(Press Release) Chicago, IL, Sept. 5, 2012 — Chicago’s own Pizza Man Joe Aurelio is now taking center stage under a non-pizza colored spotlight. Pizza celeb Joe Aurelio of Aurelio’s Pizza just debuted on History Channel’s hit show Pawn Stars. On the new season episode titled "Thirty Something" that originally aired Monday, September 3, Aurelio successfully sold Joe DiMaggio and John McGraw sports memorabilia to Richard "The Old Man" and his son Rick "The Spotter" Harrison.
You’ll have to tune in to see how much Joe’s molds went for. No ordinary molds, they were originally used to make plastic figures of Hall of Fame baseball players sold at the Cooperstown Hall of Fame and in ballparks throughout the country during the 1963 season.
Aurelio won the pair of molds – you’ll have to tune in to see how much he paid – at Leland’s Auction House in Bohemia, New York 20 years ago. A sports memorabilia collector for more than 30 years, he has amassed quite a collection and decided it was time to do some housecleaning.
"I headed to Las Vegas for the pizza convention in March. I knew Pawn Stars filmed there so I decided to bring my DiMaggio and McGraw bust molds with me, just in case. As soon as they saw them, the show’s producers gave me an invitation to be on the show," said Aurelio.
After accepting the invitation, Aurelio flew back to Vegas in April to film the haggling process to sell his prized molds. Because the items were rare pieces of sports memorabilia history, the Pawn Stars team brought in an expert and the items were valued at a maximum of 9 times more than Aurelio originally paid for them. In the end, and after some negotiation, Aurelio accepted Rick Harrison’s highest offer. Aurelio plans to put the money he made on Pawn Stars toward his children’s college fund.
"The filming experience was incredible. Our North Las Vegas location is only 15 minutes away from the set, so were able to surprise the guys and treat them to Aurelio’s pizza. One of the crew members was originally from Chicago, so he was pretty excited to find out there’s an Aurelio’s located in Vegas – the lengths I’ll go to let people know about Aurelio’s! It was a great time." said Aurelio.
You can catch the episode, "Thirty Something", again on Thursday, September 6 at 9:30/8:30c to see if you think Aurelio got a fair price.
Here’s the link to the episode: http://www.history.com/shows/pawn-stars/videos/pawn-stars-thirty-something. Plus, Joe uploaded his behind-the-scenes pictures on the Aurelio’s Facebook page.
About Aurelio’s Pizza:.
With a history as rich and entrenched in the community as the pizza it’s famous for, the very first Aurelio’s restaurant opened on Ridge Road in Homewood, as the pride and joy of Joseph A. Aurelio, Jr. who decided to give it a go as a restaurateur at the age of 26. With its legendary "old oven" dating back to 1959 in its Homewood location, Aurelio’s was one of the pioneers of the family pizzeria concept in the United States and helped to launch pizza into the American lexicon. Since that time, Aurelio’s has become one of Chicagoland’s claims to fame. And, transplanted Chicagoans all over the map have helped to bring their favorite pizzeria franchise to 43 cities across six states, growing a strong fan base for the taste of Aurelio’s. For additional information, please visit: www.aureliospizza.com
