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Fans, Shoppers Sort Through Thomas Estate
March 29, 2001
The lasting impression of the Derrick Thomas estate sale probably won't be the line of people, at one time more than 100 strong, that snaked down his driveway and into the street.
Instead, the image of Derrick's mother -- Edith Morgan, who was inside the house when the initial wave of people gushed in -- may be what sticks with those who witnessed it. There she sat, atop a wingback chair and its $3,500 price tag, watching as complete strangers funneled into the door with fistfuls of cash and funneled back out with some of her son's most private possessions.
"It seems like I'm reliving the funeral all over again," Morgan said. "It's like a piece of my heart is being ripped out."
She was quiet, reserved. She stopped on occasion to chat on her cellular phone, to visit with one of the "shoppers." Hanging on the wall behind her, peering over her shoulder, was a framed painting of her son. Minimum bid: $15,000.
Eventually, Morgan headed to a sealed-off upstairs bedroom to take a nap. She left the house by 1:30 p.m. and then returned later as the sale came to a close for the day.
"It's my son," she said. "So I felt like I needed to be here."
While she was there, dozens of Thomas fans scurried about methodically but respectfully, looking to make purchases.
"It was kind of like walking through a library," said Kristian Madsen, who was in the first group of shoppers. "You didn't want to make eye-to-eye contact with her.
"It was sad."
The elaborate estate sale, held at Thomas' home in Independence, attracted an estimated 1,200 shoppers and sightseers. According to estate representatives, fans bought about $45,000 worth of merchandise and memorabilia.
"I couldn't be more pleased," said Karen Rieger, co-owner of the company that's handling the sale. "Kansas City's response has been wonderful."
Still, many of the big-ticket items didn't sell Thursday: a bedroom set ($10,000), the grandfather clock ($2,500), a 70-inch TV ($2,250), the dining-room set ($7,500), a 4-wheeler ($3,800). As even Rieger said at the end of the day, "I'm surprised at some of the things that are still here."
The largest sale, a Sea Doo water craft, went for $5,000. All told, estate representatives hope to generate more than $650,000. Much of that will be raised through the sealed-bid process, which included 21 items. The bids will be unsealed, and winning bidders identified, on Sunday.
The sale itself runs through Saturday. Organizers can only hope it goes as well as it did on Thursday.
There were no skirmishes, few unruly guests. A group of 10 or more police officers, paid for by representatives of the estate, stood throughout the house and kept the sale running smoothly.
"We were expecting it to be a madhouse, people shoving and pushing," said Bill Denney, 27. "But it was nothing like that, not hectic at all.
"It was very controlled."
People tried on hats, thumbed through books. They stared at Thomas' two Mercedes, both parked on the grass in the front yard. They sifted through Thomas' signed credit-card receipts, through his $175 sweaters and $200 Versace shoes.
Some people, like Carlin Smith, shopped for memorabilia.
"I'm just looking for something with a 58 on it," Smith said, flipping through a rack of T-shirts. "But it gets out of my price range whenever there's a 58."
Others shopped for a bargain, like Carla and Gary Beeman of Lee's Summit. They lugged their two daughters to the sale and then bought a $2,200 bedroom set.
Still others showed up to take pictures, to tour Thomas' home, even to scoop up grass from Thomas' yard.
Lucas Johnson, 19, even showed up at Thomas' doorstep at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night. He splayed his sleeping bag near Thomas' front porch and then split the overnight hours between the hard pavement and his warm truck.
But the early crowd wasn't nearly as large as organizers had expected. At 6:30 a.m., only seven people stood in line just outside Thomas' front door. At the time, police officers and reporters easily outnumbered the prospective shoppers.
"There were bigger crowds than this when Derrick put on his fireworks display," neighbor Mo Kraner said.
The crowd got bigger as the morning dragged on.
More than 100 people stood in line when, just minutes after 9 a.m., officials started the sale. As instructed by the fire department, they allowed only 75 people in the house -- including police officers and estate representatives -- at a time. That created something of an early logjam, forcing some would-be shoppers to stand in line for an hour or more.
The first shopper to emerge from the house was Bill Riha, who walked out at 9:36 a.m. with $260 worth of stuff. His collection included a $125 leather jacket, a $10 DVD, a $50 miniature refrigerator and a bedpan -- not a used one, mind you, but a commemorative one given to Thomas as a gift -- that cost $75.
"I just came out here to see how Derrick lived," he said. "It's not nearly as expensive a house as I would have thought from a person with that much money."
But not everybody was there to see the house. Even his nearby neighbors, like Carol Pregge, paid the $10 fee to get in.
At one point, Pregge emerged at the front door with a tie draped around her neck.
"Hey, Earl," she shouted to her husband. "I'm shopping!"
Earl, 70, stepped forward and snapped a photo.
"We've been in this house many times," Earl said. "She just wanted to go in and see what they're selling."
Ditto for Dick Lacy, from Blue Springs. What he never expected to see, a scene he called "depressing," was Morgan.
"She was just sitting in that chair, watching," he said. "That was tough."
And as Lacy got ready to leave, shaking his head incredulously, he grabbed his $1,000 or so worth of purchases -- including a signed poster of golfer Tiger Woods, priced at $495 -- and walked away with a piece of Thomas' life.
from kc star
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