SuperCollector Scoop: Can you top ‘The Kosar Kid?’

Under normal circumstances we try and showcase a SuperCollector or two in each of our monthly magazines.  Even when we’re taking on submissions for the special SuperCollector edition of Beckett Sports Card Monthly (like we’re doing right now), we usually defer to print in the end … usually.

But let me assure you, there is nothing usual about Bernie Kosar SuperCollector Christopher Lee.

Once you’re finished saying “We’re not worthy. We’re not worthy” after reading this beyond extraordinary tale of hobby dedication, we encourage you to top it.

You don’t have to get a tattoo or anything, but we (and the rest of the world) are interested to see what you’ve got. Click here to find out what information we need and how you might be able to find yourself in the pages of the next BSCM.

But first, let’s see just how high the bar has been raised.

From SuperCollector Christopher Lee

I was born in 1980, and since that day I have loved the Cleveland Browns.

A short six years later, I started my card collection (with my dad’s 1968 Topps Nolan Ryan Rookie Card) and when Bernie Kosar signed on to be the quarterback for my Brownies. I remember sitting in my living room marveling at this guy from my hometown hitting the field every Sunday. Between his unconventional sidearm delivery, and obvious on-field leadership and confidence, he made me bleed brown and orange. When I was 8, I received an autographed Kosar football from my aunt (who knew Bernie’s mom) for Christmas. It is the best gift I’ve ever received.

I am constantly searching for new Kosar items, and I have to say, aside from my countless cards, I have some pretty unique ones. From bobbleheads, mugs, hats, practice jerseys, stein mugs, plates and my Bernie Kosar growth chart, I can honestly say I have everything with his face on it. Although I have two items that hold a special place in my heart.

Back in 2010, something I had anticipated for my entire life happened —twice!

At a show in Belden Village, I ever so anxiously stood in line to get Kosar to sign my authentic jersey and to shake his hand. That jersey is now — after much negotiating with my wife Jennifer — the centerpiece of our family room decor.

Then a few months later, my wife and I went to a Browns preseason game and he was actually shopping in the team shop! I was super bummed because I had nothing for him to sign, so Jenn handed me a sharpie and said, “Have him sign your arm.” So that’s what I did.

We searched the city for a tattoo parlor and had the signature tattooed on my forearm along with the Cleveland Brownie. I obviously love the Browns.

I also collect all the Rookie Cards from all the Browns players, past and present (yeah, Quinn might have gotten me in trouble). That love has also touched a lot of other areas of my life. At the National Sports Collectors Convention, a lot of people call me “The Kosar Kid” due to the fact that I wear a different Kosar jersey every day of the show. Jennifer and I got engaged in the Dog Pound (so I could wear my Bernie jersey when I asked her) and then got married July 19 for you guessed it … Kosar’s number.

My most recent non-Bernie project is acquiring all the Cleveland Browns media guides 1946 to the present. All of which I have except the 1947, so if anybody out there happens to have it please feel free to contact me.

Until then I will be sitting here in my No. 19 Municipal Stadium chair, searching eBay for more Bernie items.