Bobo Nate Smalls...

When he was a young boy, Nate Smalls collected and traded cards of famous athletes. Now, he has his own card — complete with a photo of him in his Indianapolis Clowns uniform and a short biography.

“I never thought I’d have my own card,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. “I never thought I’d create one for myself — not in a million years, not in a million years.”

The autographed cards show Smalls in uniform. On back, the card mentions that Smalls, a native of Savannah, Ga., won 30 games in three consecutive years and played in more games than any other Indy Clowns player.

And he was the only person to throw four baseballs with one hand to four people at the same time.

Smalls played with the Clowns — a barnstorming team, similar to the Harlem Globetrotters — from 1965 to 1986.

Smalls said when he first joined the Clowns, “I was as serious as I could be.” But when the top entertainer, Birmingham Sam, quit in 1966, Smalls took on his nickname, BoBo, and became the top entertainer.

At 59 years old, he said, “I’m the baby of the bunch.”

Smalls came up with the idea of the cards when he realized the older Negro Baseball League players were dying.

“All these guys were passing away, but not leaving anything back for the people to look at,” he said. “If anything happens (to me), people can say, ‘This is what he did when he played with the Clowns.’

“I wanted to leave something for people to remember me by.”

He went to Speedy’s Quick Print, where he and a worker came up with the design. The finished product looks like a trading card, but people will need to get it laminated.

For now, he’s giving the cards away, but later he might sell them for a small fee.

Another exciting development for Smalls is that Terry Carrell and Derrick Anderson with the University of Illinois have interviewed him for a book they’re doing about the Negro Baseball League.

Black baseball ended in 1952, but the Clowns continued until 1986.

The book has to be called “The Last One,” Smalls said, because the Clowns were the last league, and he’s the last black barnstorming player.

Also, he has incorporated his business, which promotes himself as a speaker and other activities, as The Last One, Inc.

“If anyone’s going to tell the last story, it’s going to be me,” he said.

After the book comes out, there’s the possibility of a movie and talk shows, he said.

He hopes Danville youth get hold of a BoBo trading card so they have a part of history, he said.

Smalls, who helps coach at Danville High School and mentors at the Boys & Girls Club, also is interested in steering young people along the right path.

Larry Lillard, his friend and agent, has traveled with Smalls across the country when he’s appeared at schools.

“He’s always pushing that these kids need to get their lives in order,” he said, adding that Smalls liked to “have his fun” when he was a teenager.

But now, Lillard said, Smalls is pushing to get the drug issue under control.

“They’re selling poison to our people,” he said.