It's that time again..let's recognize, and congratulate, @kpit1978 on being selected as our next SCC Member Spotlight.
Kevin is one of more tenured SCC members in fact he was a member of the site when it was still TCC. You can find him in breaks, trades, and our general discussion threads.
Like most kids in Canada, Kevin's first experience with collecting involved NHL cards from O-Pee-chee. Kevin said that he, "wasn't t quite old enough to have had any Gretzky RC's in my collection but I do remember Yzerman, Neely, and Lemieux RC's being among the stacks in my shoe boxes of cards...and like most kids I didn't give a second thought to keeping those cards in good shape." He went on to tell me, "What didn't get chewed up in the spokes of my bike got lined up along the bottom of my cousins fridge on a Friday night and you kept whatever you could knock down with a card that you flicked at them as our parents played cards in the background." Just like all of us, he outgrew that first collecting phase, "I'm not quite sure how old I was but at some point my mom got tired of telling me to clean up my cards and followed through with her threat to toss them in the trash." The ever infamous "Mom Threw Out My Cards!"
He then drifted back into the hobby during high school. He recalls that, "In addition to there being arcades in the area there was a couple of comic book stores who had a small selection of cards as well. After buying whatever the latest Wolverine or Punisher was available I would spend some money on baseball cards looking for a copy of the Bo Jackson where he has the football pads on and the bat draped across his shoulders. This could be swapped for a fresh pack of 84-85 OPC hockey. These were much better taken care of and I still have them to this day. Yzerman was the most popular RC of the batch but there were a ton of great rookies that year like Gilmour, Neely, and Chris Chelios just to name a few. On top of that there must be 6-8 Gretzky inserts for various records and trophies." Unfortunately a new high school would open in his grade 11 year and he, "would be shipped out to the middle of nowhere on a daily basis", ending phase 2 of his collecting days.
The current iteration of Kevin's collection, "started in 2007 when my wife introduced me to ebay. I bought myself some 2007 Bowman Sterling to rip (I really should have sold that Jamarcus Russell RC auto jersey /100 when I had the chance). From there I watched some videos on YouTube and found out about group breaks and followed a Crpalmi video back to TCC (now SCC)", and has been involved in the hobby ever since.
As for a collecting focus, Kevin doesn't "really have any rules to my collection." He likes RPA's, "the more colourful the better." He keeps the nicest card of any player he gets for his PC. He used to sell off the rest to help pay for other break spots but doesn’t do that too much anymore. He also let me know that on and off his collecting has been a family affair. "My kids have all gone through a stage when they're interested as they grow up and I use some of the less valuable hits to make up packs for them to open. At present only the 8 year old is still showing any interest. They all hate football because they know that's the one time during the week that they're not going to get much attention from me." I would guess his family isn't alone on that one.
When asked to show off his favorite pieces he shared these with me, noting that a lot of his other cards were in storage. And he wasn't lying about some great patches:
He showed off a couple pretty Iconic autos as well:
Kevin said he doesn't have many vices, but "group breaks are my form of gambling." That's his favorite part about this hobby. "It's more about the anticipation and the rush of a sick hit than anything else." His least favorite parts of this hobby is dealing with the shipping costs and the difference between the Canadian and US dollar. "I'm as proud to be Canadian as you guys are to be American but it definitely makes a difference in this hobby being on the northern side of the border."
Thanks for being a valued member of SCC Kevin!
Kevin is one of more tenured SCC members in fact he was a member of the site when it was still TCC. You can find him in breaks, trades, and our general discussion threads.
Like most kids in Canada, Kevin's first experience with collecting involved NHL cards from O-Pee-chee. Kevin said that he, "wasn't t quite old enough to have had any Gretzky RC's in my collection but I do remember Yzerman, Neely, and Lemieux RC's being among the stacks in my shoe boxes of cards...and like most kids I didn't give a second thought to keeping those cards in good shape." He went on to tell me, "What didn't get chewed up in the spokes of my bike got lined up along the bottom of my cousins fridge on a Friday night and you kept whatever you could knock down with a card that you flicked at them as our parents played cards in the background." Just like all of us, he outgrew that first collecting phase, "I'm not quite sure how old I was but at some point my mom got tired of telling me to clean up my cards and followed through with her threat to toss them in the trash." The ever infamous "Mom Threw Out My Cards!"
He then drifted back into the hobby during high school. He recalls that, "In addition to there being arcades in the area there was a couple of comic book stores who had a small selection of cards as well. After buying whatever the latest Wolverine or Punisher was available I would spend some money on baseball cards looking for a copy of the Bo Jackson where he has the football pads on and the bat draped across his shoulders. This could be swapped for a fresh pack of 84-85 OPC hockey. These were much better taken care of and I still have them to this day. Yzerman was the most popular RC of the batch but there were a ton of great rookies that year like Gilmour, Neely, and Chris Chelios just to name a few. On top of that there must be 6-8 Gretzky inserts for various records and trophies." Unfortunately a new high school would open in his grade 11 year and he, "would be shipped out to the middle of nowhere on a daily basis", ending phase 2 of his collecting days.
The current iteration of Kevin's collection, "started in 2007 when my wife introduced me to ebay. I bought myself some 2007 Bowman Sterling to rip (I really should have sold that Jamarcus Russell RC auto jersey /100 when I had the chance). From there I watched some videos on YouTube and found out about group breaks and followed a Crpalmi video back to TCC (now SCC)", and has been involved in the hobby ever since.
As for a collecting focus, Kevin doesn't "really have any rules to my collection." He likes RPA's, "the more colourful the better." He keeps the nicest card of any player he gets for his PC. He used to sell off the rest to help pay for other break spots but doesn’t do that too much anymore. He also let me know that on and off his collecting has been a family affair. "My kids have all gone through a stage when they're interested as they grow up and I use some of the less valuable hits to make up packs for them to open. At present only the 8 year old is still showing any interest. They all hate football because they know that's the one time during the week that they're not going to get much attention from me." I would guess his family isn't alone on that one.
When asked to show off his favorite pieces he shared these with me, noting that a lot of his other cards were in storage. And he wasn't lying about some great patches:
He showed off a couple pretty Iconic autos as well:
Kevin said he doesn't have many vices, but "group breaks are my form of gambling." That's his favorite part about this hobby. "It's more about the anticipation and the rush of a sick hit than anything else." His least favorite parts of this hobby is dealing with the shipping costs and the difference between the Canadian and US dollar. "I'm as proud to be Canadian as you guys are to be American but it definitely makes a difference in this hobby being on the northern side of the border."
Thanks for being a valued member of SCC Kevin!
