Years of Sheryl Swoopes Memorabilia Sold at Auction

From USA Today:

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Sheryl Swoopes has lost years of memorabilia from her celebrated basketball career after she reportedly failed to pay rent on a West Texas storage unit where she kept awards, team jerseys, fan mail and her college diploma.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported Tuesday night that contents of the storage unit were sold at an auction Friday. The newspaper said the three Olympic gold medals Swoopes won were not among the belongings in the unit in Lubbock, where she played for Texas Tech.

Swoopes knew she had a storage unit from her marriage, but was not aware the contents had been sold, her agent, Kim Blackwell, said in a statement to the newspaper Tuesday.


I only recently learned of Swoopes's financial troubles. Sheryl Swoopes filed for bankruptcy in 2004, owing nearly $750,000 at the time.

The "I wasn't aware the contents had been sold" is particularly strange. Did she simply forget that there was a pile of stuff in her name somewhere in Texas? Was the company that held her stuff simply unable to get in touch with her, or did they contact her but a) Swoopes blew them off, or b) she was so poor that she didn't have the money to pay even locker rent?

A 66-year old retiree bought the entire locker:

"It was a steal for a poor man on Social Security," said Jordan, who frequents auctions and garage sales and resells the items at an area flea market. "You don't get rich," he said, "but it's enough to keep our vehicles running."

Poor man on social security? Good Lord, what was the final auction price? $20?

He plans on selling the stuff on eBay, and may sell some at area flea markets. Hopefully, this West Texan can tell the difference between the value of a 1993 Kodak's Women's All-American trophy and a set of "save the date" cards for "Eric and Sheryl's Wedding". (Actually, those save the date cards, if they existed, would have some ironic value.)

I just hate to think of something like, say, a U. S. Olympic Team jersey ending up in a remainder pile somewhere because no one could recognize its value. I guess I'll be hunting down eBay.