Acquiring Minds

When high-powered executives want to get away from the

pressures of work—and celebrate the fiscal results of their labor—the options

are unlimited. From outdoor pursuits to sampling local (and sometimes not so

local) culture, Southwest Florida’s executives unwind in style. Sometimes, they

begin acquiring tangible mementos of their part-time pursuits—at first a few, and

then more and more. As their knowledge grows, so does their collection—and

their willingness to invest more time, effort and money into finding and

acquiring new pieces. Many discover that the same qualities that make them

excel in business—drive, an eye for value and persistence—make them outstanding

collectors. We asked three local executives about their very different

collections.

Fast Bikes

Motorcycle enthusiast Scott Robertson is founder of the

Southeast division of BenefitPort, a company specializing in providing

technology solutions for the group insurance and employee benefit industry. He

sold the Florida division, which he still works for, in 1999, and was then able

to afford the machinery he’s always dreamed of—sleek and sexy Ducati bikes.

Describe your collection.

I own four rare Ducatis, a Harley-Davidson and a couple of

dirt bikes. One of the Ducatis is one of only 155 made; another is one of only

2,000. Ducatis are the epitome of sport bikes.

Where do you keep your bikes?

The two extremely rare Ducatis I mentioned are on display in

the “man room” of my house. I don’t ride them. The other bikes I keep in my

garage.

Has this been a longtime passion?

I started riding minibikes at age five. Sometime after that,

I rode and raced motorcycles for four years. I have always been interested in

motorcycles. Besides, collecting motorcycles is a lot cheaper than collecting

Ferraris.

How have you acquired your motorcycle collection?

I travel across the United States. I’ve purchased Ducatis in

California, New York, Colorado and Boston. The Internet and motorcycle and

trade magazines are a big help in tracking them down.

The motorcycles, made in Bologna, Italy, are relatively

inexpensive. The most I ever paid for a bike was $25,000.

How does your collection help reduce your stress level?

It takes my mind off my work. I enjoy riding and racing the

bikes. These Ducatis, they’re made to be raced. I race on a closed track. You

have no idea what they can do until you get them on the track. And I can do a

little of the maintenance on them myself, just the easy stuff. Everything else

I have done professionally.

Trophy Fish

Avid fisherman Gary Sandor is senior vice president of The

Bonita Bay Group. Although Sandor has a large and varied art collection throughout

his Bonita Bay home, fishing is his prime fascination. As a result, the walls

of his billiard room are filled with replicas of his prized trophy fish.

How did your collection get started?

It grew out of a passion for fishing. I became addicted to

marlin fishing, and I still make it a point to go to a new marlin ground every

year. My first-ever trophy fish was a 65-pound sailfish off Key West.

How do you choose which fish to use for trophies?

My wife, Maureen, and I like to use primarily the first fish

or first major fish of a species as a trophy. A company in Naples reconstructs

the fish from pictures. You record the weight and length and take a photograph.

This group has a Styrofoam mold for every species of fish for each length, in

increments of one inch. The body is made with Stryofoam, and the fins and gills

are made of plaster and painted by artists.

What places have you visited to amass this collection of

fish?

My wife and I fish all over the world. We’ve caught trophy

reds off Fort Myers Beach; Maureen landed a trophy tarpon off Marathon. I

caught an Allison tuna off the Cayman Islands. We’ve also fished in Alaska,

Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela, the Bah-amas and Ireland.

How has your interest grown over time?

I’ve always loved to catch marlin. I’ve now taken up

fly-fishing. My new goal is to catch a marlin on fly.

What are the most impressive trophies in your collection?

We recently were fishing in the Ten Thousand Islands during

the YMCA Red Snook Tournament (which my wife has now won twice), when I hooked

a 144-inch sawfish. I have never caught one before. The sawfish is a protected

species, so we were careful not to harm it. The guide I was fishing with said

he had never seen one that large. My taxidermist had never seen one that large.

The largest sawfish he had ever trophied was 78 inches. He found me a

taxidermist in the Panhandle with a sawfish mold 135 inches long, so we’ll have

it—it’ll just be a good 11 inches shorter than it should be.

I also have a head mount of an 1,100-pound, grander black

marlin. We were fishing off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The captain of

the boat wanted me to let that fish go until we realized how big he was. When

we realized he was well over 1,000 pounds, the captain said I could keep him.

But I didn’t. I released him.

Course Cards

Golf enthusiast Tucker Tyler is chief executive officer for

Northern Trust Bank for Southwest Florida. But instead of trophies of

tournaments he’s won on the greens, Tyler has amassed more than 14,000 golf

scorecards from around the world. Some are more than 100 years old and others

are from much-revered golf courses like the Augusta National. His obsession is

not private—co-workers, clients and friends have all contributed to his

well-known collection.

How did you get started collecting golf scorecards?

About 20 years ago, I decided to take up golf. I thought it

would be neat to collect a scorecard from each course I played. I bought a

scrapbook and at the end of one year, I had a whopping four cards. A friend

recommended a golf collectors’ network. I started trading cards with other card

collectors. I learned about cards available at auction. There are also numerous

Web sites and newsletters. I’ve been avidly collecting ever since.

My collection is ranked somewhere between number 15 and 20

in the world. The United States Golf Association wants the collection upon my

demise.

How do you obtain the cards?

I’ve bought cards, paying anywhere from 10 cents to $100. I

also receive scorecards in the mail, and they show up on my desk through our

interoffice mail. I usually get a card each day; sometimes more.

When I know people are traveling, I ask them to pick up

scorecards for me. When I am on vacation, I often wake up early to scout out

golf courses and get scorecards.

I get letters from other collectors interested in trading.

Trade shows also usually have scorecards; I try to attend the Chicago Golf Show

in February and the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando in January.

I also ask the printers. Some printers are very open—you

just walk in and they let you take whatever you want off the shelves.

I write to the golf courses, too. I just send a

self-addressed, stamped envelope along with my request and cross my fingers.

Once I called the pro shop of a course in Maine. I think I got the cleaning

lady on the phone. I explained to her what I wanted and gave her my address. I

wasn’t very hopeful. But three or four days later, a card showed up in the

mail.

Which cards are the most difficult to acquire?

The foreign cards. The United States has nearly 16,000 golf

courses. The total number of golf courses in the rest of the world is about

16,000.When you travel abroad, unless you’re looking for a golf course, you’re

not likely to stumble on one.

I once read in The Wall Street Journal about a course

located between Sweden and Norway that’s the only way to get from one country

to the other without a passport. I wrote to the Swedish Consulate, and they

sent me the card.

Do you have a most-prized card?

I value my older cards. One from Rock Island, Ill., dates

back to the 1890s.

I stumbled upon another one of my favorites completely by

accident. We were remodeling our house in Chicago, and we found an old box of

diaries that had been walled up. In one

of the diaries was a scorecard from Northwestern University Golf Course.

Northwestern is my alma mater, but it didn’t have a golf course when I

attended. The course’s name has since been changed to Wilmette Public Golf

Course.

I also have about 50 cards I label exceptional. Those are

all signed by professional golfers like Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus or

golf-course designers.

How do you display your cards?

In Chicago, I had all my cards organized in plastic drawers

in my basement. It took me a long time to find a closet in Florida big enough

to hold all my cards. I have them in plastic drawers organized alphabetically

by state for the domestic cards and organized alphabetically by country for the

foreign cards. I like to pull them out and go through them during those

afternoon storms or when it’s too hot

to go outside.