It’s hard to miss a golden football.
Even at the National, amidst a sea of colors and wow-producing moments, it stood out.
Like Walter Payton in the open field, Mike Linteo held his prize pigskin delicately. As the Sharpie ink was trying with the very tip of his fingertips. He was careful not to smudge or smear. His lastest conquest was Seattle Seahawks great Steve Largent.
“I’ve been doing this since the late 1980s,” the San Francisco autograph hunter said. “I’ve been collecting Hall of Famers. That’s kind of my thing.”
He has a few other balls like this one.
“I’m looking to get them filled up with as many of the top 100 players as I can. I come to the National every year. It’s a vacation week for me.”
His goal is to get 20 signatures, a quick glance shows about seven or eight names displayed. Each one is a bit smaller than typical signatures to maximize space. He’s tracked down Peyton Manning. Joe Namath. He wants to add Emmitt Smith and Lawrence Taylor.
He also has signed basketballs and baseballs from Nolan Ryan and Mickey Mantle. “He was one of my bucket list guys. I got him in live – in person.”
His favorite experience was with legendary Baltimore quarterback, Johnny Unitas. “I got it in person. He was really nice. He was great, he’s was probably my favorite.”
The worst? He pauses, smirks “I don’t know if I want to mention names.”
He didn’t fess up, but he did describe the experience.
“It was football, and he just left off the description. He didn’t finish it.” Without elaborating more, he hinted the star didn’t seem to care. He was ready to collect his paycheck and head home.
Collector Chris Matthews from Kitchener, ON was pursuing NBA greats. Like Linteo’s quest, this was focused on the Hall of Famers, the Top 75 ever.
He was hauling a plexiglass backboard for his son Dylan. When it is not a canvas for signatures, it is displayed prominently.
“It hangs in his bedroom,” Chris says. “I carry it around because he is not big enough yet. Hopefully, he’ll be the one carrying it soon.”
They’ve been at it for it just about a year. They already have Adrian Dantley, Rick Berry, Julius Erving, and Dominque Wilkins. Of course, smack dab in the middle of the window is Dennis Rodman. He had just snagged Bob McAdoo before we talked. Dennis Rodman was another one checked off in Chicago. All are adding “HOF” inscriptions.
The older Matthews estimates there are about 50 living legends they can find. “Yeah, it’s a big, big project. Before the end-of-the-show, I think we can probably get to 15.”
George Gervin is next on the list. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Allen Iverson were also among the signers the Matthews duo were targeting. Abdul-Jabbar rarely makes appearances but was signing at the show both Friday and Saturday to meet demand.
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Matthews mentioned the original 1992 Olympic Dream Team – guys like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson John Stockton, Isaiah Thomas, and Charles Barkley. Toronto is relatively close, so they’ll try to chase more when active players like Steve Curry and LeBron James play the Raptors.
They are expecting Michael Jordan to be the hardest to get. They are concocting creative ways to meet His Airness, who doesn’t typically sign on the rare occasion when you’re close enough to say hello.
“It will be a bit of a challenge. I think maybe on a golf course, maybe we can find (MJ) there. We probably need to wear some Air Jordan stuff just in case we bump into him.”
You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take, is his reasoning.
They might have to resort to buying something from Upper Deck, which still has an exclusive deal with the hoops icon. Upper Deck had a very large display of newly signed–and very expensive–Jordan memorabilia at its booth, much of it carrying inscriptions like “6x NBA champion.”
Over 150 autograph guests in all were scheduled to sign at the National, the largest group ever assembled.
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