Local Man Has Collected Over 20,000 Hats

People collect all types of things, antiques, stamps, and even cars, but few rival the collection that Rocky Perry has.

“I’ve got a coin collection that I’ve been doing probably for the last ten or twelve years,” said Rocky Perry.

His collection of coins is one that collectors dream of with some dating back to the seventeen hundreds. “These are the first United States silver dollars see they are in Spanish,” said Perry.

His coin collection is without question impressive, but it isn’t close to his real pride and joy, and it doesn’t compare to his hat collection. “Roughly guessing about right now, about twenty thousand,” said Perry.

Perry has been collecting baseball caps since 1978. “My mom used to fuss at me all the time, she would say you have too many hats,” said Perry.

But that didn’t deter Rocky, as he is still collecting today. “I’ve got them all in tubs, boxes, and Rubbermaid trashcans,” said Perry.

Even with over twenty thousand Rocky keeps a tab of the caps that he has. “I write them all down on the legal pads and it’s been fun,” said Perry.

“Sirloin Steakhouse, Penn Square Bank, you won’t get that one anymore because that bank has been closed a long time,” said Perry.

Of course, every sports team. “I’ve probably got just about all the baseball hats. I’ve got Boston Rd socks, I’ve got Yankees, I’ve got Cincinnati which used to be my favorite team,” said Perry.

His favorite team today is the Minnesota Vikings. “I’ve got all kinds of Viking stuff, I’ve even got an Adrian Peterson Signed jersey,” said Perry.

He recently acquired a couple of gems for his collection. “This is TG&Y and this is Otasco, you basically won’t be able to find them anymore,” said Perry.

We were told there’s one hat that Rocky wants and we only could give it to him. “I called channel nine once and I guess I talked to the general manager and he was really nice and he said well, I don’t have any right now,” said Perry.

So of course, we had to deliver. We surprised Perry with a News 9 cap that he has wanted for years.

Probably the only hat that could temporarily replace his Minnesota Vikings cap. “Oh yeah, yeah thank you very much,” said Perry.

Now we aren’t sure of the record for the most hats, but Perry isn’t concerned about that, he just enjoys getting hats that no one else has.