BEAVER TOWNSHIP — Area sports memorabilia enthusiasts might not realize it, but they can thank Jim Borgen, albeit indirectly, for helping to kick-start their collections.

The Barberton native and Howland resident has been an avid collector-dealer of sports cards, publications and equipment mementos since he was 8-years-old, deciding one day that it was time to go down an unknown path. So he hosted what he says was the area’s first ever card show.

“I wanted to bring together area sports afficionados and card collectors, so what better way than to have a card show,” Borgen told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “The year was 1979, and I held that show at the McKinley Memorial Library in Niles.

“We drew over 1,200 sports-crazed fans and everyone was just so anxious to meet the dealers and other collectors who occupied the 60 tables at the facility. I told my wife, Geri, we’re taking a big risk. I just hope it is well-received. In the end, there really was nothing to worry about because everyone had a great time.”

A retired special education teacher who spent 33 years in Champion Schools, Borgen estimates that he has owned, traded or given away close to 200,000 cards over the years.

“I still remember my very first card,” he said. “It was a 1954 Bowman featuring Red Schoendienst. I couldn’t pronounce his name so my mother pronounced it for me. I had many of his cards over the years, which are now worth a pretty penny since he was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.

“My most valuable card was a 1953 Willie Mays by Topps, which I picked up in a trade. He was my idol, and I remember seeing him in the 1954 World Series. It was game No. 4 in Cleveland, and my uncle took me to the game. In 1998 during spring training, I was at the San Francisco Giants’ complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, and ran into Willie. He graciously signed four baseballs for me so I was quite appreciative of my idol.”

Borgen also dabbled in football, basketball and hockey trading cards and, as a big ring fan, has also collected Topps boxing cards.

“A lot of the boxing cards came from England because it’s one of their major sports,” Borgen said. “I also collected publications like team yearbooks, press guides and old sports magazines, but I’ve begun to phase them out, giving many away including some to charities. I probably had 10,000 in my inventory over the years, but that’s down to about 2,000 right now.

“I also collected baseball scorecards and programs from many of the major fights of the day. Signed sports photos and autographed boxing gloves were also a hobby of mine.”

His love for boxing dates to the heyday of Rocky Marciano and Joe Louis.

“I started watching the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports,” he said. “Ring announcer Don Dunphy fascinated me. I loved watching Rocky Marciano and Joe Louis fight, along with Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston. I was always enamored with the heavyweights.

“When I moved to Youngstown, I was surprised that it was such a boxing hotbed. I loved going to the Golden Gloves at the Struthers Field House and came full circle with Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini. I saw him fight as an amateur and was in the audience in 2015 when he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.”

Being a collector has afforded Borgen the opportunity over the years to meet and befriend people he might never have ordinarily been around.

“I’ve been friends with Harry Arroyo and watched him when he made his amateur debut at age 14,” he said. “I said back then that he would become a champion and he went on to do just that.”

Borgen also promoted the very first card show that was staged in a department store and was actively involved in 65 shows over a 40-year span.

“That show was held on the mezzanine of the Strouss-Hirshberg department store in Downtown Youngtown,” he said. “This was the heyday of sports collecting and over the years guests at my shows included Bob Feller, Mike Garcia, Dick Groat, Harvey Haddix, local standout Andy Kosco, Ned Garver, Gene Woodling, Elroy Face and Bob Friend.

“I also had Vic Janowicz of Ohio State, who actually brought with him his Heisman Trophy. He was very gracious and allowed the fans to take photos with him, also allowing them to hold his prized possession.”

Next Monday, Stan Boney, WKBN Channel-27 news anchor will serve as guest speaker.