Grand Island’s John Boutet helps restore Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame exhibit at Dave & Adam’s Card World | Sports

WILLIAMSVILLE — When John Boutet looks at an old jersey or piece of sports equipment, he’s reminded of his days in Buffalo. But it’s the sights and sounds of a simpler time, combined with the wins and losses, that come back to him decades later.

Boutet’s passion for history and collecting sports memorabilia began at age five. The joy of opening packs of trading cards and saving ticket stubs from Bills and Sabres games fueled his interests.

As a physical education teacher at West Street Elementary School in Sanborn, Boutet was tasked with collecting Buffalo sports memorabilia and serving the entire Western New York community. In 2010, Boutet became the historian for the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, including organizing an exhibit of his memorabilia at the former HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

Eight years later, the Sabres wanted to expand their team store, which meant losing the space on the arena’s first floor. But after six years of storage, the Hall of Fame began a partnership with Dave & Adam’s Card World on Sheridan Drive in Williamsville.

Featuring items for all 400 inductees, the new exhibit was unveiled at a ceremony at the store honoring the Hall of Fame’s 34th induction class on June 19. With a layout designed by Boutet, the new exhibit piqued the interest of many visitors asking for information about each inductee.

“It was fun to be the storyteller that I am,” Boutet said. “The audience really enjoyed it. Everybody came out and really enjoyed themselves, reminiscing and looking at all the exhibits. And so, it all came together exactly as we had planned.”

Before finding a new exhibit location, Boutet and the Hall of Fame reached out to various partners in Western New York. The organization spoke with Seneca One Tower owner Douglas Jemal and Buffalo Grand Hotel owner Harry Stinson before it was damaged by fire three years ago.

But the partnership with Dave & Adam’s was finalized last year, after a conversation four years ago between Hall of Fame board member Mark State and store co-owner Adam Martin, who offered the group space in the Sheridan Drive store.

To fully showcase the exhibit, five original display cases from the arena were brought into the store. And Boutet intended to dust off all the items and create new identifiers for the layout, which is once again listed chronologically by year of induction.

“We miss being at the arena on game nights, especially when there’s 17,000 or 18,000 people, but it’s better for us,” Boutet said. “They’re open seven days a week. It’s free. You don’t need a ticket to come see this stuff. So we’re really happy that Adam reached out to us and brought us in with them.”

As an avid collector and co-founder of Dave & Adam’s for 35 years, Martin knew Boutet after hearing about his personal collection in his Grand Island home. But Martin didn’t meet Boutet in person until after the display was assembled in the store two months ago.

Martin came up with the idea to install the Hall of Fame in the store because of his friendship with former co-owner Dave Silver and his late father, Fred, who was inducted in 2003 after a nearly four-decade career as an amateur golfer in Western New York. Additionally, the Hall of Fame would provide a central space to once again honor all of Buffalo’s greats in sports.

But to keep the project moving forward with new induction ceremonies each year, Martin plans to continue working with Boutet. That includes Boutet reorganizing the exhibit as new memorabilia is added for the new inductees.

“John’s knowledge of Western New York sports, from working with the greats of the sport, is second to none,” Martin said. “Plus, he has the ability to look at potentially multiple pieces of memorabilia from the same individual and really recognize which piece is the one that’s going to be the most fascinating to people and incorporate that into the exhibit. … Someone has to be the one to curate it and say, ‘This is what people are going to want to see.’”