The Original Collectors Series: Glen Arm, MD

“I grew up in a small town in Ohio, and my first experience with pro football was the Cleveland Browns through a circular TV. So I’m a huge Browns fan—and in therapy because of that. Over the years, I ended up meeting almost all the players and getting their autographs. My brother-and-law and I used to go to Indians games all over the country. He worked for a company in Idaho that made frozen milkshakes and gave them to the players every night.

My collecting really began in college at Ohio State. I liked to think I was a magnificent athlete, but I wasn’t. Journalism was my major. I did get to know Woody Hayes, who was a legendary coach, and I lived in the same dormitory as a lot of the football and basketball players. I started collecting programs from the games, and made up a fake press ID, which got me into everything. There wasn’t a lot of security in those days!

At one Cleveland Indians game in 1966, Mickey Mantle was sitting on the top steps of the Cleveland dugout, and he was somebody I wanted to meet. I climbed out onto the dugout and had this awesome conversation with him. As a kid, I collected Topps baseball cards, and I had a stack of Mickey Mantles I could have retired on years ago, but my mother threw them away while I was in college.

While I’ve never worked as a professional photographer, I’ve always had a camera in my hand. I spent a whole day with Muhammad Ali in Cleveland before his 1975 championship fight with Chuck Wepner. He didn’t pay much attention to me, but just to be there was incredible. I ended up working my way into the dressing room after and got a hand wrap as it was cut from his wrist and landed in the waste basket. Larry Holmes was in there doing situps. The trunks and gloves came years later at a charity dinner that Ali attended, and I got in through my friend Bob, whose daughter was the organizer. I knew I wanted to take a lot of pictures, so when I got there, I said, ‘Bob, I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I was the official photographer.’ And Bob said, ‘Let’s make up a nametag for you.’ I had brought Everlast shorts and gloves in the style he wore for him to sign, and on the trunks he signed one leg and on the other he drew a boxing ring with two stick figures—and wrote ‘Frazier’ to refer to the one lying down.”

What else did you talk your way into?

When LeBron and the Cavaliers won the [NBA] series, my Ohio friends and I were at a little bar at the beach in Delaware, and all of us had tears in our eyes. I managed to actually get into the only other championship Cleveland ever had, when they beat the Colts in 1964, three years before the Super Bowl. I also got into the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 35th anniversary lunch, and then talked my way into staying for the 35th anniversary dinner. In college, Jim Brown was being honored as the running back of the decade, and he was just my hero. So I called and said I’m doing a biography of Jim Brown, and I wonder if I could come there and get some pictures? And the guy says sure, and then he says, “I’m going to the airport to pick him up—want to come along?” I sat there with him in the backseat after he got off the plane, so shocked I had pulled it off!

You live near Baltimore now. Any affinity for those teams?

I like going to baseball and football games here. All the Orioles ushers know me, because I’m always trying to sneak into the better seats. I met Cal Ripken with my wife several times. When the Ravens won the Super Bowl, my wife came home with a Joe Flacco jersey, and I said, “What the hell are you doing?!” She said, “Tomorrow is the Super Bowl parade, and I am going. If you’re waiting for Cleveland, it won’t happen in your lifetime.” I went with her and had a blast.

Where did you meet Carl Lewis?

He was coming to a Borders bookstore, and I always kept track of who was around and what was going on, and then I’d check what I had in my collection for them to sign. I had a bunch of magazines with him on the cover. So I went there, and he and I hit it off. After the event, as I was leaving the parking lot and he was crossing to get his car, I pulled up next to him and said, “You’re an awesome guy to talk to. I forgot one more magazine to sign!” I just never stopped.