Larry Fitzgerald is going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this week, and for Brooks Vernon, one of the owners of Magic City Collectibles, the moment hits closer to home than a typical enshrinement. Brooks has quietly built one of the deeper personal Larry Fitzgerald collections you'll come across. But ask him why, and the answer has almost nothing to do with cardboard.
"I collect them because of my dad," he says. "Grew up just watching them, and it's a big part of my life."
Growing up, Sundays were Cardinals days in the Vernon house. Brooks and his father would settle in to watch Arizona, and Fitz was the centerpiece of the whole weekend. "Larry Fitz was the weekend," Brooks says. "It's a big part of why I do cards, and I do it because of my dad." So with Larry heading to Canton, Brooks pulled out the personal collection and walked through it piece by piece — the heat, the fun ones, and the few he'd never part with.
The card that started it all
The most valuable card in the collection isn't the one that means the most. That belongs to a 2011 Totally Certified Larry Fitzgerald autograph, numbered to five, in a BGS 10. Brooks picked it up at his very first card show, a road trip to Atlanta with his dad. He wasn't even hunting for it.
"I saw Larry Fitzgerald cards and thought, oh my gosh, I have to have this," he says. "It's not the most expensive, but it means the most to me."
A 2007 Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald dual autograph carries the same weight. It's stamped with the year Brooks was born — and, as he points out, "my dad's favorite year of watching the Cardinals, and to see them go to the Super Bowl."
The heavy hitters
Then there's the heat that makes fellow collectors stop scrolling. Brooks owns a Fitzgerald and Kyler Murray dual shield, one of one — the Fitzgerald shield game-used, the Kyler player-worn. There's an Exquisite Quad Logo Shields card pairing Larry with Anquan Boldin, also a one of one. "Just one of my favorites," he says. "I just love the Exquisite." Add an Immaculate dual shield, a 2007 National Treasures one-of-one patch auto on the NFL shield, and a 2021 Eminence shield patch auto, and you have a shield run built with real intention. Every Larry shield in the group is game-worn, exactly how Brooks wants it.
He's also chasing the full Downtown run, with the gold numbered 4/10 and a low-pop 2018 in a PSA 10 already in hand. "My goal is to end up with them all," he says. "I want to have every one." This past weekend at the National, he completed a rainbow by tracking down the elusive one-of-one Super Bowl ticket, something he could hardly believe he found.
One card, he admits, probably means more to Larry than it does to him: a 2020 Impeccable Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss triple autograph, numbered to five, in a PSA 10. Those three legends rarely land on the same card, which makes it a genuine trophy.
The iconic rookies
No Fitzgerald collection is complete without the rookies, and Brooks has the landmark ones — a 2004 Topps Chrome refractor rookie in a PSA 10, a 2004 Ultimate Collection autograph, a Red Ink inscription, and the crown jewels: both 2004 Playoff Contenders rookie ticket autographs, a BGS 9 and a PSA 10. Only 50 exist, they aren't serial numbered, and Brooks believes just three have earned a PSA 10.
"This is the big one," he says. "These are the big ones of the collection, just iconic cards of him. You can never find these."
A celebration on both ends
Laying it all out the same week Larry enters the Hall of Fame is the whole point. For Brooks, every card ties back to his father and those Sunday afternoons. "You'll hear me say one of my favorites," he laughs, "but I love them all."
And if Larry himself is interested in any of the collection, Brooks has a standing offer: "Larry, if you see any, give me a call. I need to get you down in the shop, maybe we do a trade for a jersey."
Congrats, Larry. Enshrined forever.
Watch Brooks walk through the full collection on YouTube: