GULFPORT, Miss. (WLOX) – Super Bowl Sunday is a celebration of American Culture and sports. A Gulfport resident and former mayor celebrates the nostalgia of sports every day with his huge memorabilia collection.

“It doesn’t matter what team or what sport; I’ve got it,” Bob Short said.

From a Mickey Mantle plate to a signed Nick Saban picture, you can find it in Bob Short’s house, what he calls his sports museum.

“I can’t believe I’ve got this much; when I tell somebody to come see my stuff, they think about the little corner they have in their house. This is a little different.”

Short’s search for additions to his collection is ongoing.

“I go to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, Youth for Christ. You have to go every day because you don’t want to skip two days and the lady says, ‘You won’t believe what we had yesterday.’”

Unlike many collectors, Short isn’t looking to turn a profit.

“I’ll never sell any of my stuff.”

He will give away baseball cards to uplift children’s spirits.

“I asked the young man [who was gifted cards] that was nine what he was going to do with his cards, and he said, ‘My mom said I can’t do anything with them. When I get ready to go to college, I’m going to sell them and I can go to college.’ That made me feel good.”

Short’s always been a collector, even when he served as Gulfport’s mayor in the early 90s, and before that in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

He was also on the leading edge of helping grow the Special Olympics. His 50 years of involvement with the organization led to him meeting some of sport’s biggest names including Muhammad Ali.

“We built a ring, and he [Muhammad Ali] got in there and let our special kids knock him down for hours.”

Throughout his life, Short shared his love of sports with his wife Pamela.

“My wife was a huge baseball fan. She was a Braves fan, and I was a Yankees fan, and we got to the World Series to see the Yankees and Braves play.”

Short lost his wife four years ago. As a way of coping with his loss, he focused on his collection, enclosed his garage and made it a place to showcase his memorabilia.

“She would love it.”

Now when he looks over the items collected over decades, Short sees memories, many of the memories created while doing the work he’s most proud of with Special Olympics.

“It was as rewarding for me to help those kids, and to meet those people as it was for my athletes to participate because they never got to participate before Olympics opened the door for them.”

Short’s sister in Arkansas helps him find new things. Short said in his will, he is leaving his entire collection to his sister’s children.

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