Dan Foster’s basement would be a paradise for any Detroit Lions fan.
The staircase, walls and furniture are decked floor-to-ceiling in Honolulu Blue and silver, almost as if the floor is wearing a home uniform. The walls are covered in signed jerseys, pictures, game programs, hats, pennants and posters. There are action figures, stuffed animals, blankets and signed footballs and helmets. There's even a pair of Lions-branded recliners and a soda machine.
But Foster, 49 of Fenton, said it's time that he pass most of the collection onto the next fan, announcing on TikTok in August that the collection is for sale and he is accepting offers.
He hopes to find a single buyer for most of the memorabilia.
"I want one Lions fan that I know is a true blue
Lions fan that wants to take over this collection."
Foster said a family friend, Gary Wayne Slatton, introduced him to the Lions, which became his home team. “My mom, my brother and I, we moved from Tennessee to Michigan − and we didn’t have a professional team at the time,” he said.
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Slatton gifted Foster Lions gear when they watched games together, Foster said.
“It started with small things,” he said, with the occasional button or hat eventually becoming jerseys, then posters for the wall. It was always the same routine: "He'd say, 'Oh, I don't wear it anymore, you add this to your den,'" Foster said.
Slatton died in 2025, and for Foster, sitting in the den by himself feels different. He said it's time to find a fan who will give his collection a new home.
But Foster will hold on to the memories.
"Honestly, it's not this stuff in this basement. It's every person that I've met ..." he said. "You know, all the Lions fans are really my most treasured thing from my Lions den. I have friends in Las Vegas. I have friends in Tennessee. And when I travel around the country, there's a Lions fan everywhere."
To Foster, Lions fan are like no other fans in sports because they are so loyal to the team.
"The real treasure, my real treasure is these people. And that's why I don't want to sell this collection to an auction house or piece by piece to, you know, people that are just going to resell it," he said.
Although the tag says everything must go, Foster said there are a few things he plans on keeping.
"I let my daughter walk through and pick out what she wanted to keep," including a Lions nightlight from when she was a baby. He's also keeping items that former Lion Johnnie Morton gave him.
Foster said the 1994 Detroit first-round draft pick, who spent eight seasons with the Lions, reached out online when he noticed a picture of his own jersey on the wall in the den. Morton brought Foster to see a game in a suite at Ford Field with other retired Lions players.
"Johnnie told me that I am forbidden from selling anything that he gave me, so I’m taking all his stuff out of it, too," he said.
Among the other memorabilia Foster will keep: bleacher cushions, which he got from Slatton as a kid, and a poster from his best friend that reads: "Barry the Bears."
Harrison Stidolph was a 2026 summer intern for the Detroit Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Inside a Detroit Lions fan's incredible den. Now he's looking for 1 buyer
