Someone else’s trash has become a major treasure for a couple in North Carolina.
Sean McEvoy and his wife were shopping for clothing at a Goodwill outlet in West Asheville when he stumbled upon an old West Point sweater. It will go down as the best 58 cents McEvoy has ever spent since the sweater turned out to be the one-time property of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi.
The sweater, set to go on auction Feb. 21, is expected to fetch in the neighborhood of $20,000, according to WLOS News 13. So how did McEvoy realize he was sitting on a gold mine? He just happened to be watching a Lombardi documentary one night, and the coach just happened to be wearing a sweater that looked a lot like the one McEvoy had recently purchased.
“Wouldn’t it be great if it was actually Vince Lombardi’s?,” McEvoy asked his wife, WLOS reports. “She said ‘I think it’s that guy, Lombardi.’ My heart kind of sank into my stomach a bit.” The couple had intended to resell the sweater at their vintage clothing store, but they sure are glad it never made it to the shelves.
McEvoy’s first call was to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which was more than willing to accept the prized sweater as a donation.
“My wife put the kabosh on that,” McEvoy said.
He then turned to Heritage Auctions in Dallas.
After taking the drive to Dallas, an authenticator was able to confirm that the sweater was indeed the same one worn by Lombardi, who served as an assistant at West Point from 1949-1953.
“They examined the types of fabric that are used on the sweater the different types of stitching,” Heritage consignment director Chris Nerat said. “I think that it could easily hit the $20,000 range.”
And suddenly everyone who’s ever taken a flyer on a garage sale item or bought a lottery scratcher has more reason to be optimistic. This was probably the best auction story we’ve seen since this gem.
