Man steps to the plate after fire destroys boy’s sports cards
maylen
DENVER (NewsNation) — A 12-year-old boy suffered burns trying to put out a fire that later burned down his family home in Denver. The fire destroyed all of his belongings, including his sports card collection that once belonged to his great-grandfather and had been passed down from generation to generation.
On “Morning in America,” Adam Olguin told NewsNation that he saw the flames through the kitchen window and tried to put them out with a water hose from outside.
“I tried spraying it at the window, but it wasn’t doing anything,” Adam said. “So, I just ran out of the house without grabbing anything. I don’t know what I was thinking, I just ran out of the house.”
He explained that his lost sports card collection was his favorite thing because it was passed down from his “grandpa’s grandpa” and he had been collecting them for a really long time.
Mike Fruitman, the owner of Mike’s Stadium Sportscards, heard what happened and contacted Adam to invite him to his sports memorabilia shop to select any sports cards that he wanted.
“It was such an easy fix,” Mike said. “We were able to get a hold of Adam … and we invited him over to the shop and just let them have free run of the place.”
Mike and his staff surprised Adam with his favorite NBA player’s jersey, and the community raised over $18,000 for the family to rebuild.
Mike said that he started collecting cards when he was a kid, explaining that the idea of losing all of his cards as a child would be incredibly harsh.
“The idea of just having him come over to have a shopping spree at the store was just such an easy thing,” he said. Mike added that since Adam came to the shop, he has seen a lot of donations and told Adam he has more cards to give him.
“A lot of our collectors have heard about this,” Mike said. “So what we gave you the other day, we have a lot more for you to come by and pick up as well.”
Adam expressed his happiness and gratitude toward Mike. He did explain he was able to recover his baseball card set, but he’s happy that more and more people are reaching out to give him more cards even after he recovered the set.
“Thank you to Mike,” Adam said.
