COMMENTARY
Charity Vogel: Hockey lore galore seeks special home
Some people get the look when they talk about religion. Or barbecue. Or politics.
Then there’s Joseph Gambacorta, who gets the look — a little beatific, a little manic — when he talks about the Sabres.
Not just the Sabres. Let us be clear: Sabres stuff.
I will be blunt. You may be a fan of hockey. You may even have a cache of mementos stored away — old ticket stubs, a few programs, maybe a souvenir jersey or two.
Well, compared to this guy, you’re a piker.
We’re talking serious accumulating here. I made a trip to Gambacorta’s office — he’s a dentist in Snyder — to see for myself, after he wrote me a letter in response to my column suggesting we save center ice at Memorial Auditorium as a way to honor Buffalo’s hockey history.
Gambacorta, 42, has a bigger idea. He wants to open a hockey museum that will do that and more.
We’ll get to his concept in a minute. First let’s talk about what Gambacorta has collected in the way of Sabres memorabilia. Mind you, he started when he was just a kid, stuffing his pockets with discarded ticket stubs in the hallways and bathrooms at the Aud.
“My dad was a neat freak, and he always hated it,” Gambacorta said. “He told me to knock it off. But I’d be stuffing my pants.”
Here’s a tiny sample:
• Jerseys: All styles; many worn by the team’s biggest names. A highlight is Tim Horton’s jersey from the last game he played in Buffalo, in 1974, before he died in a car accident on the QEW. Still has marks from the game.
• Stubs: Tickets have been printed for about 2,000 Sabres home games ever. Gambacorta has stubs from all but 40.
• Aud seats: He’s got 30. (Including the ones he used to sit in, from Section 18, Row D.)
• Sticks: Hundreds, most game-used. His favorite is one signed by the 1946 American League championship team.
• Game lineup sheets: Originals, for all games played from 1977 to 2001, given to him by a team scorer who retired.
• Miscellany: Usher jackets in every style worn in the Aud. Decorative pieces of felt that hung around the necks of wine bottles at the 1978 All-Star banquet. Programs dating back to 1931.
“This isn’t trinkets. It’s real stuff,” said Gambacorta, who is not above trading dental work for a good collectible. “I’m not a freak — but it is something I’m passionate about.”
Now, to answer your big question about his collection.
Why does it matter to the rest of us?
Here’s why. As Gambacorta sees it, Buffalo has a long, storied history of hockey that it should boast about. He envisions his collection as the seed for a “Buffalo Hockey Experience and Museum” that would tell that story of Buffalo hockey to visitors.
He’d like to see the museum downtown, maybe near the waterfront. He insists on a strictly local focus, and would like parts of the site to be interactive in order to draw families as well as sports buffs.
He’s got a Web site in place — www.bleedfortheblueandgold.com — and filed an application for nonprofit status. He’ll be at the Convention Center on Nov. 15-16 to show off his collection and talk up the project.
Now, the rest is up to Buffalo.
Does sports history matter here? Should Tim Horton’s jersey be on public display — for you to gaze at — rather than tucked away in one guy’s closet?
Do we care?
Gambacorta, who’s been gearing up for this moment since he was a kid with a pocketful of torn stubs, is betting that you do.
