Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 19, 2007

FORT SMITH - An amazing array of sports memorabilia will be auctioned off in Fort Smith later this month.

The Nov. 24 auction will be a fundraiser for Northern Life Museum.

Tim Gauthier, vice-chair of the museum's board of directors, was expecting around 35 items to be collected for auction, but as of last week was able to attract 37.

Most of the items were collected by contacting numerous professional sports teams and athletes throughout North America.

Among the highlights are, an autographed puck from Jordin Tootoo, an Edmonton Oilers hat signed by Mark Messier, a Hockey Night in Canada hat signed by commentators Don Cherry and Ron MacLean, a pennant signed by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, two footballs, one signed by the Montreal Alouettes and the other by the B.C. Lions.

Gauthier credits the impressive collection of items to museum volunteer Vicki Mulhern, saying it is incredible what she has been able to gather.

"Volunteers like her are what make the museum such a great place," he said.

Mulhern said, beginning in June, she sent out about 80 letters seeking donations.

"We've got some amazing stuff," she said.

However, some teams took a bit of convincing because many only donate items to causes in their cities or provinces.

Mulhern said she had to point out that the NWT has no professional sports teams and asked the hesitant southern organizations to reconsider their policies. Some of them did, while others didn't.

"I'm pleased with everything we're getting," said Mulhern, an instructor in the developmental studies program at Aurora College.

Among the other items for auction are an autographed picture of figure skater Kurt Browning, a puck autographed by a member of the Montreal Canadiens, official NHL jerseys, an autographed picture of Vancouver Canuck Trevor Linden and a framed picture of NHLer Joe Thornton, donated by Ring's Pharmacy in Hay River.

Plus, there will be a jersey signed by members of the Fort Smith Fury women's hockey team.

Mulhern is still trying to obtain baseball and curling items.

The auction will be held at the Fort Smith Curling Club lounge.

Only 100 tickets to the event are available at $15 each. Tickets can be obtained at the museum or from Gauthier.

Depending on the success of the auction, Gauthier said the museum would love to make it an annual event.