Jim Kelly Gamer Collection

[genius]

so that's where they all are! Awesome collection, thanks for sharing and I sure hope Jim wins his battle!

[beantown]

Nice Kelly/Bills Collection...know where I can locate a Fred Smerlas Bills Gamer?

[gobills123]

Thanks! I managed it through trades and right place right time finds as like I mentioned before it had to be done on the cheap. Jim came into my work a few days prior to making his second announcement that the cancer had returned. He was super nice and talkitive and even explained why he wore a different facemask during his 87 campaign (hard hit to the jaw made the drs reccomend he wear the bigger longer Marino mask. He said his pads were so big that it restricted the range of motion of his head so as soon as he was allowed, he changed back) which was neat because I had often wondered that. He talked about football, and even tried to answer some jersey questions, although he didnt remember a lot but it was still helpful none the less. That was only a small part of the conversation and although he looked like he had seen better days, he was wonderful, funny, engaging and took the time to speak to anyone who had a question or to snap a picture. All around nice guy (which ive heard is quite the opposite from his playing days)!! It made it even sadder to have just seen him a couple days before the news came out. All of Buffalo is rooting for him and he seems to be getting back a ton of support from the people who he supported and inspired through his play on the field. I, and many others Id imagine, certainly hope for the best because he is far and away to this day the biggest and most popular athletic figure in Buffalo.

[gobills123]

Beantown, Im sorry, I dont. Your actually the second person to ask me that in the last week. Ive personally never seen one, but my coworker was telling me how he passed on one once because he said it was a port hole style, but the front number were sewn, while the back and sides were screen print. I think.thats cool, but because it didnt have any prominence he found it to be too odd/fishy to pay what the seller was asking. I got the impression it was years ago though, and there wasnt the resources that there are now a days to research it.

[beantown]

gobills23...thanks for the follow up...Smerlas is tough find!!

[gobills123]

I meant provenance not prominence :-)

[gobills123]

does any one else have pics? I love seeing other ones, or any Bills jerseys as well for that matter!!!

[commando]

That's a world-class collection! I had the chance to spend the day and evening with Jim at the 2010 Houston Gamblers Reunion.... What a class act he was towards all the other Gambler players, staff and family.

One of the prized possessions in my Gamblers archives is a USFL game ball that Kelly took from his locker and gave to a VIP who was passing through the Astrodome locker room (Jim signed the ball several years later when he saw the fellow again).

Houston loves Jim Kelly!

[gobills123]

Wow!! That ball is amazing!! Thank you for sharing pictures, and it sounds like there was a cool story behind it. I'm smart enough to know I'll probably never even see pics of a gamblers Kelly gamer or issue, but a custom one would be really cool. I wasnt a fan if the Majestic remakes as they didnt look spot on (kind of how mitchell ness/reebok legends use the incorrect font for their current Bills throwbacks) although it doesn't appear as if ut would be a difficult jersey to reproduce. 2 of the Kellys came via trade with a fantastic board member who I know has a great Bills collection, but I was suprised there are not more Bills collectors on here solely because here in the Buffalo area, there are some die hard collectors and there are so many Buffalo transplants I would have guessed this forum would be the perfect outlet for jersey discussion. I would imagine most times are the same way, but the 80s and 90s bills jerseys have so many inconsistencies that even if there were a definitive catalouge there would still be times some "rules" are broken. Its fun to see other people collections and learn about all the different stuff out there. Thanks again for the read and sharing!!

[Sabresfreak]

I don't have any Bills jerseys from the 90s but I have these.

Patches.


The Jackson jersey is hammered!

Moulds GI







Poz GI