IONIA, MI - After Michigan State won the 1979 NCAA national championship, Gerald Gilkie and others - Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent- signed floorboards taken from the Salt Lake City basketball court, host of the finals.
Gelkie, now a counselor for the state Department of Corrections in Ionia, figured the floorboards would be sold as memorabilia and never really gave it a lot of thought.
A co-worker did.
She found the signed floorboard, with his number and "1979 Champs!" written on it, online. It had changed hands several times before she bought it from a sports memorabilia dealer in Pennsylvania.