Hockey, history and a hobby
Memorabilia collecting all about enthusiasm and sharing a love of sports
When a pastime and a passion become the same thing, it can often lead to happiness.
For longtime Hatter Tim Hittel — this is exactly the case.
After moving to the Hat in 1969, Hittel began collecting everything hockey, but lost his early collection in a house fire in the early 70s. Approximately 13 years later, Hittel started collecting again, and this time he wasn’t going to let anything stop him.
“It took me a bit to get back into it after the fire, but once I started again I couldn’t stop,” he said. ‘Everyone in their life has a hobby that they’re passionate about — collecting is mine.”
Hittel says he will collect and sell pretty much anything hockey related, but loves to weirder items.
“I call them the oddball items,” he said. “Those are the ones I’ll hold on to — one-of-akind pieces are really cool to me, and they’re great to bring out to exhibitions to show people.”
Hittel attends four local card and collectable sales each year, which coincide with hockey tournaments.
“I really love interacting with the kids at these events,” he said. “The younger generations love hockey, but are a little less aware of the history sometimes, so it’s fun to show them cards from some of the all-time greats — their enthusiasm for the sport is really great.”
Though he had to stop at think about it for a second, Hittel says the best card he has ever had was a Bobby Orr rookie card, which he sold to a collector for roughly $3,000. He says there’s just something about antique hockey items that gets him excited.
“I just love old stuff,” he said. “Being around it, I just want to have it.”
Though he has been consistently buying new things over the past 35 years, Hittel says there is a system in place in his house to make sure there’s never too much stuff.
“My wife gets me to put things up for sale once I start taking up too much space,” he said. “It’s definitely for the best — I can own things for five, even eight years and enjoy them, then sell them to someone else who can enjoy it like I did.”
Hittel attended the first ever Medicine Hat Tigers game, and has collected every single player card for the team since then, and though the collecting market may be hurting in Medicine Hat, he will not be stopping any time soon.
“There’s not too many collectors like me left here,” he said. “Eventually this will become just my hobby, but it’s something I’m always going to be doing.”