Orchard business knocks it 'out of the park' with sports offering

Jeff Shabram is always game to talk to people about a longtime hobby of his.

The 43-year-old collector owns and operates Around The Horn Sportscards, located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Second and Windom streets in his hometown of Orchard.

The store features all sorts of collectible sports memorabilia, including bobbleheads, cards, helmets, jerseys, magazines, photos and posters – many of which are autographed.

"We've got a little bit of everything," Shabram said.

Shabram and childhood friend Dan Elsberry – a fellow sports item collector and fan – opened Around The Horn 22 years ago.

The business doubles as a summer stomping ground for children from Orchard and the surrounding area.

"When we started off, it was just with our own collections," Shabram said. "Of course, it became a kids' hangout spot in town."

Shabram and Elsberry have been collecting sports memorabilia since they were little kids.

For years, they had thrown around the idea of opening a shop to display and sell their collections and finally hit it out of the park in 1998.

"We always talked about it as we were growing up and collecting stuff," Shabram said. "We were big sports fans. In our bedrooms, we had all our collectible stuff and we thought, 'Wouldn't it be fun to have a store with this?'"

Clifford Erb provided Shabram and Elsberry with a former grocery store site for the downtown Orchard location of Around The Horn.

The collectors are grateful for the efforts of Erb, who died March 18, 11 days before his 84th birthday. His family still owns the property.

"He kind of gave us the chance to start this and use this building," Shabram said. "He gave us the chance to do this."

Elsberry, an Orchard native who lives in Lincoln, returns to his hometown at least once every summer and brings items for Shabram to sell or trade at the store.

"Most of the stuff in here is his," Shabram said. "He said he has enough stuff at his house that he could fill this store 10 times. We're grateful that he brings stuff up here to us."

Among the more expensive memorabilia Around The Horn has for sale are:

• A game-used base from Derek Jeter's final season as a New York Yankees baseball player in 2014.

• An autographed replica of a Notre Dame Fighting Irish football jersey that belonged to Joe Montana.

• A rookie card for Wilt Chamberlain, who started his professional basketball career as a center for the Philadelphia Warriors in 1959.

The store's location along the south side of U.S. Highway 20 is an ideal spot to stop curious motorists, though the shop has its regular customers.

"It's fun when we get some travelers coming through here and they stop," Shabram said. "Those regulars every summer, they stop and want to buy something. It's fun seeing them once a year, too."

The business is open 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays during the summer and by appointment Saturdays and Sundays.

"When school's out for the summer in May, we start up and go up until August, when we go back to school," said Shabram, a science teacher and head football coach for Summerland Public Schools.

While the store focuses on buying, selling and trading sports memorabilia, the shop has proven to be a popular place for area children.

Kids especially are interested in the sports cards – including baseball, basketball and football ones – the business offers.

There are games for children to play as well, such as throwing darts and rolling dice.

Shabram's sons – 16-year-old Gunnar and 13-year-old Wyatt – enjoy hanging out at Around The Horn.

"They love bringing their friends down here," Shabram said. "All the kids in town love coming to hang out here. It gives us something to do every afternoon."

His favorite part of spending time at the store is when kids come in and talk about sports with him.

"The high school kids, even after they have a job, every once in a while they'll stop in just to talk or to throw darts or something like that," Shabram said.

"The kids look forward to it," he said. "My boys look forward to it every spring, knowing that it opens in the summer. We have a lot of fun with it every summer."