Gabe McFadden isn’t particularly lucky.
He says he'd have to go back 40 years to recall the last time he won something. As a 6-year-old, he scored a free basket of products at a local supermarket.
In high school, in Chelan, Wash., he tried to strike it rich by buying some kid’s card collection from his mom. The $300 purchase of five Gateway Computer boxes full of cards might have really hit big. However, 13 years later, a collector from Seattle told McFadden the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie card from that box was a fake.
On Thursday, just minutes after McFadden landed in Las Vegas for a business trip, he had learned his luck had changed dramatically: He was the winner of cllct’s contest that rewarded him with a Fleer Jordan rookie in a PSA 6 (Retail value: $4,500). (The contest ran over the last two weeks and required entrants to sign up for cllct's newsletter and follow us on Twitter.)
“ MJ’s the G.O.AT,” McFadden said. ”He’s the standard. The greatest competitor in sports history, who set the bar to compete in life and in business.”
McFadden, who works as a director of sales in Arizona, said he is most grateful for the lessons he learned from buying and selling cards as a kid.
“It definitely had a major impact on my life," he said.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.