- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Help needed to restore old/worn football (LSU memorabilia)
Posted on 6/6/14 at 8:54 pm
Posted on 6/6/14 at 8:54 pm
I'm hoping someone on the rant can help me or at least point me in the direction of someone locally in BR that can help me with this.
When I was a senior at LSU (2003), I went around and got all the current coaches/AD/chancellor to sign a football so that I could have a unique piece of memorabilia to remember my senior year and the various coaches that were at LSU alongside with me....as you see in the pictures, I got:
-Nick Saban
-Skip Bertman (AthlDirector)
-Mark Emmert (Chancellor)
-Sue Gunter, women's bball
-Smoke Laval, baseball
-John Brady, basketball
-Yvette Girouard, softball
Unfortunately, I've moved a couple times since then, and somewhere along the way that football got forgotten by me and stored in a moving box and eventually ended up in a Non-climate-controlled shed in my backyard.......as you can see in the pictures, the football itself is in pretty bad/ragged shape, especially the one football-leather quadrant.....it's like melted or simply dried out or something. The white quadrants are pretty dried/cracked as well.
Does anyone have any experience with or know someone that could possibly "restore" this football? This thing means significantly more to me now than it did when I first got all the signatures in 2003, and i want to take care of it like it needs to be going forward. Much much thanks to someone that can point me in the right direction.
When I was a senior at LSU (2003), I went around and got all the current coaches/AD/chancellor to sign a football so that I could have a unique piece of memorabilia to remember my senior year and the various coaches that were at LSU alongside with me....as you see in the pictures, I got:
-Nick Saban
-Skip Bertman (AthlDirector)
-Mark Emmert (Chancellor)
-Sue Gunter, women's bball
-Smoke Laval, baseball
-John Brady, basketball
-Yvette Girouard, softball
Unfortunately, I've moved a couple times since then, and somewhere along the way that football got forgotten by me and stored in a moving box and eventually ended up in a Non-climate-controlled shed in my backyard.......as you can see in the pictures, the football itself is in pretty bad/ragged shape, especially the one football-leather quadrant.....it's like melted or simply dried out or something. The white quadrants are pretty dried/cracked as well.
Does anyone have any experience with or know someone that could possibly "restore" this football? This thing means significantly more to me now than it did when I first got all the signatures in 2003, and i want to take care of it like it needs to be going forward. Much much thanks to someone that can point me in the right direction.
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 8:59 pm
5
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:00 pm to JPLSU1981
Honestly it doesn't look in too bad of shape. You can try and restore the brown leather yourself and put it in a glass case somewhere and it'll be fine
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:04 pm to JPLSU1981
No Pat Henry...the greatest track and field coach in NCAA history?
I'm not sure how much it costs to restore the brown leather part of it, but it might be cheaper to just paint the brown part purple or gold.
I'm not sure how much it costs to restore the brown leather part of it, but it might be cheaper to just paint the brown part purple or gold.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:07 pm to JPLSU1981
Whatever you do, don't mess with the white part and the signatures. All you can do is make it worse with tampering. As the other poster stated, it's not that bad. I'd leave it alone and take care of it from now on as it is.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:08 pm to ItsThatDude12
Yeah I ordered a wall-mountable football case/frame last night, should have it in a few days.
In a way, the wear gives it some character - and whether in bad shape or not this ball has become a priceless memory to me - but I'd just prefer the majority of the ball not look as cracked/ragged
In a way, the wear gives it some character - and whether in bad shape or not this ball has become a priceless memory to me - but I'd just prefer the majority of the ball not look as cracked/ragged
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:12 pm to ULL Cool J
quote:
Whatever you do, don't mess with the white part and the signatures. All you can do is make it worse with tampering. As the other poster stated, it's not that bad. I'd leave it alone and take care of it from now on as it is.
Yeah I was thinkin the same thing....leave the white quadrant with the signatures alone and maybe see about restoring just the football-leather section
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:18 pm to TheDude321
quote:
No Pat Henry...the greatest track and field coach in NCAA history?
Not sure why I didn't get his back then, who knows. Definitely one I shoulda gotten.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention tho, maybe I'll try to contact him and see if I can get his added on here at some point
I'm definitely gonna do that.....would be cool to have
-greatest college football coach all time
-greatest college baseball coach all time
-greatest college track coach all time
And to think all three were at LSU at the same time my senior year
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 9:23 pm
Posted on 6/6/14 at 9:29 pm to JPLSU1981
I also don't think it's too bad- fwiw.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 10:16 pm to windmill
quote:
I also don't think it's too bad- fwiw.
It would also probably be cost-prohibitive to restore. Some leather "expert" would probably charge him like 100 bucks to fix it, which is probably the same amount of its worth. He has to weigh the cost-benefits ratio here. Is it worth shelling out cash to restore if it costs the same (or more) than he can sell it for?
The cheapest option is to leave it as is, and say that he intentionally wanted the leather section to appear worn to give it "character" (as someone else noted).
If he absolutely just has to fix it, I still think the cheapest option is to keep the white part as is and then paint the rest. I don't think that he can paint the rest of it white, because it would be tough to match the shade of the damaged white portion. Probably best to paint the brown section of it LSU colors.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 10:35 pm to TheDude321
Thanks for the advice guys!… I'm not concerned with the price (to restore) or value of it, I don't plan to ever sell this bad boy
So based on y'all's advice and having decided to replace the leather section and leave the white sections pretty much alone, does anybody know who I could call to do that for me? I have a bad feeling that if I try to do it myself that I'm going to end up F-ing it up
Again, sincere thanks to everyone in the thread who has contributed advice!
So based on y'all's advice and having decided to replace the leather section and leave the white sections pretty much alone, does anybody know who I could call to do that for me? I have a bad feeling that if I try to do it myself that I'm going to end up F-ing it up
Again, sincere thanks to everyone in the thread who has contributed advice!
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 10:39 pm
Posted on 6/6/14 at 10:39 pm to JPLSU1981
You can buy another ball like it and bring it to a leather shop and have them switch the white panels
Posted on 6/6/14 at 10:43 pm to supatigah
quote:
You can buy another ball like it and bring it to a leather shop and have them switch the white panels
Hmmmm.thats a very Interesting/good idea...I woulda never thought of that.
Might be risky....if I can find someone that does this, I'll get them to look at it and tell me if that's possible and can be done with little-to-no chance of disaster.
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 10:44 pm
Posted on 6/6/14 at 10:56 pm to JPLSU1981
If you want to make it look a little better without chancing it then just rub the brown side down with some leather conditioner a few times to darken it back up so the color matches and it doesn't look splotchy.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:01 pm to JPLSU1981
(whispering so others can't hear) Put it in the case as is and don't frick with it. All this suggested extra work will not increase the value, and will more than likely decrease the value. It's not mint and there's really nothing cost effective you can do to make it mint.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:13 pm to JPLSU1981
quote:
And to think all three were at LSU at the same time my senior year
They were all gone too soon though--at least it seems that way. I suppose that Bertman could've kept coaching another 6 or 7 years if he really, truly wanted to, and as AD he could've at least attempted to make huge counter-offers to Saban and Henry that just maybe they couldn't refuse. Who knows?
How did you determine which LSU coaches got to sign it? It looks like all of those listed were BCS/NCAA title winners or at least NCAA regional winners (well, except Emmert...who as a non-coach eventually still one day managed to take over the NCAA himself).
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:16 pm to ULL Cool J
That's why I recommend just using a little leather conditioner on the brown side. No chance of destroying the ball and it will also give it a little extra time in this world to showcase its beauty 
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:18 pm to TheDude321
It's most definitely a quality collection of signatures. You'd be hard pressed to find a ball from anywhere else with that much success on it.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:19 pm to PortCityTiger82
quote:
rub the brown side down with some leather conditioner
Shoe-polishing a football...I suppose that it can be done, since it appears to be leather. Still just seems a bit risky for an amateur to try any kind of restoration work on it though.
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:20 pm to JPLSU1981
quote:
-greatest college football coach all time
Posted on 6/6/14 at 11:23 pm to TheDude321
Not shoe polish just a leather conditioner. It's just like lotion for leather to moisturize it and darken it up a little
You can find something very mild in a car section somewhere for leather seats that would be just the treat.
This would be perfect
You can find something very mild in a car section somewhere for leather seats that would be just the treat.
This would be perfect
This post was edited on 6/6/14 at 11:27 pm
Page 1 of 2
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News