Manhattan man looking to break record with largest Chiefs memorabilia collection

MANHATTAN, Kan. (KSNT)-- Since 1970, a Manhattan man has collected more than 550 Chiefs memorabilia items, and now he's taking his collection to the Guinness World Records.

Curt Herrman has been a Chiefs fan since he was eight years old when the team went to Super Bowl IV. It was in 1970 when the team took home their first Super Bowl win, and when Herrman stowed away a memory from the game he would still have 50 years later.

"It's an old Franklin, NFL size football," Herrman said. "First piece. And during the Chiefs games, I will hold this ball. It's part of my good luck karma."

He would go on to collect all kinds of vintage items. To his wife, it was getting a little out of hand.

"My wife had finally said, 'you need to focus on one thing and stick with that,'" Herrman said.

So he buckled down focusing on only Chiefs things, eventually turning his basement into what he calls the "Chiefsuems".

As the years went on, the collection got bigger and bigger. So what could he do with his stockpile now?

"I was kind of surfing around the internet about six months ago," Herrman said. "Came across the Guinness Book of World Records."

Because of course, you take it to the ultimate record breaking archive collection in the world.

"The largest collection of Kansas City Chiefs related memorabilia," Herrman said. "There isn't a record for that right now. The largest one I saw was the Chicago Bears. The guy had like 340 items. And so I thought, 'well I'm going to apply for that.'"

He applied back in January, updating his application with more items in July. Now, he's waiting for his certification for owning the most Chiefs related stuff.

"That would be awesome," Herrman said if his collection is accepted. "It would kind of validate, I guess, that I'm not totally crazy. Or maybe it's a certification that I am."

There is one thing he wants to make clear. He's just a fan among many who has collected all things Chiefs in support of his favorite team.

"I'm not the biggest fan because there's a lot of big fans," Herrman said. "And I'm not going to claim I'm the biggest fan. I think in the Chiefs Kingdom, there's a lot of big fans. I'm one among many."

Herrman said he will never sell his items. He will actually pass all 555, and counting, items down to his youngest son who is also a Chiefs fan.

You may be wondering, how does he keep an exact count of his items? Well, he has a spreadsheet documenting how many things he has and what they are. He doesn't count duplicates either.

Herrman is waiting to hear back from Guinness World Records to see when they will come and verify how many items he has.

Remember, if you have someone you think we should know use our Share It feature on our website or on our mobile app.