Rhode Island bartender wins Upper Deck's "Hunt for the Ultimate Man Cave"
One man cave stood above all the rest — and it belonged to Roy Lautieri.
The 29-year-old bartender from Coventry, R.I., has collected autographs for the last 20 years with an eye on items from Upper Deck Authenticated — and now he can add a hand-paintedand autographed Michael Jordan jersey to his memorabilia trove as he was the winner of the “Hunt for the Ultimate Man Cave” contest from Upper Deck.
“People can debate what the true definition of someone’s ‘man cave’ is,” said Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s sports marketing manager, “but there is no doubt Roy’s ‘man cave’ featured a personal collection that impressed everybody.
“He did a terrific job of not only decorating his designated room with valuable sports memorabilia, some of which consists of highly rare 1-of-1’s, but he also submitted a very interesting video entry that kept everybody’s attention with his informative voice-over narration. We had some terrific entries, but nobody else’s came close to the enormity and outstanding player lineup of Roy’s. Plus, his collection is comprised almost entirely of UDA items from the past and present, which was one of the most important parts of our judging criteria.”
Click here to watch his video, which was one of more than 50 entries Upper Deck received in the contest.
Lautieri focuses on basketball, particularly the Boston Celtics — a collection that includes autographs and memorabilia from not only Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Kevin McHale, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, but also opponents like Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Lamar Odom.
“My wife loves the fact that my hobby makes me so happy and she even has a couple of favorites herself including the [Kevin] Garnett Breaking Through,” he said. “On the other hand, she says ‘Babe, don’t you think you have enough autographs? When will it ever end?’ But that is true love for you because she knows it will never end and she’s okay with that. So, I always get her opinion on what I should buy next.”
His prized possession is UDA’s “Legends of Sport” lithograph signed by Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, which retails for $6,000.
“Other than my family, Upper Deck is what I live for. It is my passion,” he said. “And to be appreciated for my loyalty to you guys means the world to me. It makes me feel that every dollar I’ve ever spent on UDA products was worth it.”
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