The phone calls came in around 8:30 pm from a friend who just driven down Water Street - The Sports Shop was on fire and Andrew Corbett might want to go down and take a look.

Corbett is owner of Maverick Sports and Collectables, located just a couple of doors away from the venerable downtown sporting-goods landmark.

He raced down, then stood on the other side of the street watching for hours as the fire inched towards his building. Firefighters forced their way in to the adjacent businesses - Velma's restaurant to the west and a vacant building under renovation to the east. Finally the blaze spread to the eaves of 250 Water Street.

"I still don't remember actually seeing flames coming out of my windows but at some point it did come across into my roof," Corbett recalls. "The next thing I knew, (the firefighters) were over there with the bolt-cutters at my door."

Corbett, his father and a friend managed to get some things out - the hard drive of the computer, and boxes of vintage cards from the 1950's and 1960's - before being hustled away by firefighters.

At 12:40 am on April 13 - more than four hours after it began - the fire department declared the blaze under control. Then Corbett's work began. As soon as the building was declared safe, he began to assess the damage.

He estimated he lost between half and three-quarters of his inventory. Smoke and water weren't a good mix with the hats and clothing that are one of the store's specialties. The building had to be gutted right back to the studs, essentially rebuilt.

Within weeks, Corbett plans for the rebuilding process to be complete. Maverick should be open for business again by the first week of August, at the latest. Maverick moved to Water Street from its former location on Duckworth Street last summer.

Corbett has had a brick-and-mortar locations since 1999 but has been selling and trading cards for more than a decade. In recent years, Maverick expanded its wares to include sports memorbilia, autographs, souvenirs, comics, coins, stamps, supplies and St. John's Maple Leafs products.

Since the fire, he's leaned on his on-line presence to keep in contact with customers. "Since we've been down, anybody who wants stuff has been either getting us through the e-mail or getting us through the website," he says.

Corbett says he is constantly being asked when the store will reopen. "There are people who miss us, and that's always a good thing," he notes.

And he's not the only one who plans to resume business at the same location. Frank Dyke, Jr., owner of The Sports Shop, has temporarily relocated, but plans to rebuild and reopen. The buildings were insured.

The Telegram. Tuesday, July 13, 2004 by Rob Antle