Vince Lombardi’s West Point sweater, which was found in a North Carolina Goodwill, was auctioned off Saturday night for $43,020.
That’s more than twice the $20,000 it was appraised for and $43,019.42 more than the previous owner, Sean McEvoy, paid for it. Even after you take out the auction house’s commission, which is being donated to Goodwill, that’s a hefty profit.
As the story goes, McEvoy found the sweater last summer and had no idea what it was until he saw a documentary on Lombardi and saw him wearing it. He then had it appraised and put it up for auction.
Up to this point, the mystery has been how it got to Goodwill in the first place.
According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the sweater belonged to Bill Wannamaker, an assistant at West Point in 1952. He and his wife moved to North Carolina in 2003 and Bill passed in 2008. His wife donated the sweater, along with some other stuff, while cleaning out her home last year.
Let this be a lesson to you. Horde everything!