SOUTH JERSEY

DePace Sports Museum to open on Friday

Shannon Eblen
@ShannonEblen
The DePace Sports Museum in Collingswood has unlocked its doors to the public while it puts on the finishing touches in preparation for a March opening date.

COLLINGSWOOD - After nearly five years, the DePace Sports Museum will hold a grand opening Friday evening, complete with a ribbon cutting and special guests.

Collingswood originally gave the museum a deadline to open in the fall, later extending that to January. To meet the deadline, the DePace Sports Museum opened its doors to the public in January, while the museum was still in the works.

DePace Sports Museum set to open this fall

The museum houses the sports memorabilia collection of Dr. Nicholas DePace. The collection spans more than 100 years and has a wide variety of sports-related items, from the marriage license of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe to a century-old Honus Wagner baseball card to Muhammad Ali's boxing trunks. This, in addition to the many Eagles, Flyers and Phillies items.

There are so many items in the collection the displays will rotate on a regular basis, and some of the most rare items will be in the vault of the former bank building.

For the opening, "A dozen of (DePace's) prize items will be here, items that have not been shown before," said Eric Katz, the museum curator. This includes the Honus Wagner card.

The DePace Sports Museum in Collingswood has unlocked its doors to the public while it puts on the finishing touches in preparation for a March opening date.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Former Philadelphia Flyers Bernie Parent, Bob Kelly, Brian Propp and Dave Schultz will be in attendance. Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley will cut the ceremonial ribbon.

The museum will remain open until 9 p.m. Friday night. Regular hours will be Tuesday and Wednesday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday by appointment. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

If you go

The DePace Sports Museum is at 765 Haddon Ave. in Collingswood. For more information, visit depacemuseum.com.