2 former Chiefs players stop in Manhattan to visit the 'Chiefseum'
MANHATTAN (KSNT) - Former Kansas City Chiefs players traveled to Manhattan to visit a local man's personal museum of Chiefs memorabilia.
On Sept. 7, the Kansas City Chiefs are back for the season opener at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. They will play the Detroit Lions on KSNT. But, before the season kicks off, some Chiefs Ambassadors were busy at work in the Little Apple honoring a Curt Herrman man for his extensive collection.
The Lombardi Trophy is in the house; in the Chiefsuem house to be exact. It was the Super Bowl LIV Lombardi trophy the Chiefs won back in 2020 against the San Francisco 49ers. The championship rings also made an appearance in Herrman's basement full of Chiefs items.
"I love this one," Curt Herrman said about the Lombardi Trophy. "This is the one I wanted them to bring because it's symbolic of my collection."
Back in 2020, 27 News spoke with Herrman as he was waiting to get a Guinness World Record title for his collection of sports memorabilia. At the time we were the first news station to feature his collection, and then, he only had 642 items.
"And as of right now, I'm at 1,494," Herrman said.
His collection more than doubled in items since 2020 and it's caught the attention of so many people.
"In Manhattan, Kansas," John Lohmeyer said. "The world's largest collection of Chiefs sports memorabilia is in Manhattan, Kansas."
One day, Herrman picked up the phone and heard a familiar voice on the other end. It was John Lohmeyer. Lohmeyer used to wear the number 87 as a defensive lineman back in 1973. He played four seasons with the Chiefs.
"I was so excited," Herrman recalled when he picked up the phone and it was Lohmeyer on the other end. "It was like finally they, you know...I'm getting some recognition from the Chiefs. And that was very important to me, I guess, to get that recognition... It's not just for me, it's for all fans, you know? Because there's a lot of big fans out there and to get this recognition just means the world to me."
Lohmeyer came across Herrman's collection while reading the news. Lohmeyer picked up the phone and set up a time with Herrman to make the trip out to the Little Apple to see this collection in person. He put together the visit with Jon McGraw. McGraw used to play at Kansas State University. He was drafted in 2002 by the New York Jets and finished his NFL career in KC.
Lohmeyer and McGraw are both Chiefs Ambassadors now. The Chiefs Ambassadors is a group of former Kansas City Chiefs players who support their community with local scholarship programs, charitable visits and more.
"You try to imagine what you're going to see, and you just…there's no way," McGraw said. "You can't do it justice. This is an amazing collection of Chiefs memorabilia. Curt's done just an amazing job putting all of this together. And I think he's very representative of Chiefs fans and the Chiefs Kingdom."
The ambassadors didn't show up empty-handed. They added to his collection giving him a signed football from former K-State player turned Chiefs defensive end, Felix Anudike-Uzomah.
"We're very proud of what we did as players," Lohmeyer said. "But it's not why we're here. We're more interested in helping other people at this point with their projects."
For Herrman, putting all this work in to show his love for the team, days like this mean more to him than any of us could imagine.
"I've had a lot of people say, 'well, you've got to be…You're the biggest Chiefs fan ever!' And it's like, no not really," Herrman said. "Because there's a lot of us. There are a lot of big Chiefs fans out there. I'm just one among many of them."
Herrman's next stop is to get Patrick Mahomes himself inside the Chiefsuem.
He said he might stop collecting once he hits 2,000 pieces in his collection.
Herrman encourages anyone to come out and check out the Chiefseum. You can learn more information on how to do so here.