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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kentucky’s finest

From wire reports The Spokesman-Review

It started with former Miami Dolphin Nick Buoniconti. It continued with baseball broadcaster Tim McCarver. Detroit Piston Bad Boy Bill Laimbeer. Football star Gale Sayers.

Former Washington Bullets coach Wes Unseld. Temple University basketball coach John Chaney. Georgetown and New York Knicks legend Patrick Ewing.

It is John Carpenter’s collection of autographed sports photographs — swollen to more than 3,000, he says. It’s the largest known such private collection, said Edward Meyer, vice president of archives for Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

It’s an impressive — and improbable — collection for a guy in Firebrick, Ky.

“There’s only 350 people here,” Carpenter said. “It’s just a peaceful, quiet community.”

For every living soul in town, Carpenter has about 10 autographed photos. Among them: NASCAR drivers Derrike Cope and Kenny Schrader; broadcaster Bob Costas; legendary coaches Bobby Bowden, Al McGuire and Lou Holtz.

“It just grows every day,” he said. “I’ve got hockey pucks. I’ve got glasses. Sometimes you just can’t think, there’s so much stuff.”

Next up: Tyson’s jump suit!

Just about anything is for sale in the sports memorabilia business. Take, for example, what Garth Woolsey of the Toronto Star found online.

Woolsey reports the shoes Mike Tyson wore while in jail for rape drew three bids and sold for $765.

The blurb hyping the shoes noted that they had “actual dirt from the prison yard caked into the soles!”

But it would be a great JV team

Asked what he would be doing if San Antonio hadn’t won the NBA lottery in 1997 and drafted Tim Duncan, Coach Gregg Popovich said, according to the Ventura County (Calif.) Star, “I’d probably be the JV coach at Pomona right now.”

And by first grade?

Indiana Pacer Coach Rick Carlisle missed a recent practice to attend the birth of his daughter.

“And if her daddy’s team keeps winning?” asked espn.com’s Tim Keown. “They have a chance to close out the Finals by the time she’s out of kindergarten.”

The last word

“At a fund-raising gathering in Washington, President Bush raised a record $38.5 million. The best visual was President Bush shaking hands with boxing promoter Don King, and it made history. President Bush is the first guy in history to ever shake hands with Don King and walk away with money.”

Jay Leno, Tonight Show host.