I was approached in 1997 by Steve Harding, the curator of The Nolan Ryan Center which was to be built in Ryan's hometown of Alvin, TX. He had heard from other Ryan advanced collectors that I had the most complete collection of Nolan Ryan milestone tickets. He felt that this would make for an interesting wall display in the new museum and wanted to know if I would consider loaning my collection to the museum.
The opportunity to share my collection with thousands of visitors to The Ryan Center made it a no-brainer for me. I immediately agreed as long as the collection was insured and I had documents in hand that guaranteed against loss and that I would loan them for one year. This was agreed to and I physically handed them off in person in 1997 to the curator Steve over dinner while on a business trip to Houston.
Over the course of the next couple of years (The Ryan Center finally opened April of 1999) I was allowed to collaborate on the design of the Ryan Milestone Ticket Wall. This was great fun & it also led to conversations about other items that I might loan out of my personal collection that would add value to the exhibit. In total I loaned or donated approximately 75-80 items to The Ryan Center. The loan actually led to them being on display for a total of three years from 1999-2003. I was also invited to attend a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony and dinner associated with The Opening of The Ryan Center.
The overall experience was very positive for me. An opportunity to share what was a hobby labor of love over 25 years of collecting (in 1999)- now over 40 and counting.
I have shown these items before, but when The Ryan Center sent my collection back, Nolan and Ruth Ryan sent along two very unexpected gifts.
A facsimile Ryan jersey with Nolan's personal thank you & a limited production bronze statue by artist Toby Mendez (17") of the same statue of Ryan that is on display at The Ballpark at Arlington in TX.
Mr & Mrs. Ryan are obviously very thoughtful, classy people. Please feel free to reach out to me as well if you have any questions.
Last edited by Scott Garner; 11-19-2016 at 04:16 AM.
|