Anyone can donate money to their favorite college. A Tennessee artist turned over something of greater personal value: his collection of 700 Hawaiian shirts.
John McIntire, a sculptor, gave the shirts to the Memphis College of Art, where he once worked.
He had collected the colorful garments over 50 years, picking them up at yard sales and junk stores, never paying more than $5 apiece.
McIntire, 72, wears Hawaiian shirts most days, putting a T-shirt underneath when it is cold and adding a coat when necessary.
The college plans to display the shirts for a sale to benefit a scholarship in McIntire's name.
He decided to give the collection away — keeping only four of them — to make room for a studio in his attic.
He will not miss them, he said.
"I'll just go out to yard sales and start collecting them again," he said.
