Will Blackmon’s favorite player of all time is Barry Sanders.
The Super Bowl Champion and founder of The Wine MVP is a collector of football memorabilia. But, when you play in the league and have a chance to be around that sort of memorabilia every day, it’s certainly worth asking what that favorite piece of history would be.
Blackmon joined Comeback Media’s Short & to The Point podcast with host Jessica Kleinschmidt and was asked about his memorabilia collection. Before he could answer the question about his favorite piece, his backdrop showed various signed helmets and footballs.
Blackmon thought about the question for a split second before you could see a light bulb go off in his head.
Then, you see him reach behind him to grab his Barry Sanders Starting Lineup figurine, which is his prized possession. It’s still in the box and appears to have never been opened.
“I saw him—not in person—but watched him on TV when I was about four years old,” Blackmon said of Sanders. “And when I saw Barry Sanders, I was like ‘Alright, that’s what I want to do. I want to do that.’”
Blackmon, then just a kid from Rhode Island, credits Sanders for his wanting to play football. Blackmon, who was born in 1984, was four years old the same year that Sanders ran away with the Heisman. So, it appears that Blackmon followed Sanders since his college days at Oklahoma State.
Blackmon isn’t sure how much his Sanders’ figurine is worth. To him, collecting figurines was never about the monetary value. And it’s clear that he holds the Sanders figurine close to his heart, no matter the cost.
“I wasn’t like big on value,” Blackmon told Kleinschmidt. “I don’t have all the stats and numbers on that stuff. I just collect it, as in I want it, I’m not letting it go. So, I was a hoarder.”
It appears that Blackmon has a 1999 Barry Sanders Starting Lineup figurine. That would be Sanders’ final season of his NFL career, and based on a scour of eBay, the sentimental value is certainly more than the actual figure is worth.
Blackmon has quite the collection. And as a sports fan, it’s certainly comforting to know that there are athletes, current or former, who have the same affinity for collecting memorabilia without it being related to its worth.
Make sure you check out the full episode of the Short & To The Point podcast with host Jessica Kleinschmidt this Tuesday.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.