Brady Pettigrew isn’t a collector of sports cards or memorabilia. The Indiana Fever fan just wanted to have some fun with Sophie Cunningham, one of his favorite players.
At a fan event in Indianapolis last weekend, Pettigrew waited in line with many others to get the star WNBA guard’s autograph. When his turn came, the 39-year-old resident of nearby Anderson, Ind., placed a sports card in front of Cunningham for her to sign.
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Only it wasn’t a Cunningham card. It was a Jacy Sheldon card. Not only did Pettigrew want Cunningham to sign the card of one of her on-court rivals, he wanted her to place her autograph directly under a phrase his sister, Tristen Pettigrew, had inscribed on the collectible: “Property of:”
Cunningham and Sheldon were involved in a dust-up during a June 17 game in Indianapolis, when Sheldon was a member of the Connecticut Sun (she was traded to the Washington Mystics last week). Late in the game, with the Fever up by 17, Sheldon made a steal and was taken down hard by Cunningham — a move many viewed as payback after Sheldon poked Indiana superstar Caitlin Clark in the eye during a play in the third quarter.
Pettigrew told The Times he was “a little nervous” about how Cunningham might react to his unusual request. But at the same time, he said, he knew from following Cunningham on social media that she is “a little edgy” and has “a good sense of humor.”
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“I was just like, if there’s anybody that would do this, it would be Sophie,” Pettigrew said.
A video of Pettigrew’s interaction with Cunningham, filmed by his sister, shows that his assumption was correct. After he places the card in front of her, Cunningham takes a second to register what she is seeing, then bursts into laughter and immediately autographs the card so it reads, “Property of: Sophie Cunningham.”
“She said that when she first looked at the card, she just thought it was a card of herself, you know, blond white chick,” Pettigrew said, “and so she didn’t realize until she read what the inscription was, and was like, ‘What?'”
He added: “If I have a chance to make her laugh, that’s better than just taking up some picture where she looks all pretty like everybody else does, or get a jersey signed or something. I was like, well, if I can make her laugh, maybe I can make a tedious, boring situation for her a little more fun. And she obliged.”
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Cunningham can be heard in the video laughing and exclaiming, “She’s the problem!” While some have assumed the comment was aimed toward Sheldon, Pettigrew said he thinks Cunningham was actually referring to her mother, Paula, who was also at the event and had encouraged Pettigrew to make the unusual request of her daughter.
“If you listen really close right when the video starts, I’m walking up and I say to Sophie, ‘I just want you to know I got your mom’s approval for this,’ and I set the card down,” Pettigrew said. “And she looks at it and starts cracking up. And she’s like, ‘See, she’s the problem.’ … I’m fairly certain based on the conversation she’s actually calling her mom the problem, like laughing about the situation of her telling me to do it.”
Pettigrew said he has gotten offers of up to $2,000 for the card, but it’s not for sale — although he could change his mind for the right price.
Read more: Caitlin Clark rookie card brings $660,000 at auction, nearly doubling previous women’s record
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“You know, I love riding motorcycles,” he said, “and so I’ve kind of told myself, if somebody offers me enough to buy a decent motorcycle, I couldn’t say no in that case. But I definitely don’t have any intention of trying to make that happen. If it naturally happens, I mean, everything’s got a price.”
Cunningham and Sheldon will be on the court together again Friday when the Fever hosts the Mystics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana. Pettigrew actually has other plans for the evening.
However, he said, “If Sophie hits me up and and says, ‘Hey, we got courtside seats for you,’ I think I could probably show up to the concert a little late,” he joked.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
