call the statue you see with this blog post the “largest statue of an American hero in the world.”

Indeed, the man portrayed in this 67-foot steel and granite masterpiece could be made even larger and it still might not adequately represent what he means to Texans.

Sam Houston was the first president of the Republic of Texas and seventh governor of the state after it was admitted to the Union in 1845.

We first saw this towering tribute on one of our trips to the university in Huntsville that bears his name. Our son was attending Sam Houston State University when they dedicated the statue in 1994. Our son, majoring in criminal justice, graduated the following year and left the area to join his mother and me in Amarillo.

But Gen./President Houston’s image has kept his watch on traffic rocketing past along Interstate 45.

I need to mention that it was Gen. Houston, commanding the Texian army, that forced Mexico’s Gen. Santa Anna to surrender at San Jacinto in 1836, ending the revolution that resulted in Texas’s independence from Mexico. We still celebrate Texas Independence Day every March.

I stopped this morning en route to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex after spending some time in Houston catching up with dear friends and former colleagues. I wanted to take an up-close gander at the great man’s image.

It remains an impressive tribute.