25 years ago, I attended my very first Los Angeles Clippers NBA game and I’ve been a basketball fan ever since.

Around that time I also got my first personalized license plate: LA CLIPR. It lived proudly on my car until 2001. At that time I was broke and had to buy a new car – talk about bad timing. When it came time to decide whether or not to transfer the plates from my previous car — which was a lease in my Father’s name (this detail will be important later) — I opted not to. I just couldn’t afford anything extra.

When I returned my car to the leasing company in 2001, I decided to keep the plates for myself. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I did. One ended up hanging on my office wall for the longest time, the other went in a box.

About 5 years ago I decided I wanted those plates again. The State of California told me there were only two ways to get them back – show proof I had both of the LA CLIPR plates and presented them with a copy of my Father’s death certificate OR get the leasing company that had co-title on the last car the plates were on to tell the State to release them back in to the public.

I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find the second plate, so I decided to contact the leasing company, GE Capital. That became a dead end once I discovered GE Capital no longer had an auto lease finance division. I did talk with someone over there, they said they’d try to help, but that it could be years before they could find records from 2001, if at all.

My quest was dead, or so I thought. I’ve been on a massive organization kick of late and opened up boxes that haven’t been touched in ages and surprise, surprise, there was the second LA CLIPR license plate!

After a quick trip to the AAA and almost $200 in back fees, those plates are back on my ride! I can’t wait to drive the car Staples Center this fall to begin my 25th year as a fan of this team!

Next up, get this changed to one of those cool black/yellow vanity plates!