Walking into the bedroom of 82-year-old Frank Massey is like walking into a Giants memorabilia museum, which is maintained with the care of a curator.
There is a lot to take in at first — hundreds of hats lining the walls of the modest bedroom, a bed decked in New York Giants logos, newspaper clippings, pictures, little trinkets and toys and everything in between.
The number of items Massey has isn’t countless, though, because he also has meticulously archived nearly every item with when and where he got it.
Massey, a Scotia resident and Schenectady native, has also amassed 290 different signatures of Big Blue players, organized by spreadsheets with various categories neatly kept in a binder.
“I catalogued everything of all the things that are in here, so I know where they are,” Massey said. “To find the autographs I also made a key, so I can locate where these autographs are. It was quite extensive to do that.”
His wife, Marlene, has confined his collection to the bedroom and connected bathroom, which he respects.
“I have always been a fan and we got to see the 1991 Super Bowl with Buffalo (versus the Giants) and I didn’t have anything at the time,” Massey said. “People started buying me hats and that’s how it started.”
Marlene crafted him some hangers to display the budding collection of hats, since her husband had nowhere to put them. Today, he has about 215 different hats, with a large majority holding a signature, sometimes several.
“I am not an autograph hound anyway, but it gives me something to do,” he said.
Since the Giants didn’t travel to the University at Albany for training camp this season due to the lockout, he wasn’t able to grab any more signatures this year. Next year, when the Giants are expected to return, he plans to attend again. The Giants have came to UAlbany for 15 years.
When he first started going to the training camp, Massey said he would go twice a day, but now he will go almost every day. The actual training, he said, isn’t too awe inspiring.
“Let’s face it, I am not a stargazer and that’s like watching paint dry for an hour and a half,” he said.
Massey’s collection keeps growing, even without his help. His wife gave him a football autographed by Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Yelberton Abraham Tittle, who played for the Giants from 1961-64 before retiring. The Giants also retired Tittle’s jersey number, 14. His daughter gave him a football autographed by players from the 2000 season to add to his collection.
His favorite Giants player is Frank Gifford because of how well rounded a player he was. Gifford played exclusively for the Giants from 1954-64. His number has also been retired from the Giants roster.
A Giants-themed puzzle his wife gave him is one of Massey’s favorite items.
“Many years ago my wife gave that to me and I just put it in the closet, because I don’t do puzzles,” he said. “It stayed there for at least five years.”
Within the completed puzzle he found all sorts of characters, real and imaginary, and wrote down all of the characters in it. He tried to get a second puzzle in Buffalo, but they don’t sell them anymore. Now, it hangs in a frame.
“Once I got it up I was never going to pull it apart,” he said.
In 2002, while in the hospital, Massey still managed to expand his collection.
“I had a lot of time on my hands, so then I went onto eBay and was getting three or four hats every week,” he said. “It got started that way, so I guess I would call it a hobby … I collect memorabilia.”
Massey said now he’s calmed down watching football on the television, realizing he can’t “live and die on every play.” If things start getting a little rough to watch, he or his wife and will mute the TV and cover their eyes.
He admitted he didn’t believe the Giants would beat the New England Patriots last time they faced each other in the Super Bowl, but was ecstatic when they were victorious.
“I had my wife back out the car and put it on the panic thing, when lights go on and the horn blows,” he said.
This Super Bowl, he said he is confident the Giants could come out with a win, but he still can’t help feeling a little apprehensive.
“I hate this feeling, because I feel like they are going to do good,” he said. “This team is so together … everything is nice, it is eerie.”