‘In the cards’: Retired BP guidance counselor taps collectibles for wedding expenses
Courtesy of Jim Knapp
Jim Knapp with his grandson, Lucas, 8, and some of the cards he will be selling to help pay for his daughter’s September wedding
Courtesy of Jim Knapp
This card from Pete Maravich’s rookie season fetched $230 in an auction on eBay.
Courtesy of Jim Knapp
This Tall Boy card of Wilt Chamberlain was among the cards put up for auction on eBay.
Photos: Courtesy of Jim Knapp
Some of the Tall Boy basketball cards that Jim Knapp is selling
Jim Knapp said a big wedding wasn’t always in the cards for his daughter, Casey.
But she had a change of heart after attending a wedding last August, and now Knapp, the recently retired Bethel Park High School guidance counselor, is looking to offset some of the expenses with a little help from a few hall of fame athletes, such as Willie Mays and Wilt Chamberlain.
“Every father plans to have a wedding for his daughter,” Knapp said. “In my case, she always said, ‘Hey, Dad, I don’t want a big wedding. All you need to plan for is a small wedding and maybe a dinner after.’ No problem. I had that money socked away.”
Knapp has a sports card collection from his younger days that includes the “tall” basketball cards prevalent in the early 1970s, sets of Topps Baseball cards, football cards from the 1970s and even some hockey cards. Knapp said he has about 1,000 left from his collection.
“The ones that I have that are really worth something are called the Tall Boys, the 1970-71 (NBA) series,” Knapp explained. “I was fortunate that I was able to have that entire set.”
So the South Strabane Township resident figured why not sell them to help pay for the wedding.
“I could very easily go into my retirement stuff and do that,” Knapp said. “However, I figured I have these cards. Why not try to sell these off? Will it pay for the whole wedding? Absolutely not, but it will make a little indentation into that wedding.”
He put five cards up for auction on Ebay — Tall Boy cards of “Pistol” Pete Maravich, Chamberlain and Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) from the 1970-71 season and 1969 baseball cards of hall of famers Mays and Nolan Ryan.
The quintet of cards fetched almost $1,000, with the card from Maravich’s rookie season going for $230. The Chamberlain and Alcindor cards brought in about $100 apiece from the five-day auction that ended Tuesday.
“A guy from Cincinnati called me who was originally from Bethel Park,” Knapp said. “He’s coming in this weekend and said he’ll buy the whole kit and caboodle off of me. He’s a collector. He said he’ll take them home and put them in his drawer. He holds on to them. He’ll take them all from me and won’t resell them. He’ll keep them until he dies.”
Knapp admitted he hadn’t told his daughter about selling the cards.
“I haven’t really told her this is how we’re funding this,” he said. “She does know that I was getting cards ready for this guy and thinks it’s really neat. My grandson (Lucas) has been helping we with those cards. He and I just have a great time.”
Casey, a nurse at Canonsburg Hospital, will marry Matt Presto, a nurse at Mon Valley Hospital, in September. Both are 2010 graduates of Trinity High School.
And their wedding will be partially paid for by cards of some of the greatest athletes who have ever lived.