IOWA CITY, Iowa — Long before Nolan Ryan, Travis Scott and Robin Roberts came to see the circus in person. Before the scoring records, standing-room-only crowds and back-to-back Final Fours. Before Nike draped a six-story banner on the side of a local apartment building, and TV ratings spiked to unimaginable heights.
Before any of it, Caitlin Clark’s legacy went up against a blizzard.
It was December 21, 2022. As an Alberta Clipper weather system descended on Iowa, bringing below-zero temps and a blanket of snow, Iowa officials moved up that night’s tip-off to noon.
Angie Fransk, a youth basketball coach in southern Iowa with tickets to the game, took her team out of school early and hustled the 70 miles north to Iowa City. It would be a day she would never forget. At a price she still can’t believe.
“Two dollars for the kids, five for adults,” she says now, laughing. “This was before the mayhem. Before Caitlin became, well, Caitlin.
In the 16 months since, it seems like nothing, not even a Polar Vortex, can stand in the way of Caitlinsanity.
Clark set the NCAA men’s and women’s all-time scoring records, carried Iowa to consecutive NCAA runner-up finishes and has become one of the most popular athletes in America, shattering memorabilia records along the way. Seemingly everyone, from Hall of Fame pitchers to rap moguls to screaming little girls, wants in on No. 22.
In January, a one-of-one PSA 10 Bowman University Superfractor card signed by Clark sold for $78,000 at a PWCC auction, a record for a women’s basketball card. Only tennis star Serena Williams has seen cards sell for more.
Just last week, on the eve of Iowa’s Final Four showdown with UConn, a gem mint Bowman University “Constellations of Greatness” Clark card sold for $23,600 on eBay.
According to Gemrate, which surveys grading trends for the four major card-grading services, Clark has already had the second-most cards graded of any female athlete, behind only Williams.
Gemrate’s Ryan Stuczynski said Clark had more cards graded in the last 30 days than WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu has had all-time. The 5,360 graded cards is more than Jordan Love and Mickey Mantle. And just behind Aaron Judge and Mike Trout.
“It’s the wildest market I’ve seen for a female athlete ever,” said Rick Probstein, the largest collectibles dealer on eBay. “She just has mass appeal and is incredibly likable. To me, she’s the female version of Steph Curry. And I’ve never heard of someone who doesn’t like Steph Curry.”
The world had not yet lost its mind for Clark when Fransk and her Central Lee players visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena in 2022. Only 8,100 fans were in the stands that day, the final time Clark would play a home game in front of a crowd smaller than 10,000. She scored 20 points in a 92-54 victory over Dartmouth that afternoon, tying Elena Della Donne as the fastest college player to score 2,000.
But it was what happened after the game that Fransk remembers most. In the game’s final seconds, a handful of her players huddled along the path to the Iowa tunnel, hoping for a smile, a high-five or maybe an autograph from one of the Hawkeyes.
Instead, Clark came by, removed her custom Nike Zoom GT Cut 2 sneakers, signed them “Happy Holidays” and handed them to one of Fransk’s players. Which player would become a debate in town for weeks to come.
“Internally we called it 'shoe-gate,'" Fransk said. “One family believed the shoes belonged to them. Another thought Caitlin handed them to their daughter. It was a bit ugly at first. But after some time everyone showed grace and understanding and worked it all out. There’s no animosity or anything now. The girls are friends. It’s something we laugh about. Thankfully, it wasn’t as big of a deal back then as it might have been now.”
Mallory Grossman, 12, ended up with the Nikes and today keeps them encased on a shelf in her bedroom. It is believed to be one of the first times Clark gave away her game-worn sneakers before disappearing into the Iowa tunnel. Grossman says she has been offered $10,000 for the shoes but insists she’ll never sell them. For any price.
“Not even a million dollars,” she said. “No way. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I would never ever sell them.”
This is 10-year-old Norah Clancy of Springfield, Ill.
— Jeff Linder (@jtlinder) December 22, 2023
First Hawkeyes game. Taking home Caitlin Clark’s shoes. She’ll go to bed happy tonight. pic.twitter.com/8JRS1uvgyA
Since that day, the end-of-game positioning by kids looking to be equally lucky became almost as entertaining to watch as Clark’s logo 3-pointers. Clark, who has a sponsorship deal with Nike, has given away a pair of Kobe 6 Proto Grinch’s, reverse Grinch’s and Sabrina 1’s.
Norah Clancy, 10, was the lucky recipient of the reverse Grinch’s in December of 2023.
“Sometimes, I still don’t believe it,” Clancy said. “I’m so grateful. Never in a million years did I think I would have a pair of her shoes.”
Would she ever sell? For $10,000? $20,000? $50,000?
“No, no, no,” she said. “I’m keeping them forever.”
If there is one pair of Clark shoes that might have the highest value, it would likely be a pair of Kobe 5 Proto Bruce Lee's — the shoes she wore in the 2023 NCAA title game against LSU, the last four games of Iowa’s 2024 NCAA tournament run and the night she set the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record.
Much has been made of the value of a game-worn Clark jersey.
Following Iowa’s semifinal victory Friday night, a collector offered a $150,000 bounty for Clark’s Iowa jersey.
Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions told Sportico in March the jersey Clark was wearing when she set the scoring records could sell for as much as $200,000. But that was under the assumption Clark had worn the same white home jersey the night she set both records.
Iowa equipment manager Kevin Foor told cllct that isn’t the case. In preparation for a potential record-setting season, Foor said he had extra jerseys made for Clark beyond the single white, black and yellow tops most players receive.
After Clark set the NCAA women’s record Foor set aside that white home uniform for Clark. He did the same after she passed Pete Maravich in another white jersey. Foor said he planned to give Clark the uniforms after the season.
Clark and coach Lisa Bluder presented a third white jersey to Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman after Clark’s final home game, a second-round NCAA victory over West Virginia. Clark wore a fourth white jersey for Iowa’s Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four victories
The jersey Clark wore in the national championship loss to South Carolina on Sunday is her only black jersey from the season, Foor said.
“I joked with her after she broke Pistol Pete (Maravich)’s record in the white jersey that it would be OK to set some milestones in gold or black,” Foor laughed. “We are running out of jerseys. Somebody asked me at some point if she could keep the jersey after every game, and I was like ‘Not unless she plans on wearing a different number.’”
The demand is unquestionably there.
Earlier this year, Pristine Auction sold an autographed replica Clark jersey for $735. A Clark signed Nike basketball donated to the Des Moines Area religious council sold for $3,000. A number of Clark items that Panini sold on its website at the start of the NCAA tournament, including signed basketballs, photos and jerseys, were gone in less than 48 hours.
“Way faster than we expected,” said Jason Howarth, a senior vice president of marketing for Panini, which last month signed Clark to an exclusive card and memorabilia deal. One such basketball that Panini sold for $499 went for $1,680 in a Pristine auction last week.
On Sunday, Realest Authentication’s Big Ten Tournament auction ended, selling a folding chair Clark sat in ($3,722), a basketball she might or might not have used in practice ($220) and a single strand of netting from Iowa’s championship victory over Nebraska ($560).
Die-hards crisscrossed the state searching for Caitlin Crunch cereal, available exclusively at Iowa HyVee grocery stores, so they could flip a $5 box for as much as five times that on eBay. Throw in a Caitlin Clark bobblehead the Iowa Cubs gave away last summer and the price jumped to $350.
Then there’s the Iowa artist who auctioned off a mural of the Iowa City street where Clark’s Nike banner hung for $1,500.
“She’s transcendent,” Howarth said. “It’s like the name ‘Kobe.’ Everyone knows you’re talking about Kobe Bryant. She’s going to be one of those athletes where you say ‘Caitlin,’ and people know exactly who you’re talking about.”
Howarth said Panini will sell more Clark memorabilia after the season, including autographed basketballs, jerseys and sneakers. The multi-year deal with Clark is the company’s first-ever for a female athlete. Panini also has the card contract for WNBA, where Clark is expected to be the first pick of the Indiana Fever on April 15.
In June, Howarth said Panini plans to release the “Caitlin Clark Collection” a series of cards centered around Clark’s personal story, her days at Iowa and the basketball moments that mean the most to her and her family. Haworth said the only other athlete they did something similar with is Kobe Bryant.
“We tend to be very selective with who we work with,” Howarth said. “This is such a unique time and space and Caitlin is a special athlete. The impact she has had is exciting not only for traditional fans and collectors, but younger fans and new fans we hope will be introduced to collecting through Caitlin.”
Fans like the youth basketball players Fransk brought to Carver in December 2022. She still can’t believe how fortunate she and her team were to see Clark before the craziness ensued and ticket prices climbed to as much as $400. They made it home before the blizzard that night. They were able to get up close and see the Hawkeyes.
And, oh yeah, one of her players came home with a pair of shoes likely worth enough to buy a car.
“I don’t think Caitlin truly realizes how she’s bringing people together, the camaraderie she’s creating,” Fransk said. “I don’t think we’ll truly understand the impact she’s had for years to come. And I’m so happy these girls were able to be a part of that early. It’s an experience we’ll never forget.”
Wayne Drehs is an award-winning sportswriter who spent 23 years at ESPN. He is now a Professional in Residence at The University of Iowa's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.