JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — We now know who won the auction for a 1930s Purdue jersey believed to have been worn by basketball great John Wooden.
Perhaps fittingly, one Boilermaker sports legend stepped up to ensure a major piece of another's legacy would remain in Mackey Arena for generations.
Via video presentation after the dinner and question-and-answer session at a John Purdue Club "Boilermakers on the Road" gathering in Jeffersonville, Drew Brees came forward as the previously anonymous auction winner.
Technically the Boilermaker alum and star New Orleans Saints quarterback is loaning the jersey to Purdue, though he said it "will reside in the halls of Mackey Arena forever."
The auction’s full sale price of $264,000 earlier this month — $220,000 for the high bid, $44,000 for the buyer’s premium — set a record for a college basketball jersey, according to Heritage Auctions.
Brees learned of the jersey's availability from Orlando Itin, owner of Bruno's Swiss Inn restaurant in West Lafayette. He and Tom Schott, Purdue's senior associate athletic director for communications, sent Brees more information about the jersey. That included a Journal & Courier article about how the Neff family of Clinton County passed the jersey down through the years.
"The first words out of my mouth to him upon finding out the John Wooden jersey would be made available to the public was, ‘We have to get this for Purdue University. This jersey belongs in Mackey Arena back at Purdue,’ " Brees said in the video.
Purdue fans gathered at Kye’s event center in this Louisville suburb to land autographs from and rub elbows with Boilermaker coaches.
They didn't know it, but their $35 was supposed to get them much more than fried chicken and a smile in the autograph line.
Brees was secretly scheduled to attend as well and reveal the jersey, which has been in West Lafayette since last week. Bad weather scuttled his travel plans, so he instead submitted the video announcement from Peoria, Illinois.
Schott said plans for the the display and care of the jersey are still being discussed. He said Purdue planned to reach out to curators at the College Football Hall of Fame for guidance.
“Just the rarity, and the fact no one has seen such an item before,” Schott said of the significance of bringing the item to Purdue. “Personally I love history, and I love memorabilia. I can’t think of a more exciting thing to have at Purdue than John Wooden’s jersey. It may be the rarest of college basketball memorabilia.”
Schott said no Purdue funds were used in the auction, though the athletic department will take on the cost of the jersey’s display and upkeep.
Itin displays a plethora of Purdue and other sports memorabilia in Big O's Sports Room at his restaurant. He originally hoped the bidding would stay near the low end of its $30,000-plus expected auction price.
He soon realized he needed to find a partner with deeper pockets.
Itin said he has sent Brees items pertaining to Wooden in the past, and the quarterback keeps a picture of the icon in his locker. As the online auction wound down late at night on May 17, Itin placed a $100,000 bid on Brees' behalf. Two other bidders surpassed the Purdue coalition.
Itin checked in with Brees via text and got the go-ahead to keep bidding into the early morning hours. The final auction price dwarfed the previous record for a college basketball jersey, set by a Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar UCLA jersey.
"He said. 'Big O, do whatever you've got to do,' " Itin said.
Purdue currently displays a Wooden letter sweater in the centerpiece of the Mackey Arena Ring of Honor. However, Schott said displaying the jersey could be more complicated.
Ideally, it would be displayed so fans could see the “Purdue” in gold letters with black trim on one side and Wooden’s number 13 on the other.
However, Mackey Arena is a public venue with people walking in and out, creating security concerns for an item with a now-established value of more than a quarter million dollars.
Wooden, a Martinsville native, was a three-time All-American and national player of the year at Purdue prior to his legendary coaching career at UCLA.
Brees was the Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback for Purdue’s 2001 Rose Bowl team. His Hall of Fame-caliber career with the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints includes the Super Bowl XLIV championship and a multitude of records for passing yards and touchdowns.
Brees’ previous generosity towards Purdue athletics includes a $2 million gift in 2007 that helped establish the Drew and Brittany Brees Student-Athlete Academic Center. He also donated an additional $1 million in 2015 to support the Purdue Football Master Plan. That plan included the Purdue Football Performance Complex, which opened last fall.
Brees’ emergence as the buyer answers one mystery about the jersey. Others linger. How did Frank Neff, a contemporary of Wooden’s at Purdue and purported longtime friend, acquire the jersey from Wooden? Per Neff family recollection, Frank kept the jersey in a box in a bedroom drawer and rarely showed it off or even talked about it.
The jersey passed down to John Neff after his grandfather’s death, and he also stored it in a box in his closet for years before researching its authenticity. The once-white wool fabric has yellowed slightly with age, and the jersey bears some slight stains and at least one hole left by moths.
Memorabilia Evaluation and Research Services — known in the collectibles industry by the acronym MEARS — graded the item A9 on a scale of 10. It vouched for the authenticity of the jersey based on the item’s condition, materials, tagging and other identifiers and the Neff family’s letters of provenance.
Itin, who was initially somewhat skeptical of the jersey, said Tuesday he is "100 percent convinced this is genuine."
"This is probably the most rare and unique college basketball jersey ever found," said Itin, who received the jersey via Federal Express last week. "There's no doubt in my mind."
John Neff said he used to live around the corner from Bruno's. While he always hoped for the highest bid possible, he also hoped the buyer would realize its significance.
Brees helped fulfill both preferences.
"I thought it was fantastic," said Neff, who did not know Brees was the buyer until watching Purdue's live stream of the event on Facebook. "I’m thankful that it was a Purdue alum and that it’s going to stay right where it belongs."
