The DePace Sports Museum

The hip-and-happening Camden County borough of Collingswood hasn’t been historically prominent when it comes to sports history -- specifically memorabilia. But Dr. Nicholas DePace as changed that in a dramatic way.

DePace (pronounced de-PA-chee), is the owner of what is arguably one of the world’s largest and most valuable private sports memorabilia collections. Covering a variety of games including boxing, NASCAR racing and golf -- in addition to the “big four” -- it boasts several million-dollar-plus items, among them a 1903 Honus Wagner T-206 baseball card considered the most coveted of all, and the document granting baseball immortal Joe DiMaggio and film icon Marilyn Monroe their divorce.

Prior to 2016, you had to have been a friend of DePace’s to get a glimpse of his treasure trove of relics. But last January, he opened the DePace Sports Museum and Library of Champions in a converted bank building on Collingswood’s bustling main drag, Haddon Avenue. It is, says the museum’s namesake, unusual among such facilities.

That it just doesn’t focus on one sport in the manner of a hall of fame “is what makes this such a different sports collection,” offers the Haddonfield resident, who also is a highly regarded cardiologist. “Nobody I know of diversifies like this in the whole world. I don’t know anyone who has a huge boxing collection, a huge baseball collection, a huge football collection…hockey, golf, soccer.”

Planning for the non-profit museum began in earnest more than four years ago. But its genesis dates back considerably longer, to when baseball was DePace’s sole focus.

“Joe Frazier was my dearest friend, a patient for 30 years,” he says of the late, Philadelphia-based heavyweight boxing legend. “We developed a strong bond. Joe said to me in the late 1980s, ‘The bats and uniforms and cards are nice, but it’s not the whole world. I fought all over the world. People in Manilla may not like baseball…’ So we branched out.

“Joe wanted me to open up a ‘Museum of Champions.’ I loved the boxing game, so I started collecting boxing things. Then I started collecting the other different sports, figuring one day, I’d open up a ‘Museum of Champions’ to immortalize these people and keep their memories alive and be inspirational to young people. That’s how it started.”

Many of the sporting world’s greatest names are represented in the individual displays that cram every available inch of the 4,500 square foot space on the building’s first floor, most notably via scores of game-worn jerseys. Not surprisingly, the focus is on teams, owners and players who have represented Philadelphia through the decades.