DALLAS, TX.- Mark Rybczyk has been on Dallas-Fort Worth radio longer than anyone currently on the air: He’s been “Hawkeye in the Morning” on New Country 96.3 KSCS since local radio legend Terry Dorsey hired him as a sidekick during the Reagan Administration (1988, to be specific). He has the awards and accolades to accompany his longevity, among them Personality of the Year statues from the Country Music Association and Billboard. And he’s in two Halls of Fames — for Texas Radio and Country Radio. The man known as Hawkeye is radio at this point.

He has also used his mic for good during his decades-long tenure on Dallas-Fort Worth country radio: Hawkeye has helped raise more than $4,000,000 for Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth during the station’s annual Radiothon and served as a counselor and on the board of directors of Camp Sanguinity, the hospital’s summer camp for kids with cancer. As The Dallas Morning News reported in December, Hawkeye and co-host Michelle Rodriguez helped raise $1,071,096 alone during their 2023 holiday campaign.

Hawkeye begins 2024 by merging one passion with another: Through hometown Heritage, he’s auctioning his childhood baseball card collection to raise even more money for Cook Children’s. The Mark “Hawkeye” Rybczyk Collection is available as one of many notable collections featured in Heritage’s Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction, which goes into extended bidding January 26-27.

It’s a significant assemblage, too, beginning with the very first set he collected as a kid: Topps’ sprawling set from 1971, of which he has 481 of the 752 cards offered in the coveted black-bordered issue that’s now hard to find in good condition. Here, too, are nine legends and Hall of Famers’ Topps cards slabbed and graded by PSA offered in a single lot, among them a 1972 Roberto Clemente (PSA NM-MT 8), a 1970 Willie Mays (PSA Near Mint 7) and three Mickey Mantles from 1966 and 1969.

“I always knew where these cards were — in a closet in my man cave — and I’ve been thinking for the past three, four years what to do with them,” Hawkeye says. “I knew I had some valuable cards, and with my involvement with Cook Children’s over the last 10 years, it seemed like this would be a great fit. The cards will wind up with someone who appreciates them, and it goes to a good cause. It now seems like this is what they were meant for all along.”

“It’s always a joy going through the collection with the owner and letting them relive putting it together,” says Mike Provenzale, Sports Production Manager at Heritage. “But it’s even more rewarding when that collector is parting with them to help such a good and important cause.”

Hawkeye’s isn’t your average collection, either: He began collecting in 1971 (when he also bought this fantastic 1971 Instant Replay Device & Records), inherited some older cards (dating back to 1953!) from friends who jumped out of the ball card-collecting game as they got older, and kept on adding to his accumulation throughout his college years. That’s how he wound up with the unopened boxes also offered in this auction, dating to the 1981 and 1983 Topps series that rank among the highly coveted for those who like to rip yesterday’s wax.

“Collecting was my introduction to baseball,” Hawkeye says. “When I started, of course, there was no internet, and the back of the cards had all the stats you didn’t have access to. You got to be familiar with who was a good player. And there were teams you never saw on TV. Baseball cards were more than something to collect. For us, they were a record of the game.”

More than 50 years since little Mark Rybczyk bought his first card, all of them are about to find a new home — for a good cause. And for that reason alone, parting with them all these decades later has been surprisingly easy for the radio icon.

“When Mike from Heritage came over, we went through them all, and he had a real appreciation for what I had,” Hawkeye says. “I hadn’t been with someone in decades who had a real appreciation for my baseball cards, and it was a great way to say goodbye to them. I thought it would be bittersweet, and it was exactly the opposite.”

“At Cook Children’s, it’s our promise to improve the well-being of every child in our care and our communities,” says Grant Harris, Chief Development Officer, Cook Children’s Health Foundation. “For more than 20 years, Hawkeye has remained committed to that promise through his involvement with Camp Sanguinity, Cook Children’s Radiothon, Texas Independence Jam and countless other initiatives. Hawkeye’s support goes beyond giving; he is a passionate advocate for Cook Children’s, and we are so grateful for his generosity.”