This Kansas City Chiefs fan is always ready for some football. He now has a Guinness World Record.
Two years ago, Curt Herrman tackled the task of getting Guinness World Records to recognize his Kansas City Chiefs memorabilia collection as being the world's largest.
He succeeded.
Herrman's 1,323-piece collection has been named the world's "Largest Collection of Kansas City Chiefs Memorabilia," the Guinness organization says on a recently created web page highlighting that record.
Guinness says it plans to include that accomplishment in its 2023 Book of World Records.
Guinness was asked to create category
Overall, the world's largest collection of sports memorabilia contains 40,669 items and is located in a museum in Cyprus, according to the Guinness website.
Herrman asked Guinness in 2020 to create a category for "largest collection of Kansas City Chiefs memorabilia" and recognize him for holding that record, he told The Capital-Journal in February 2021.
Herrman officially became the record holder on Aug. 23, according to the Guinness website.
He began building his collection when he was 8 years old, that site says.
"He received a Chiefs football that year on his birthday and since then, his friends and family have given him Chiefs memorabilia for every Christmas and birthday," it says.
Herrman's collection covers just about every wall and fills just about every shelf in his basement, the Guinness website adds.
"Among the more valuable items in the collection is an old Christmas card signed by, among others, Lamar Hunt, former Chiefs owner and co-founder of the American Football League (now known as the American Football Conference)," it says.
Herrman's collection contains no duplicates, the Guinness website notes.
"If he receives a duplicate of an item he already owns, he gives it to a friend to help grow their collection," it said.
Collection includes figurines, clocks
Media coverage of Herrman's bid for recognition from Guinness got the attention of the Spain-based Official World Record organization, which in January 2021 certified him as having the world's largest collection of Kansas City Chiefs-related memorabilia.
Herrman's collection includes player figurines, game programs and tickets, autographed photos, helmets and jerseys, cardboard cutouts of players, replica championship rings, pieces of game-worn jerseys and Kansas City Star articles published when the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in January 1970 and when former Coach Hank Stram died in 2005.
Many of the items, including the newspaper articles, are enclosed in frames Herrman made himself.
The collection also includes Chiefs clocks, a Chiefs bowling ball and Chiefs-themed stuffed animals, fishing lures, bottle openers and cookie jars.
