JOHNSON COUNTY, Kan. — Steven Butner calls himself a sports fanatic.
"I think my collection is up there as one of the best," said Butner, a Johnson County resident.
His love for sports autographs started at 7 years old at a Kansas City Chiefs training camp.
"I just remember as a little kid waiting in line after practice and getting autographs from Joe Montana, Marcus Allen," Butner said.
His father encouraged him to start a collection and since then, it has grown into an obsession.
"I kind of went down that road and ran with it," Butner said. "I have all NFL Hall of Famers autographs except three."
Butner's autograph collection includes more than 700 autographs.
"Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famers, Royals Hall of Famers. I am also a Jayhawk graduate so a lot of Jayhawk football and basketball," Butner said.
With these autographs, Butner believes he might have the largest collection of Hall of Fame autographs in the city. But his favorite cards have a sentimental meaning.
"Just the ones that I have made memories with collecting with my father. I have like a Jim Thorpe, I have a Joe Delaney," Butner said.
And as a father of two girls, his basement is his sanctuary.
"Anytime I want alone time from the girls upstairs, I always tell my family that I am going to go downstairs play with autographs," Butner said. "They are like my baby boy of the house."
He said because of the crazy Kansas weather, he does have everything insured.
