Samu Qureshi has dedicated 57 years, thousands of days, and hundreds of thousands of hours tracking items across the globe to amass the biggest collection of Washington Football memorabilia in existence. Things that others threw away long ago — team Coke bottle caps and Slim Jims boxes with players' portraits — Qureshi has devoutly kept.
He organizes his collection in what he calls “the museum” — a 5,000-square-foot basement in Bethesda packed to the brim with burgundy and gold that, to Qureshi, still isn’t big enough to display everything.
Now, Qureshi wants to sell the collection to the new team and establish a museum and hall of fame. But it’s easier said than done and preserving the past isn’t cheap.
These tensions play out in “The Custodian,” a 25-minute documentary that follows Qureshi’s quest to build his collection and secure its future, all while reconciling with the team's controversial history. The film is premiering on June 12 at Regal Gallery Place as part of the DC/DOX festival. The annual documentary festival runs June 11–14 and features 64 films and 49 shorts from 32 countries at venues across the city.
As one of the few films focused on the DMV, “The Custodian” explores a common nostalgia that will resonate with DMV football fans of all eras – but also shows how the sheer size of Qureshi’s collection weighs on him financially and strains his relationships.
The very first line of the film is his wife calling to say, “You’re running out of time on the financial front…liquidate, liquidate, liquidate.” Qureshi painfully admits that, to live the life he wants, the collection needs to go.
Yet we also witness his deep reverence and attachment. He giddily shows guests around, pointing out old seat cushions from the team’s most iconic games, ad campaigns from the 1990s, letters written by former owner George Preston Marshall, and yes, even jockstraps. Over 25 former Washington Football players have visited, each leaving their autograph for the collection.
“It’s not just a man cave, I’m not just some average fanboy, it's really historic memorabilia,” Qureshi says.
Samu Qureshi outside RFK Stadium. (Courtesy of “The Custodian” team)
The film also doesn’t shy away from addressing the problematic history of the Washington Football team back when it was known as the Redskins. Qureshi says he loved the logo back then. When Lauren Cordova of the Shoshone-Bannock people visited the museum, he called the logo "dignified" and "noble."
“That looks like a white guy to me, painted red, with a wig and some fake chicken feathers on there,” she replies. We watch as her questioning forces Qureshi to reconcile his nostalgia and love for the team with its problematic past, leading to tense silences and unresolved differences between them.
The film’s director, Khaula Haider Malik, told me she found Qureshi’s story by accident while searching for an RV on Facebook Marketplace. When the RV owner pitched a film about Qureshi, Malik was hooked.
“When I saw the museum, and witnessed the care that he put into collecting all of this stuff and organizing it in a proper museum format, I was just immediately compelled,” said Malik.
Two months later they started filming “The Custodian” with the RV owner as their producer.
“I really hope watching the film sparks conversations among people,” said Malik. “Our nostalgia is our nostalgia, even if sometimes it can be associated with problematic things, it doesn't discount your feelings.”
The film was also personal for director Malik. She and Qureshi are both DMV-born Pakistani Americans and their fathers worked together before they were even born. She was a diehard Washington Football fan who daydreamed about being the team's head coach as a kid. But, like many DMV football fans, had become cynical of the team because of its racist past.
“I was a dedicated and heartbroken fan for decades until I finally put my love of the game to rest, disillusioned by the sport and ashamed of my support of a team whose name disrespected an entire community,” said Malik. “This film is a process of [Qureshi] trying to release the burden of this history into the hands of the team’s owners, who need to accept the responsibility.”
Samu Qureshi among his collected Washington Football team memorabilia. (Courtesy of “The Custodian” team)
Now in his 60s, Qureshi wants to pass along his collection so he can travel and spend time with his wife and friends. His dream is to have it publicly displayed in a team museum. Throughout the past year, Qureshi has been in conversations with several high-level Commanders officials about selling his collection. And while several owners, including Mitch Rales, have made public comments about wanting a Washington Football Hall of Fame, the deal remains in limbo.
Earlier this year, Qureshi’s landlord increased rent and he gave up the museum space. For now, with the exception of some of Qureshi’s favorite pieces, the collection is sitting in an unmarked storage unit while it waits for a permanent home.
“I spent my whole life archiving the team's history,” Qureshi said. "I just really would love it to be shared.”
