When it comes to collecting, people could say Frank Means has really buckled down and taken it seriously.

Saturday, July 21, 2001

When it comes to collecting, people could say Frank Means has really buckled down and taken it seriously.

The Albert Lea man has nearly 200 belt buckles. He got the first one, with the head of a longhorn steer embossed on it, as a gift from his brother probably 30 years ago.

He loved it so much he decided to get more.

&uot;Every time I’d get money, I’d buy a buckle. It’s my hobby. I kept getting more and more,&uot; Means said. &uot;I finally had to say to myself, ‘No more buckles, Frank.’&uot;

Sue Smith, Means’ job coach for Cedar Valley Services, said she’s worked with him for years, and noticed that he seemed to have quite a variety.

&uot;Every time I see him he’s got a different one on,&uot; Smith said. &uot;Finally I asked him, ‘How many of those do you have?’

&uot;I’ve never seen him without a buckle on,&uot; she added.

That’s the nice part about collecting belt buckles, Means said. It’s a hobby he can wear and show off. He has only one belt, and changes the buckles almost daily.

He said his favorites are those with Twins and Vikings emblems as well as horses on them. A favorite has a likeness of Roy Rogers’ horse, Trigger, on it, and Means’ own name engraved there. He’s also got just about any kind of buckle imaginable. There’s a red tractor buckle and a buckle with a rattlesnake rattle encased in resin. There’s a buckle with John Denver’s likeness. Another has Elvis, &uot;The King,&uot; on it. There’s an Albert Lea buckle, an Iowa buckle, a bicentennial buckle, a snake buckle, a bison buckle, a bear buckle, and a motorcycle buckle, just to name a few.

He shines them up while he’s watching television, he said.

While Means no longer goes out and buys buckles, he still gets new ones. At work just over a week ago, representatives from an Indian reservation in Ohio stopped by Lou-Rich Machine Tool, where Means works, to pick up some scrap metal. They gave the company a sample of their work in the form of a belt buckle with an Indian head on it. It was given to Means just a few minutes later.

&uot;Look what I’ve got,&uot; he proudly said to his co-workers.