Any NFL player will tell you the ultimate prize in pro football is a Super Bowl ring. But the hefty hunks of 10K gold emblazoned with diamonds and iconic team imagery are not easily won. They’re even harder to obtain if you’re a collector of sports memorabilia. Almost always, if a Super Bowl ring is to be sold, it ends up at auction, where it’s likely to make the most money.
Collectors now have a chance to own some really big shoes, whose soles once belonged to a player who was the heart and soul of the New York Giants. The white, size 13 Nike/Pro cleats worn by Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor during Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium is part of SCP Auctions’ Mid-Summer Classic online auction, which runs through August 22.
Super Bowl XXV was held at Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991, and the event was memorable for so many reasons. Now deceased Pop singer Whitney Houston sang a rousing rendition of the National Anthem in front of 74,000 fans to kick things off. The New York Giants and Buffalo Bills played a hotly contested battle that wasn’t decided until the game’s final play; a missed 47-yard field goal by Bills’ placekicker Scott Norwood that went wide right enabled the G-Men to escape with a 20-19 decision and their second Lombardi Trophy in five years. It was also Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor’s final Super Bowl as he retired three years later. Now collectors can get their hands on an extremely rare pair of game-worn cleats from “LT,” the very pair he wore that night in Tampa. The coveted cleats are now on the auction block at SCP Auctions. The company’s current Mid-Summer Classic online auction concludes on Saturday, August 22.
The white size 13 Nike/Pro cleats show considerable game wear and are covered with grass stains, dirt and even chunks of lime from the field littering the sides and bottom of both cleats. 
Even the original shoe laces remain intact. The consignor of the cleats is Taylor’s old Giants’ teammate and fellow linebacker, Gary Reasons. They teamed together in both of the Giants two Super Bowl victories and since their lockers were always right next to one another – Taylor wore No. 56 and Reasons wore No. 55 – they spent ample time talking shop before and after games. Reasons took possession of the cleats that same night in Tampa as Taylor looked at him and said, “I guess I won’t be needing these for a while” (he was headed to Honolulu to play in the Pro Bowl on a turf field), and left the pair in front of his locker. Reasons put them in his travel bag and has held on to them for the past 25 years. The lot includes a detailed letter of provenance from Reasons.
Online bidding is open to registered bidders only. The minimum starting bid for this item is $10,000. The auction is being conducted at SCP Auctions. For more information, call 949-831-3700. -Terry Melia
Gary Reasons not only picked up a championship ring after the Giants squeaked past the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV, he picked up a pair of shoes, too. Reasons has consigned the shoes – Nike/Pro cleats Lawrence Taylor wore in the Giants’ 20-19 victory – to SCP Auctions, which says the size 13s could sell for $20,000 or more when its latest auction concludes Aug. 22.
