Bourbonnais resident Donnie Daugherty has had the pleasure of taking his appreciation of sports cards, memorabilia and autographs and applying it to the workplace. He’s both a member of Accelrate Celebrity Services, where he works in private and public autograph signings, and Signatures for Soldiers, a nonprofit devoted to using sports cards and autographs to raise funds for unhoused and disabled veterans.

Now Daugherty, who also works locally at CSL Behring in Bradley, is finding another way to use his passions amongst a busy schedule, while also highlighting some of the greatest athletes to come from Kankakee County.

Daugherty is in the process of creating a unique set of playing cards that features artwork of Kankakee area athletes who have gone on to play professionally. An area native, the 51-year-old Daugherty said he was inspired by the fact that he grew up with so many talented people who were professionals in some form or fashion.

“One of the things that drove me is I have a lot of friends and ex-teammates; I’m up to eight ex-teammates now and a lot of them never had a minor league card,” Daugherty said. “A lot of these guys played in the minor leagues or the Euro leagues, and yes they may have played professionally but they’re not making cards of these guys.”

So, Daugherty has been working the last few months on making the first cards for athletes who played decades ago, for current professionals who can find their cards on eBay and other websites, and for just about everyone in between.

He’s spoken with and received permission from about 70 current and former local professionals, a number he’s hoping to see climb as he attempts to track down and contact dozens more to fully represent the area’s athletic history.

Daugherty’s qualification guidelines are pretty simple. Athletes must have played high school or college sports in the area and gone on to play as a pro, not just at the highest levels like the MLB or NBA. Anyone who played minor league, independent or international pro sports is eligible.

Once he has a set number of participants, the next step will be figuring out how to accommodate them all in a standard deck of 52 playing cards. Without the licensing or permission to use professional logos and uniforms, Daugherty is blending old and new technology – Microsoft Paint and AI – to create proper artwork.

The following steps will be finding a printer to work with, setting up packaging and getting marketing set. While a price will be attached for those wanting to order a final version, Daugherty doesn’t anticipate charging more than what will allow him to break even.

“If I make some money, great,” Daugherty said. “But really, I think it’s a really cool thing for the area and area sports fans to have a deck of cards from all people in the area.”

Any current or former area pro athletes or their representatives/families can contact Daugherty at acceleratecelebrityservices@gmail.com.