Illinois Man Saved Half of Richard Nixon’s Sandwich From 60 Years Ago in His Freezer (Definitely Not Next to a Severed Head)

Photo: Don Carl STEFFEN (Getty Images) 

There’s no limit to the strange artifacts people collect. From baseball cards, to toenails, to body hair, what people collect is really unique to them and their interests (or quirks). Not only does an Illinois man collect completely odd things, he’s celebrating the 60th birthday of the strangest of them all. What’s the strange item, you might ask? Well, it’s a half-eaten sandwich that was noshed on none other than President Richard Nixon.

Tricky Dick munched on the historic buffalo chicken sandwich way back on Sept. 22, 1960. Steve Jenne was just a Boy Scout back then. Nixon was visiting the Town of Sullivan, Illinois, on a campaign stop. This is when he took a few bites out of the sandwich in question at a local cookout before getting up and leaving it behind,

Jenne, even as a boy, knew a life-changing situation when he saw it. If he didn’t act fast, someone would either come along and throw the sandwich away or some other pre-pubescent pillager would snatch it up themselves. So, he grabbed the sandwich and took it home and put it in his freezer.

Over the years Jenne must have spoken about the sandwich as if he was awarded a purple heart instead of a roll with chicken and hot sauce on it. The hype from his sandwich even landed the man an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where the host even inspected the sandwich.

Strangely, this isn’t even Jenne’s only food-related celebrity item. He also has a paper plate that he says Steve Martin ate chicken salad off of, as well as half-eaten food from singer Tiny Tim and comedian Henny Youngman.

In the world of strange collections, it’s hard to beat Jenne’s. Let’s just hope he has room in his freezer for the next half-eaten celebrity food he’ll undoubtedly snatch off a table.

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