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Canadian Sportscard Collector Escaping with collectors cards By Baron Bedesky

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I know most of you have heard of Harry Houdini. If you haven't, stop reading for a second, turn to the person next to you and ask about him. If they tell you something about the world's most famous escape artist, continue reading. If they try to explain that Houdini was the guy who wrote the musical score to "The Pink Panther" give them a firm, but polite cuff to the head, then continue reading.

When you think of Houdini, you are thinking of 27 year old Winnipeg, Manitoba native Dean Gunnarson's idol and to some extent, mentor. Gunnarson you see, is Canada's foremost escape artist and has quickly become a celebrity in several countries around the world.

See Gunnarson chained inside a Cadillac and placed in a car crusher only to leap free seconds before certain death. When Super Dave Osborne attempted a similar stunt, the jaws of life were required to pry him out of a small scrap-metal cube.

We see Gunnarson at the tender age of 18, suspended by his ankles from a 60 foot tall building in Winnipeg, eventually freeing himself from a strait jacket and thrilling the crowd below.

Another card describes how he escaped from a chained and padlocked metal milk can filled with water. How about a strait jacket and 50 feet of chains and padlocks? Child's play. Or being chained and handcuffed inside a locked shark cage? No problem when your name is Dean Gunnarson.

There is one thing Gunnarson admits he cannot escape from. I'll reveal the answer a little further on.

He enjoys describing what he considers his best career stunt so far. "I just did a T.V. special in Japan where they chained me up, put me in a couple of sets of handcuffs, and a strait jacket, and threw me out of an airplane at 13,500 feet.

"I had to escape tumbling towards the ground at a 125 miles per hour, dropping 174 feet per second. By the time I got out of everything I had about six seconds left to pull my parachute and save my life."

Sounds like the kind of ordeal you'd never want to re-experience. Would he try it again?

"Well sure," says Gunnarson, "if somebody wanted to pay me, what the heck. The first time is the hardest because there's no way you can rehearse any of that." Good point.

"What I do is purely athletic. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do drugs and I have to stay in top physical condition, a lot like an athlete because I require my body to be able to get out of these things."

Interestingly enough, two cards in the set show how Gunnarson nearly lost his life trying to get out of a wooden coffin nailed shut and wrapped in chains, then dropped into the icy waters of a river.

Now I can understand strait jackets, chains , handcuffs, water filled milk cans, shark cages, or plummeting from an airplane at 125 miles per hour formally attired in a strait jacket with matching chains. But this coffin in the river business, that can be risky. After three and a half minutes, an ambulance crew was forced to pull Gunnarson out of the box, both unconscious and blue. Fortunately he was revived.

Gunnarson's fascination with escape stunts began at age 9 when his mother purchased a book about Houdini for him. He became a huge fan and quickly amassed a sizable collection of literature on the legendary performer. Soon he was performing in his own shows.

"When all my friends went to get a job at McDonald's in high school," explains Gunnarson, "I started doing birthday parties. It grew and evolved that way and I paid my way through university and now I travel all over the world performing!"

Gunnarson graduated from the University of Winnipeg, majoring in psychology and drama. Many of Gunnarson's most impressive performances have benefited charitable organizations including The Rainbow Society, The Cancer Foundation and The Variety Club. He was named "Humanitarian of the Year" by the United Commercial Travelers of America, a group consisting of over 180,000 members. Gunnarson is also the first Canadian to be appointed as an International Ambassador of The Society of American Magicians.

Though be was born in Winnipeg and still maintains a home there, Gunnarson grew up in Texas. He always collected cards as a youngster, especially N.F.L. football and Dallas Cowboy cards.

Even when he stopped collecting, he had the foresight to put all his cards away in a box and save it. When his younger brother-in-law, an avid card collector, visited from out of town, Gunnarson pulled out his old card box.

"I had about $12,000 worth of cards," he says. "I'll save it for my kids. That's the stuff that's part of your childhood and it's something that's very unique."

Pulling out that old card stash helped plant a seed in Gunnarson's mind leading to the production of his card set. "This is the first time anybody in the magic field has had a card set on themselves," he says proudly. "I've always enjoyed being the first person to do something."

Gunnarson feels that they are a good investment as well. He says as his career grows and develops, the cards are certain to increase in value. But what if one of his escapes doesn't go as planned and tragic results ensue? How would the cards be worth anything if he cannot continue to promote his career?

"Either (my career grows) or I'll die in my next escape and they'll be worth money so either way they're going to go up in value," claims Gunnarson with a smile. I'm glad he has this all figured out, but I'm sure not going to root that he becomes shark bait or a victim of the law of gravity.

Gunnarson's 40 card set has an attractive glossy finish. The card backs include biographical information and details on both his public and private life. Each set also includes a checklist card and numbered certificate of authenticity. There will also be 500 randomly inserted autographed cards out of a total of 65,000 sets. The sets are being distributed through Victory Productions.

Aside from his skills as an escape artist, Gunnarson is a proud Canadian and adds, "People don't think highly of Canada sometimes. Canada has to be the greatest country in the world to live -- I travel and I've seen so much, that I can honestly say that."

Kind of refreshing to hear, eh?

Oh, the one thing Gunnarson says he can't escape? That's simple. With a coy smile, he leans over and says, "The GST."

Click HERE to order your own set of Dean Gunnarson's Escape cards.