Another victim of Suffolk flooding: Commack sports memorabilia store

Scott Stimell has faced personal tragedy before, so he's trying to keep what happened earlier this week in perspective. Last weekend's torrential rains, which caused major flooding in Suffolk County, have put his livelihood — his sports memorabilia business, a more than 30-year-old enterprise in Commack — in peril.

"There are so many unknowns for me at this point," Stimell said Friday as he stood amid his damaged shop, Cardboard Memories in the Peppertree Commons Mall, his business location since 2008. 

"I don't want this to define me. I believe that I've been part of this community for 32½ years, and I believe the community will rally behind me wherever I go and whatever I do," he said.

As torrential rains fell Sunday into Monday, Stimell, 57, of Melville, was nervous about whether it might affect his shop, which he said is a "treasure trove" of memorabilia. He said he has been collecting for more than 40 years and has amassed a vast assortment of sports-related items.

"I had trepidations with just the amount of rain we were having," he said.

On Monday morning, he arrived to find "my entire store was decimated."

"I'm talking about water that came 100 feet, all the way from the back of my store to the front of my store," which he said covers about 2,000 square feet.

"Due to the large amount of memorabilia I have, the majority of the stuff was on the floor," Stimell said.

 The water, he said, "ripped through thousands and thousands of pieces of memorabilia, cards — you name it."

There are insurance issues to contend with. Stimell said he hasn't cataloged his losses yet but suspects they could run to $1 million or more.

Iconic images, faded autographs

His collection runs the gamut from signed game balls and helmets of football stars, to iconic jerseys and cleats, to signed artwork by famous artists and photographers and the sports icons they depict. There also are baseball cards, World Series programs and more. 

He held up a large original black-and-white photo "off a negative" of Yankees great Mickey Mantle and manager Casey Stengel, autographed by both. Stimell noted how water was "softening" the autographs.

"Mickey Mantle signed this in 1956, when he won his Triple Crown. This is an actual teakwood frame. ... There's moisture in it and, for all intents and purposes, it's destroyed," Stimell said.

He pointed to mold that was encroaching along the frame edges of a painting of legendary San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.

There's also a painting of basketball great Michael Jordan by famed artist LeRoy Neiman, the latter whose signature "is melting away from the water," Stimell said.

Also damaged was an original black-and-white photograph of the New York Knicks starting lineup — "I think it's from 1973," Stimell said — signed by Madison Square Garden's official photographer George Kalinsky.

The image shows Bill Bradley, Phil Jackson, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and Jerry Lucas. "You can see rippling from the water" damaging the photo, Stimell said.

He has some materials that were on the walls that are intact. The shop's wet carpet had been ripped out and large fans were airing out the place, though the smell of mildew was in the air.

Stimell said he thought the flood damage "is going to displace me, to change my life. I don't know."

With the fans running, the door of Stimell's business was open Friday. 

As he was talking, a woman walked in seeking to have jerseys for her son framed for a birthday gift. As it happened, she said her Commack home was flooded, too. She didn't want to give her name.

Stimell sought to help her.

"I'm going to rely on friends and family to figure out what I do. Right now I'm still in shock over the destruction and I'm overwhelmed ... I'm going to have to try to dig deep. I've been through a lot in my life."

His father, Herbert Stimell, was killed when he was hit by a car when Scott was 19. Scott's baby daughter, Hannah, died of a rare illness at 14 months in 2005, he said.

"I'm trying to struggle with putting this in perspective," Stimell said of damage to his store. "It's very overwhelming for me. But I've lost a lot more in my life, and I know a lot of people have, and I just have to get to the point where I can just get through this."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie