Sports Illustrated writes about the sports memorabilia collection of Gulf Breeze native John Gunn going on display last Friday at UNC Wilmington, which houses one of the nation’s largest collections of sports publications.
The exhibit highlights such events as the 1944 Mosquito Bowl on Guadalcanal, a 0–0 tie between Marine teams that was broadcast throughout the Pacific theater, and the 1945 military football championship between Fleet City Naval Receiving Station and El Toro Marine Corps Air Station that drew 90,000 fans to the L.A. Coliseum. One program contains a poem by sportswriter Grantland Rice paying homage to football players turned soldiers.
John and his wife Joan lived around the corner from me. He kept his collection of newspaper articles, team guides and game programs in dozens of boxes and file cabinets in a small room off of his car port. It was indeed impressive.
John, who retired from the Sacramento Bee, covered the Gulf Breeze City Council for Gulf Breeze Sentinel for years. He’s now living in an assisted living facility in Pensacola.
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