Molinari: Let’s Give Mike Lange the Honor He Deserves. Now.

This began as a suggestion for Fenway Sports Group executives, or perhaps even a request, more than a year ago.

It has become an urgent plea.

It is time — no, it is way past time — to commission a statue to recognize the contributions of Hall of Fame play-by-play man Mike Lange to this franchise.

The franchise that might not have been around for FSG to purchase if Lange’s work decades ago hadn’t done more to keep flickering hockey interest in this region alive than the on-ice product itself did.

In the couple of seasons before Mario Lemieux arrived in 1984, the Penguins’ woeful performances during games often seemed to be designed to smother any chance of the game truly taking root here. (In retrospect, the only surprising thing about the 1983-84 club that went 16-58-6 to lock up the draft pick that landed Lemieux was that it somehow managed to win 16 games.)

Lange simply wouldn’t let that happen. His knowledge of the game and instincts for it, coupled with the creative sayings that became synonymous with him, was enough to keep people tuning in when the team they were watching gave them little reason to.

And when the Penguins evolved from chumps to champs, Lange took his audience along on an exhilarating ride that few of them, including him, probably ever thought they’d experience.

The bonds forged in those times, both miserable and magnificent, endure to this day.

Now, it’s understandable if the top decision-makers at FSG don’t fully grasp the impact Lange had during his 46 years behind a microphone here. After all, that company is based in Boston and Lange announced his retirement a few months before FSG reached an agreement to purchase the franchise from a group led by Lemieux and Ron Burkle.

There are, however, enough people in the organization — or recently out of it, in the case of retired vice president of communications Tom McMillan — who understand Lange’s importance to the franchise, and who certainly could convey it, if asked.

To date, the only acknowledgement of Lange’s contributions has been to name the media level (that’s the part of the building long known as the press box) after him a few years ago.

Now, that was a fine and entirely fitting gesture, and it’s safe to assume that the people who work there hold Lange in the same high esteem as others who took in his broadcasts.

It’s not a perfect parallel, perhaps, but honoring Lange there seems akin to placing the Lemieux statue inside the locker room/team offices instead of outside the arena, where members of the public can enjoy it.

While Lange’s place in the pantheon of Pittsburgh Penguins immortals, alongside the likes of Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr, is guaranteed, that is a figurative distinction. Literal immortality is another matter for everyone, and it’s no secret that health issues were at least part of the reason Lange stepped away from the booth in 2021.

Although there’s no doubt that he understands the depth of respect and affection he commands among those who followed his work on TV and radio, it would be nice if he could see a tangible expression of it.

A banner like the one that hangs in the Enterprise Center in St. Louis honoring legendary Blues play-by-play man Dan Kelly certainly would be appropriate. However, a statue along the lines of that outside Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena paying tribute to longtime Kings broadcaster Bob Miller would be even better.

Lange was always a man of the people, and a statue would allow those who have thought so highly of him for so many years to have a degree of interaction with Lange. A place where photos could be taken, and memories rekindled.

Put it in a concourse. Put it outside of a gate. Doesn’t matter. People will be drawn to it, just as they were drawn to the man it would celebrate.

If it’s a matter of money for FSG, one suspects that a public fund-raising drive would generate more than enough to cover the costs associated with a statue. He meant that much, to that many people.

The bottom line: Build Mike a statue. And get his dog one, too.