The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A true Olympian collection
Fan’s basement a museum to the modern Games
From the top of the stairs, Jim Keller’s basement looks more like a mini-museum of Olympics history than a room in someone’s home.
Printouts of posters of every Olympics from 1896 through 1972, when Keller started collecting memorabilia, line the stairs, mixed with official posters from more recent games. But his real collection begins at the foot of the stairs.
Each Olympics, starting with 1972, has its own display of collectibles: Keller’s uniform from volunteer work at the first Olympic women’s marathon in 1984 in Los Angeles; a signed photo of Tonya Harding from the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway; the torches he and his brother carried as volunteers for the Atlanta and Salt Lake City games. He even has a towel and a Coca-Cola can advertising the games scheduled for Tokyo in 2020.
“It’s essentially a tour through the Olympics from when I started following it,” Keller said. “It’s the Olympics from 1972 on.”
But over the years, Keller has extended his collection even to games he wasn’t around to see. In trades with other enthusiasts, eBay purchases and gifts from friends and family, he has managed to secure more than 1,000 pieces, with at least one item from every modern-era summer and winter Olympics.
Pins, coins, stamps and medals from the games before 1972 can be found in an old jewelry store display case at one end of the room.
Keller said he never imagined the collection would grow as big as it did when he first became fascinated with the Olympics at 14.
He remembers he and his mom were “glued to the set” during the Summer Games in Munich that year, mostly because of the murders of 11 Israeli Olympians and a German police officer by Palestinian terrorists.
“I remember that happened and the whole world started watching,” Keller said. “I always remember how big a deal that was.”
After that, Keller said, he started adding Olympicthemed pieces to stamp and coin collections he had at the time.
The collection picked up when he got personally involved in the Games, beginning in 1984 as a volunteer. He later worked at the 1994 games through his job with IBM, ran pregame promotions for the 1996 Olympics, was a torch-runner through Norwalk for the same 1996 Games and has since been to five Games as a spectator.
“I would just pick up stuff,” Keller said. “I would wear the hats and shirts for a while and then it would all be in boxes. But (when my daughters grew up) I thought, the basement isn’t getting used, and so I put it all out. That’s when I realized how much I have.”
Whether through his job, volunteering or as a fan, Keller’s experiences have led to many brushes with Olympics history throughout the years.
When he and his wife, Denise, volunteered at the 1984 Games, it was to help run the first women’s marathon at the Olympics. Keller said he got close enough to take a photo of winner Joan Benoit, who is still the only American athlete to win the event.
Keller and his wife can be seen in the background of a now-famous photo of Gabriela Andersen-Schiess, a Swiss runner who avoided disqualification by waving off assistance as she limped, dehydrated, across the finish line. Keller said he and Denise were the first to offer AndersonSchiess help, around mile 25.
“That’s our piece of Olympic history,” Keller said.
In 1994, he helped set up the IBM communication network that journalists later hacked into to read Tonya Harding’s messages. Harding competed in the 1994 Winter Games, shortly after the infamous attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan, which was planned by Harding’s ex-husband.
The uniform he wore when carrying the torch in 1996, now his favorite piece in the collection, is the same style of uniform Muhammad Ali wore to light the main torch at that year’s opening ceremony.
Keller said he often thinks of his own run when he sees the famous footage of Ali, suffering then from Parkinson's disease, lighting the flame.
“Whenever I see that it brings back memories,” he said.
But though he enjoys watching the events, Keller said, the best part of the Olympics has been the opportunity to travel and meet people he “wouldn’t have met any other way.”
For all but one of the Olympics he has attended, Keller said, he has been able to stay with friends rather than in hotels, which allowed him to experience the host cities and not just the Games.
When he doesn’t attend, Keller said, he keeps both channels of coverage on two TVs in his home throughout the day.
Keller said anyone interested in seeing his collection can set up a time for a tour by emailing him at jkeller999@aol.com.
“It’s up,” Keller said. “I might as well show it to people.”