Dark Star's treasure trove up for sale

"DARK HAD IT ALL!" is the billing on an estate sale next weekend of sports memorabilia and other items owned by late Twin Cities media personality and pitchman Dark Star.

The three-day sale is scheduled to start Sept. 8 and is being handled by Dennis J. Hagen Estate Sales of Minneapolis. The location will not be revealed until the day before.

Autographed items, numbered in the hundreds, could draw the most interest. Among them: a Michael Jordan signed and framed basketball and jersey, and a signed bat from the 1991 World Series champion Minnesota Twins.

There are 200 signed baseballs, including "many by baseball greats," the estate sale's Web page notes, as well as autographed NFL helmets.

Also for sale are slot machines, model boats and planes, four grandfather clocks, furniture, rugs and clothing -- including numerous baseball caps, a Dark Star favorite.

"This is only a partial list of what we have from a Neat Guy [who] lived well and had a good time doing it," the Hagen Web page says.

In an interview Friday, Hagen described the event as "a guy sale."

Dark Star was "a pack rat," he said, adding that the collection is 99 percent of what the former radio host owned.

"He loved stuff. He was a little boy at heart," Hagen said.

Born George Chapple, Dark Star collapsed in his Minnetonka apartment on June 1 and died. He was 66.

He worked at WCCO-AM for 25 years until 2010 and recently had been on the air at KFAN-FM.

Hagen has high hopes for the sale. He said the proceeds are going to an elderly woman who was a friend of Dark Star's mother, Phyllis, who died in 2007. His mother was the last member of his immediate family.

"Because of the Dark factor, as I call it, I think this stuff will sell," Hagen said. "There are going to be a lot of people wanting a part of Dark."

The sale will be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 8-10.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482