TOMS RIVER, N.J. — The hulking figure lay on its side in the long grass, partially mummified by a tarp and some bubble wrap. Brian Hanlon recognized it as soon as he saw the face.

“There’s Shaq!” he cried.

Indeed, there was Shaquille O’Neal, even larger than life, frozen mid-dunk. Hanlon rapped on the copper-toned torso. It was hollow as a PVC pipe.

This was just a polymer cast of the real statue of O’Neal — that 900-pound monument of bronze and granite stands proudly outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La., where O’Neal played his college games for L.S.U. It didn’t bother Hanlon that the cast was covered in snow, resting ignominiously outside an old chicken coop like a fallen oak. He’d actually had forgotten it was out here. He’d been busy.

Last year, in fact, was Hanlon’s busiest to date. He is a sculptor by trade, the creator of the kinds of statues that stipple the stadiums, plazas and rotundas celebrating our sports icons. In 2017, he unveiled 30 new monuments, from Charles Barkley at Auburn to Evander Holyfield in Atlanta to Jackie Robinson as a football player at the Rose Bowl. At Indiana University, 12 new statues of Hoosier basketball icons went up in the lobby of Assembly Hall; each was designed by Hanlon. And after the conclusion of this year’s Winter Olympics, Hanlon could soon be adding skiers and figure skaters to his impressive roster of honorees.