Most of us live our lives admiring one of a number of people. Perhaps, that is a father a mother or a family member, maybe it is a professional athlete or actor, or an accomplished musician. The list goes on and on but the fact of the matter is we all admire somebody! Now no matter whom that person is that you might admire, they all have one thing in common they didn't master their expertise overnight, and in most cases this person worked to master the expertise their whole lives beginning as a child. Certainly our recognition and respect for passion, hard work, perseverance is in part the reason we admire such individuals.

As I reflect back on the evolution of AA it was also created through these same means. Before I could walk I was lucky enough to have a Dad that loved sports and his Dad loved sports and in his youth actually faced the legendary fireballer Hall of Fame pitcher "RAPID" Bob Feller. This being said I found myself at ball games at Chavez Ravine "AKA" Dodger Stadium watching ball games before I could walk and when I wasn't at the ballpark my Grandfather was sharing stories about sports. So for my earliest days I received a wealth of education on sports and I embraced this with a passion.

I played baseball, basketball, soccer all year long. I wanted to play football as well but my parents decided for a number of reasons the other sports consumed more than enough of mine and their time. When I wasn't playing sports I was collecting sports cards and constantly reading about sports in the newspaper or books about sports. You could certainly say I was becoming obsessed with sports. Before my teen years I really became passionate about collecting not only cards but memorabilia. I was lucky enough between my parents and grandparents to have people who supported my passion and in turn provided me with this passion to evolve, perhaps going to the First National Sports Collectors Convention at the Marriott (Los Angeles Airport), meeting Mickey Mantle getting his signature and seeing memorabilia such as autographed items and 1933 Goudey Baseball cards of "The Bambino" and "Iron Horse"!

You could say this experience pushed me completely over the edge and made my life all about collecting. The next steps in this evolution occurred when my family would take me to ball games at Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium and at first I would just get my autograph book signed on Sundays before the games when the players were available to sign. But since I collected baseball cards I soon figured out the accessibility to the ball players after the games so my family God Bless them would wait with me for several hours after the games for the ballplayers to come out. In those days at Dodger Stadium the bus (visiting team) would actually drive right onto the field and park right outside the dugout but a lot of players before that it was Los Angeles either chose to drive their own cars to the park or visit with family members right there in the stands where we had full access to getting their signatures, and believe you me I made this a consistent and ongoing goal.

The thing is when you're driven by passion like I was nothing ever stopped anything, because I was thinking 24 hours a day 7 days a week of how I could get those signatures! I must tell you when you would see such players like "The Cobra" Dave Parker, or Willie Stargell etc, and they didn't walk through the stands they just got on the bus. So I had no access to their signature it bothered (believe you me if a game started at 2 P.M. I got there as soon as the gates to the stadium opened and I waited and screamed for every player to come over and sign until the ushers finally escorted me out of the area just before the game started, and as mentioned we waited after the game until the lights were being turned off at the stadium and the ushers made us leave.

I said to myself - How can I get those guys that never came out before the game or walk through the stands after? I mean I would lay in bed at night trying to figure out a solution. One night it dawned on me. I could follow the team bus back to the team hotel. Only problem was I didn't drive and I knew it would be a hard sell on my family who was by this point already pretty tired of waiting several hours after games and then having to drive back home which took another hour. Again by the Grace of God and my persuasive nature I convinced my Grandfather to follow the team bus back to the team hotel.

Once I had figured this out it opened up you could say a whole new world and certainly the complete accessibility to getting signatures I had only dreamed of previously. Another anchor that also created accessibility and enhanced my autograph collection substantially was Spring Training. In those days before Arizona, California's Angels with the likes of Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor etc. spent half of February and all of March in Palm Springs Ca. preparing for their upcoming season. What made this a unique situation was that all the other teams in what was known as the Cactus League were located five hours away from the Angels in either Phoenix or Tucson region of Arizona.

So all those ball clubs would make road trips to Palm Springs and stay at motor lodges for two game series with the Angels. Spring training offered opportunities I could have only dreamed of previously. This is where I realized I could also acquire game used memorabilia such as bats that the players used. One day I was at the stadium early and Bob Boone the Angels catcher was taking batting practice and he broke his bat on the way back to the dugout to get a replacement. I asked him to sign but instead he handed me his cracked bat, and as they say "The rest is history" in fact with me it was always "what else can I do?" So I started making friends with bat boys and other clubhouse personnel and now I have an inside track to just about anything a collector like myself could imagine.

Don't get me wrong one hand washed the other, these were relationships that lasted for years and were highly instrumental in years of successful collecting. While in High School I came up with an idea that I recognized was most likely going to be next to impossible to convince my parents to accept. There was a month in Spring Training in Florida's "Grapefruit League" (see while there were around 6 teams in Arizona, the Grapefruit League was the mother load it had 20 teams, so the only way I was going to be able to overcome my parents concerns and miss school was to show them that my grades were exceptional and that they wouldn't slip even by missing this time in school.

I mean getting signatures is an art in persuasion. That is you often must convince players to sign, you often must convince security personnel etc. So I was already mastering the art of persuasion and after diligently working on my parents for over a year they agreed to let me go to Florida. At this point you are probably asking - who's and how is a 16 year old going to go to Florida with? Well since I had already gone to Arizona for Spring Training with you could say a mentor and a friend who was ten years older than me, he had introduced me to one of the legends in the autograph field.

They grew up together, went to school together so he was also 10 years older than me. This trip to Florida was what you could say was a working trip during all waking hours of the day. We literally did not miss an opportunity to get a signature. I mean we visited retired players homes. The legendary Doc Gooden had just broken into the big leagues; we went to his parents' house and there he was right outside washing his new Porsche. The stories are endless, and I will share more later. Outside of sleep it was all autographs! I guess in many instances on this trip my collection grew to a level which I couldn't imagine and while that blew my mind I actually, while not realizing it, was even receiving something more valuable.

So since we are talking baseball I will give you a baseball analogy. Imagine if you were new to the game and you wanted to excel in the game and you had the opportunity to hang out with Derek Jeter for a month and he was willing to share all his insights with you. Well guess what that's what I was blessed with through my friend that I spent a month with in Florida. You could say I was a sponge and every day and night I listened to his stories and picked his brain. By the time this trip was over I was prepared to conquer the world of NFL, NBA, NHL, and music and celebrity autographs.

The reason being as I had been obsessed with signatures through the standpoint of collecting I was lucky enough to encounter this friend who took this obsession to a whole different level which I didn't realize was possible. You could say he had the map to all the hidden treasures and he shared those details completely with me. On a closing note he happened to mention President Ronald Reagan and the fact that he went to church services regularly at 8:00 AM Mass by a church in Bel Air every Sunday. It would probably be fair to say that President Reagan played a significant role in the founding stages of what this great collection/enterprise would eventually become.

See my friend was correct: Ronald did attend church weekly and he was a kind and gracious man who after services held a rope and his Secret Service personnel signed autographs for all that wanted his signature. I suppose you could say I have always been blessed with the mentality "what can I do next, what item would be more desirable than the last to have signed."

As a result over a several month period I was able to have RR sign footballs with the inscription "win one for The Gipper," memorabilia, photos—you name it. Again I mentioned you could say RR played a significant role in the early evolution of my enterprise. The reason this came to fruition was in the early days of the hobby the premier publication for autograph collectors was called Sports Collectors Digest. I of course read this religiously and actually it paid dividends in enhancing my knowledge of the hobby. At the back of this magazine a prominent memorabilia company ran a full page ad which happened to include a few pieces of signed Reagan memorabilia such as baseballs.

These baseballs were offered at $1,200! Considering I had an inside track on such items I developed a relationship with these heavyweights who soon turned me on to others such as myself and made suggestions as to others celebrities that would be worthwhile to obtain. The beauty was that at this time we had the Los Angeles Lakers with Dr. Buss, Marcus Allen and owner Al Davis providing me full access (for signatures) in the Los Angeles Basin (Westchester). We had the Lakers with Kareem, Magic, practicing at Loyola University, and hockey was becoming extremely fashionable with "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky joining the Kings and whether they practiced at the Ice Rink in Culver City or The Fabulous Forum in Inglewood the access was wonderful.

But not only the access was wonderful almost all the athletes were incredibly gracious and the amount of signatures which I was able to obtain you could say was obscene! (Let's not forget I grew up with the movie Wall Street and Gordon Gekko's famous quote "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.") You could say I embraced this concept and soon I was able to create an army of autograph obsessed, which I mean by this I searched out young and hungry people that I could tell had a passion for the adrenaline rush that came with the hunt of getting a signature.

I took them under my wing and instilled in them all the tricks of the trade and created a loyal army that knew I had their back and they had mine. We travelled nearly 365 days a year throughout the greater Los Angeles basin and throughout the rest of the U.S.A., discovering each and every avenue of building a massive collection of autographs. This went on for over 30 years and even as times changed we evolved with those changes and continued to successfully obtain signatures directly from movie stars, sports stars, celebrities. I hope you enjoyed this history of how an empire has been created.

There are so many unbelievable stories to tell and experiences that are certain to blow your minds. Please check back regularly as I plan to share them.

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As I evolve with modern technology I realize that sharing my journey and experiences are far more important than what I had previously imagined, let me explain. For me my passion has always been the hunt of the signature and all the pleasure and adrenaline that accompanies that hunt. I have never been one for Social Media and or modern technology. This being said through my close circle of friends they recommended I create a website which would give the public the opportunity to purchase unique and maybe one of a kind autographed items which myself, our family and crew had amassed over 40 plus years of collecting.

In creating AA it has been a wonderful experience and I am grateful for all the new relationships which I have been fortunate to make. This being said many of the technical aspects of the website undertaking were foreign to me and accordingly I had to seek out qualified individuals to assist me with these technical issues, which early on I took for granted. For me it was always pretty simple at least in my mind. That is to say I had 40 years plus of sports memorabilia and I had accordingly expertise in the field of signatures of celebrities. Therefore I knew I was offering the public legitimate treasures that I had cherished and now was making available to others to experience the same pleasure from as I have had.

I'd like to give my next point through starting out with an analogy - whether your goal or desire is to be a great athlete, actor, professional, or any other field you can think of as the great late Kobe Bryant once said "It's a process." And the significance of "the process" is that our website AA is continually going through "the process," which means there is not a day that goes by that myself and my team are not looking to implement new programs to assist our customers in having the best possible experience with our company, AA. See I knew I had a great product but what I had to learn was that this wasn't enough!

Just like a great NBA player who can score at will but perhaps lacks defensive skills, or long range shooting etc. The point is I am here to make AA the best it can possibly be and in order to achieve this we will constantly be bringing our customers upgrades in personal assistance, authentication, shipping, and company upgrades/changes. I can assure you we at AA are implicitly dedicated to offering 100% authentic memorabilia and giving our customers the opportunity to experience the best shopping experience available in the industry.

1. We are available 7 days a week to answer any questions you might have.
2. We offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee or your money back.
3. We have 3rd party authentication.
4. Each item will come with a Certificate of Authenticity confirming you are receiving a 100% authentic signed item, and this guarantee is supported with factual detailed information as to the exact date and location of where the piece was signed.
5. Whenever signing photos are posted with the listing you will also receive these photos.
6. Your item will be shipped in a professional manner and we go above and beyond to make sure the item is protected to avoid any damage.
7. On express and international orders, our customers will receive the highest discounts available since we have contracts with all the major shipping companies and we always pass those savings on to our customers.

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I wanted to share a quick note with all. As in all aspects in life we learn through experiences, commonly referred to as "Trial and Error" - since the internet is an ever evolving frontier I had no idea that so many scammers were out there trying to take advantage of reputable vendors such as my company AA. Unfortunately we had to learn the hard way, that is to say we were unfamiliar with setting our domain to a stronger email authentication policy. Since we never implemented this scammers spoofed our domain and sent customers fake emails. Needless to say this caused chaos and naturally a lack of trust.

But as I have mentioned I have evolved, become far more educated and have learned to prevent and overcome the actions of these evil entities. Remember you can't always judge a book by it's cover or not everything is as it seems! I hope my explanation has helped you restore your trust if you were one of those unfortunate customers who experienced these fraudulent actions and please accept our apologies.

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Just as you know by now I have an extraordinary passion for obtaining autographs of famous people and the pursuit and adrenaline rush that accompanies it. I'm sure most of you also know Michael Jordan's incredible love for golf. MJ has even built his own personal private golf course . He once had a bartender turn off the World Series in favor of watching a PGA event. Perhaps, what many people are not aware of is that late in MJ's career when the Bulls would visit the Miami Heat (and a number of other NBA cities as well) believe it or not on game days he would often be up and in the hotel lobby all decked out in his golf attire before 6 A.M. and head out for a round of 18 holes before going to work that evening and routinely dropping 30 plus on his opponent.

Since Michael by this time had become an international phenomenon and my autograph collecting was going strong (it became a full time job) I would travel with a crew of 4-6 people and we had a corner you could say on the MJ market because I had figured out his routine. More specifically my crew and myself would arrive at the Bulls team hotel around dawn so we would be perfectly positioned to jump into action and get MJ to sign balls, jerseys, photos, shoes. I must tell you there is a huge misconception that because he refused to sign for free because he was under contract to sign for UDA "Upper Deck Authenticated." The fact of the matter was he refused to sign for large crowds, but was extremely gracious whenever time permitted and the crowds weren't huge.

We certainly capitalized on these memorable experiences! Speaking of memorable experiences, after MJ retired he decided to use his passion of Golf to give back in the form of charity. He created an annual celebrity invitational tournament in the Bahamas at the Atlantis Resort golf course on Paradise Island, The Ocean Club. This tournament went on for nearly a decade and it literally attracted a who's who of the sports and entertainment world's biggest stars: from Tiger Woods, Boris Becker; MLB stars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Roger Clemens; Magic Johnson, NBA stars Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Elgin Baylor; NFL stars Lawrence Taylor, John Elway, Jerry Rice, Dan Marino, Brian Urlacher, Marcus Allen; hockey legends Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Brett Hull.

The list goes on and on; even President Clinton participated. To tell you the truth some guys just showed up to hang out and go to the star studded gala. One year after the Yankees won the World Series he hosted a celebrity soft ball team and almost the whole Yankees team stayed there at Atlantis Resort. I mean even the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali showed up regularly. Also guess what my team and myself showed up annually as well.

You have to understand the autograph game, it is all about seeking out locations that most collectors either can't afford to go to or don't have the vision, experience and insight to make these type of programs productive. But for me these events were a dream come true. Imagine having a team of 9 young and hungry guys that were restless; we would never get to see a place like the Bahamas unless they had someone like me to take care of their expenses. In turn it was a win win and a tremendously successful means of obtaining the signatures of sports entertainment's most popular figures in an environment that was conducive.

See these guys were all on vacation and having a blast so it was completely different than when they were at their regular job of NBA, MLB, NFL, etc. Not to mention they were at a hotel that was autograph friendly as was the golf course. And if the celebrities got tired of seeing my guys then I would simply employ the Bahamas native people. And they were more than happy to pick up a few extra dollars simply for bringing around and getting signatures. Hopefully, you are beginning to understand how I made an incredible transition from one man show to an army of hungry, hustling autograph collectors.

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For most of us the President of the United States has always been an individual who is greatly respected and we feel as though the likelihood of meeting him in our lifetimes would be next to impossible. I can certainly say early on those were my sentiments, but being a unique, eccentric, passionate, and extremely goal oriented person when I put my mind to accomplishing something I become obsessed with the idea and by the "Grace of God" he has blessed me with incredible experiences and opportunities. This being said I have actually had the privilege and experience of meeting and getting the signatures of Presidents of the United States of America: Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George W. & George H.W.

Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump! Even by my standards that is truly an amazing accomplishment. I'll share with you brief stories of my experiences. Richard Nixon was attending an event at his presidential museum. They had set up a tent on the property for the dignitaries to have lunch. Believe it or not I was able to enter the tent (backside) and go straight to his table where he obliged me with four signed photos. However, in the autograph game we always have a motto "never enough"! This being said my team and I followed him and his entourage of Secret Service agents (my team wasn't able to sneak into the tent) and of course they wanted to get the Pres's signature.

He was driven to an elementary school where there was a chopper waiting on the school field for him. We were so driven, fearless, and perhaps you might say stupid but we ran towards the helicopter and the Secret Service agents drew their firearms. I mean in retrospect what were they suppose to do? We were pursuing/rushing a former President of the United States. Lo and behold Mr. Nixon stood on the top step of his helicopter and commanded his men to lower their arms and had them escort us to his aircraft at which point we literally had (the four of us) a private autograph signing session where he signed nearly a dozen pieces for us.

Well it is hard to top the Nixon story but President Gerald Ford was a regular at a private golf course in La Quinta (Palm Springs area Ca). He played in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic annually. I must say he was a bit on the cantankerous side but the trick with him was while everybody else was chasing down the other sports dignitaries. Of course on a Monday when it was only practice I set out with my posse of 3 walking miles into the middle of the course and we ended up getting over a dozen items signed. But then again we were the only men that put forth the effort to walk miles upon miles to track him down.

At one point he said "didn't I already sign for you?" and I had to tell a white lie and say no - remember the motto "Never enough." President Carter did frequent book signings in the greater Los Angeles area and we would follow his tour and visit the hotel where he was staying in downtown Los Angeles.

As for The Bush's they were avid outdoors/golfers and we made it a point to be present as were they at the Pebble Beach Crosby Pro Am. As for President Clinton he was campaigning in Ontario Ca, and his team thought having him play a mini softball game would be a nice publicity stunt. So guess what the team and I were there with balls and bats. They asked if they could use them for the publicity stunt. I said well yes as long as we could participate and have him sign them after he finished. First they checked the bats for no explosives (truthfully) and then obliged.

So we got to play an inning of softball with the future president at John Galvin Park and get his signature. President Trump was a regular at the celebrity golf challenge held at Edgewood Ct. in Lake Tahoe. He was always gracious and signed baseballs for us. Little did we know he would become a future team leader. Ronald Reagan started my whole collecting odyssey. He regularly attended church, and so did we and my family, wife and brothers and sisters that is until weeks later when Reagan added the Secret Service to prevent us. We obtained Reagan autographs for several months before we were cut off!

I have many more stories to share; they are all amazing and certain to impress you. I could continue on the leaders of the free world, but I have many more stories to share.

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If you want to be a master, the best at anything, you must cultivate it. Take into consideration all the immortals that we honor and their excellence which we embrace. We are very familiar with the fruits of their success: palatial mansions, beautiful cars, yachts, clothing, jewelry + their status. But what we sometimes tend to overlook, or forget about is what lays in the heart of these achievements and greatness? This my friends was cultivated through a lifetime of dedication, discipline, commitment, perseverance, and unquestionably a lifelong commitment to hard work and last but not least a love affair with their trade which in reality is their greatest passion.

All of this is what creates the elite standard which they have risen to. I would like to say in the most humble manner obtaining signatures and cultivating the art of obtaining signatures has been a lifelong passion which I have continued on as the passion of bringing these fine pieces of memorabilia to others. Through the stories which follow you will begin to understand how it has become possible for my hobby to evolve into an incredible enterprise that now I am able to provide, offer to the public pristine and unique pieces. I can say with pride I don't believe there are many that can provide 50 plus years of experience, nor are any or few that have been able to assemble a legitimate, authentic inventory such as my company AA has assembled.

Through the stories which I will share you will come to recognize that your source for quality memorabilia is truly one of a kind and a true leader in the industry!

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In the world of obtaining autographs, information provided through other collectors was golden, since there was hardly any other way to obtain signatures. The problem was that when most collectors found a gold mine they didn't want to share the information as they feared the word would get out to all the other collectors and then their private gold mine would be lost. There is a saying a signature with less people is considerably easier than it is with more people. I mean my crew never shared our secrets with others - us leaving the hotel to golf at 6:00 AM, Ronald Reagan attending church weekly at Bel Air Pres, etc.

However at times we would trade info for info or even pay for the info. The reason I bring all this up is this is/was highly relevant to continued success in navigating the world of obtaining autographs. So when I found out about the ins and outs of the HOB on Sunset - you could say there was never looking back, the ultimate treasure chest had been found and I made it a point to reap all of the treasures which were inside the chest.

The treasures happened to be a who's who of Rock n roll, R&B, and alternative music's greatest performers and let me tell you this went on for thirty years! But what even made this more special were several issues that reigned supreme in the world of collecting autographs. First the HOB Sunset was situated/constructed in a manner that there were no fenced off areas and essentially no restricted areas. Second, many performers (most) showed up between 1 and 3 P.M. for a brief sound check (rehearsal), needless to say this was hours before the show and this was a particularly excellent time to get them as the crowd and event area were in a very relaxed mood.

Third, we made friends with the security personnel first by bringing them lunch, pastries, and even good old cash when it called on it. That was like having the keys to the city. Finally, HOB was an intimate, private, guarded, trendy Hollywood haunt where musicians loved to come watch their peers and mingle with the entertainment jet set. This meant literally any night of the week you were running into the likes of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Tupac, Ozzy, Biggie Smalls - the list is endless in my point. One night they had a birthday party bash for Les Paul who founded arguably the most famous guitar in music history; let me tell you Paul McCartney was present that night.

I'll share a couple more quick points: the most beloved hotels of Rock Stars were minutes away from HOB (walking distance or so desired and believe it or not at times some did walk): The Hyatt on Sunset, The Sunset Marquis, Chateau Marmont, to name a few.

So with 30 years of Rock Icons visiting HOB you can begin to imagine how the vault of AA's guitar and music collection grew. Take into consideration this was a fantastic venue where we got an incredible amount of signatures but by no means was it the only and what was awesome was this area was right in the heart of numerous additional "hot spots" (opportunities to score Rock Star signatures). Tower Records; sometimes at Tower you would find Rock Stars shopping. The same was true a block over where the likes of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love liked to stay nearby. Then there were Rock Star Hotels located in the heart of Hollywood which had no space for tour buses to park so we had full access as they parked right on the street.

This was true at the Sunset Marquis where Aerosmith, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page to name a few stayed or used the recording room. The Four Seasons was similar where bands such as Black Sabbath and AC/DC routinely parked their tour buses on the street - Oh these were the days!

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As a young man I had the pleasure of watching some of Muhammad Ali's later bouts, and I also got to enjoy the electrifying era of the fight game's greatest middleweights: Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto "Manos de Piedra" Duran and then there was the complete domination of the heavyweight division by "Iron" Mike Tyson.

These fights created a foundation of true love and admiration for the sport. This love for sport naturally transformed into an incredible enthusiasm, desire and determination to amass the best collection of boxing memorabilia imaginable and meet and get the signatures of all the fight game's greatest stars. Early on one of my biggest thrills was tracking down "Iron" Mike. Here's what I can share with you: his out of the ring personality was just as volatile and explosive as his in the ring presence. When Mike prepared for fights he often trained at Golden Gloves gym just north east of downtown Las Vegas. Like many gyms it was very non-descript on a property like nothing more than a warehouse building standing alone, no fenced parking lot, a very simple set up.

Now you must remember this was pre-internet and accurate information was very hard to obtain. Of course this also served in a good way of limiting most peoples ability to track down celebrities. But, I have to tell you for me by the time I was twenty I was already a veteran of the autograph game with ten years under my belt and I had so much energy and belief in my ability to achieve my goals that I did things looking back I shake my head at and say "what was I thinking" well I was thinking I was the best at getting autographs, and I must say my track record was impressive.

Any way back to the incomparable "Iron" Mike. He's training at the Golden Gloves in Las Vegas and I'm living about five hours away in Southern California. Remember there is no internet so I presume he arrives around 9 A.M. which means my wife and myself need to be out our door no later than 3:30 A.M. Understand I didn't have the money back in those days to get a room in Sin City, so making a ten hour round trip drive had to meet my expectations and goals. The problem was Mike was so unpredictable. We arrive at the gym at 8:30 A.M., there are a few cars there but Mike hasn't arrived.

Around 10:00-10:30 A.M. he rolls up in a white 500 series sports coupe Mercedes by himself but his bodyguard pulls up in a SUV. He jumps out completely ignores us as his body guard tells us "to back off the F..." I won't lie I'm devastated and you can only imagine my wife. Now we can't leave because we have no idea how long he's going to be training and I'm sure as hell not going to miss him coming out. It's inevitable that if you leave for 5 minutes you miss your target. By the way it's summer time in LV so by 11:00 A.M. it's scorching hot and we have to be out of the car because we know when he leaves we will literally have seconds to stop him.

As we are waiting a few more people arrive maybe there's six of us in total. Around 1:30 his bodyguard comes out, so as I call it you know it's "Showtime, money time." Minutes later Iron Mike exits the gym, he sees a collector he knows with these beautiful 16x20 photos and a couple gloves. He is a completely different guy at this point friendly and accommodating. He must have signed 8-10 pieces for the collector he clearly knew. Now it's my turn I've got 4 oversized mounted boxing gloves and my wife has a bag of 8 gloves. Mike signs one glove for me and drops my pen.

Then he walks to his car and he says to my wife "watcha got girl," she shows him her bag of gloves. He sets it on the hood of his car and signs all 8 gloves. I was like damn he almost blows me off and my wife got 8. Right then and there I learned the power of female persuasion and I would use this to my advantage more times than I can count. I also learned to be proactive with other collectors. I talked to the guy that got the beautiful 16x20's signed and was able to buy a couple of them from him.

Furthermore, I made it a point to get his phone number and a couple other collectors who I would cultivate into my Las Vegas autograph connection/pipeline. Later in the game when Mike was training for his bout with Lennox Lewis he was in Maui Hawaii. By this time I was able to mix business with pleasure. I brought a black friend of mine with me and my wife. Mike stayed at the Four Seasons there in Maui and we had him all to ourselves. I must say getting Iron Mike always stimulated my adrenaline rush!! After all he was the "baddest man on the planet" but with all due respect he couldn't hold a candle to the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali!

Let me share with you firsthand knowledge of the Champ.

When it came to the "Greatest of All Time," Muhammad Ali was a newsworthy story wherever he went, and he had a very full schedule of public appearances. Many of which brought him to Los Angeles regularly. However the impression you may have gotten when you watched him on TV was that of a deteriorating older gentleman whose Parkinson disease was often unkind to him and aided in creating this impression. But the man I knew and met at least two dozen times had the charisma of kings and a true man of the people. He was kind, funny, and entertaining and incredibly gracious. The Champ often playfully said to me, "Who you calling a chump?" with a scowl on his face.

He was arguably the kindest person I ever came across when getting signatures. Bear in mind Mr. Ali was one of the first major sports stars to frequent sports collectors convention and sign autographs for a premium price. His agent for such appearances regularly accompanied him to these events. One of my fondest memories was a signing with the Champ was attending in Burbank Ca at the fairgrounds. After greeting and signing for three/four hours he was escorted out to a waiting town car by this team. I had a highly qualified team of what I liked to call Autograph assassins or black ops because my team were true professionals and worked together as a well oiled machine to obtain their target.

So here's how it worked on the "chase" you had your point man and his job was to keep eyes on the target at all times, in this case Mr. Ali (he would have a walkie talkie to communicate with the driver who was parked outside with the rest of the team). In this case we had to follow Mr. Ali's Chrysler for nearly an hour as cruised down the 101 Fwy and eventually making his way to the Hollywood 101; eventually he exited at Universal where the world famous Universal Studios is located and prepared to drop off Mr. Ali at the Universal Hilton Hotel.

As Mr. Ali exited his limousine accompanied by his agent Mr. Warner and his long time friend and renowned photographer Howard Bingham we went into action like a SWAT team. When you're on a mission like this you leave your car parked illegally, ignore the valets and or security (sometimes we'd even ask them to park it temporarily) but not the case here. So here's five of us and as we enter the lobby with all our memorabilia for the Champ to sign Mr. Warner realizes what is going on and starts yelling for hotel security and proceeds to tell them we are trespassing and not guests of the hotel please escort us off the property.

But here's the thing as we are standing next to "The Greatest of All Time" and the security is getting ready to escort us off the property the Champ says "leave them alone, those with me they are my guests." Now who is going to question Mr. Ali? Mr. Ali invites us up to his suite along with Mr. Bingham (Mr. Warner angrily departs). When we get to the room the Champ shakes all our hands, asks our names, puts on a magic show and after a few minutes sits down at the table and says "let's do this"... but then he says "you selling all this shit..." we are all dumb founded and really don't know how to respond... as he says with that classic grin "you better get a lot of money for them..." Man o man what a memorable day.

We walked out of that room with nearly 50 pieces signed and what was even more amazing was we asked him to add Cassius Clay to a number of our pieces and he obliged. Because of our tenacious nature and the Champ's gracious ways we were able to obtain what would have cost over $5K for free and have a memory that would last a lifetime. A side note to this story Mr. Bingham became our source to tracking down Mr. Ali after this engagement. But indirectly and without him ever knowing. See for security purposes and to avoid the press etc, stars of the magnitude such as Mr.

Ali never stayed at hotels under their real names. However, Mr. Bingham who traveled everywhere with the Champ did stay under his name. Moving forward when we received word that Mr. Ali was going to town we called all the top hotels and simply said "we would like to confirm our upcoming hotel reservation, my last name is Bingham, first name Howard". At times we would have to contact twenty different hotels and yes it was time consuming. However, it was so rewarding to be there when the celebrity was arriving. Eventually I retained a full time assistant who tracked down individuals. He got so good he would even contact the airlines.

Since we're talking boxing, funny and quick story. As I mentioned my men became pros - pro at tracking people down. One day we got word Lennox Lewis who lived in London was doing a press conference in Los Angeles. I tell my guy get on the horn there's only a few flights daily from Heathrow to L.A. Of course he was on Virgin Atlantic and of course we were his unofficial greeters as he arrived in LA. Man I miss those times when security was so simple to breach as long as you were able to demonstrate ingenuity. This is yet another of the hidden tricks of the trade which resulted in an endless supply of signatures of Rock Stars, Movie Stars, Sports Stars arriving and departing from LAX.

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When I was younger I'm sure I had the same perception as a whole lot of other people in other words, why do people enjoy hitting a stationary little white ball? What an easy game! Boring! I don't get it! You probably get my point. However, around my junior year in high school I realized my Dad and Grandfather both enjoyed the game and I began to gain interest. After all I had such a profound love for sports in general and golf did have the intrigue of international appeal and I recognized the sport was played at incredibly beautiful venues such as Augusta, Georgia, Pebble Beach to name a couple.

Well before Tiger Woods put his everlasting stamp on the sport, the likes of legends like the "Golden Bear" Jack Nicklaus, "The King" Arnold Palmer (to us Uncle Arnie), Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson became of much interest to me, not to mention I had a few clients that were asking for signatures from these legends so I did what I routinely did, came up with the best plan to achieve ultimate success. Naturally that meant reaching out to my contacts in the autograph world and acquiring as much information regarding the way to get their signatures. Since I had a lot of success in Las Vegas I started attending the annual Senior PGA tournament in Las Vegas at the "Desert Inn" (the Wynn now stands in its place).

Well I found golfers to be to model some of the most gracious sports figures I had ever come across. I mean, they all carried their own Sharpie markers.

Furthermore, through my intel I knew to always attend the practice rounds of the tournament. For all you golf fans you know the actual PGA events begin on Thursday and conclude on Sunday and of course that's where all the action is and where those who love the game want to be. However, for the autograph collector, I needed to be there at the venue with my crew around 7:00 A.M. Monday through Wednesday and spend the whole day on the course. Of course for golf fans these days are far less desirable than the actual tournament which also meant far less fans and in turn we had free reign and the beauty of this unlike any other sport throughout the 18 holes; at the driving range, putting green, entering and exiting the clubhouse we had full access which gave us the opportunity to obtain 100's of signatures daily.

Remember I said we referred to the legendary Arnold Palmer as Uncle Arnie. Well the reason we called him that is because this unbelievable iconic figure after seeing my team over and over said "Guys Lord have mercy I think I see you more often than my family!" We laughed our asses off and replied "well you are Uncle Arnie." Once I realized how gracious golfers were I incorporated the PGA and Senior PGA into my agenda. What I mean is when my team was in Arizona for Spring Training we would also attend "The Tradition" which essentially included every golf living legend and in Florida we coordinated golf events in Orlando with MLB Spring Training.

I also would put on my calendar and attend the practice rounds at Augusta annually.

At Augusta many of the entrants flew into Augusta directly on their Lear Jets, and guess who was there to greet them. Getting these guys became so enjoyable that I eventually was able to mix as I like to say business with pleasure and also attend tournaments in Hawaii annually. And many of these tournaments even provided on resort venue and opportunity. Here's the thing: it was rare to find golfers that were not so friendly but over the years there were a handful who resented giving their signatures out for free when they believed particular individuals (like me) were selling them. But in places like the Wendy's Senior Skins game in Lahaina Maui, or the Senior tournament, or the Mercedes Championship in Kapalua Maui; also the tournament on the "Big Island" Hawaii in Kona, a golfer like Tom Watson that regularly refused to sign Masters golf pin flags, or a Masters Green Jacket (for creating for autographs) would be a completely different guy and by that I mean accommodating.

And the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player would say "guys, what do you got for me, I don't want to see you all day!" See them could do this because where there might be 50 or 100 people on the mainland during a tour event, in Hawaii when they arrived on the course after a couple of holes maybe there would only be two or three collectors. The kindness of these great golfers gave me the opportunity to assemble amazing pieces and develop an incredible inventory of Masters Champions Signed Golf Balls, Masters Champions pin flags, Masters Green Jackets, vintage wood drivers, as well as many additional pieces that most collectors didn't have the time, patience, or vision to acquire and if they did they generally kept them for their own personal pleasure.

Don't get me wrong I also love the game and certainly kept my share of items for my personal collection but at the same time I never lost track of the fact that these legends wouldn't be around forever and I wanted to reap the economic value which I knew existed because again as I mentioned most people just didn't have the time or patience to track down these guys like myself and my team. Now as I'm sure you know when Tiger broke on to the Golf scene everything changed. The fan base grew an incredible level and Tiger had the charisma, skill, and game that you could only compare to MJ.

He had global appeal and he made little boys, girls, and every race embrace a game that previously was assumed to only be for the wealthy. On one hand this was great in the autograph world but it also created some obstacles. The good news was I had already graduated with honors years before Tiger broke onto the golf landscape so as much as he routinely worked hard to avoid crowds of fans I worked hard to figure out his routine. That routine mostly consisted of showing up at the golf course at sunrise and finishing his practice rounds around the same time the most ardent fans were arriving at the course around 8:00 A.M.

One of the biggest secrets and the key to success in the autograph collecting world is when you find a good thing you don't brag about it, and you don't share the info with other collectors! I can't tell you how much success I had over my 50 plus year career by implementing this approach. But then again if you understand the psychology of celebrities it's pretty simple to understand. If there is one or two people that want their signatures they are only investing a few minutes of their time but when that number grows they have to take a lot more time and equally when they sign as many as they can but somebody gets cut off and then the celebrity hears the displeasure often in a rude manner from that person?

And the final result is the celebrity routinely decides not to sign when there are a lot of people present. So unlike the legends of the past in the golf game Tiger Woods created a far bigger challenge for an autograph collector such as myself to obtain his signature. This being said he also motivated me, since I love a challenge and find a way to become successful when the majority has failed. With Tiger I found the perfect niche. First be at the course for practice rounds by sunrise. Second attend tournaments in remote locations that he was participating in: Maui Hawaii, Kapalua Mercedes Championship, Hawaii; Hawaii The Grand Slam of Golf; Mexico City WGC; his personal tournament in the Bahamas; and at the Skins game in the Palm Springs Ca area.

I will say as all things change with time Tiger was never as friendly or accommodating as his predecessors however he was judicious on obliging when the circumstances were not chaotic.

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Growing up in LA and being a basketball fan was a true treat because the Los Angeles Lakers were blessed with a tradition of excellence and I was fortunate enough to enjoy the tradition personally as I met the likes of all of these greats and got their signatures. I might as well start with the early legends and blow your mind. Back when the Lakers were at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood Ca and Jerry West was the general manager he held regular office hours 9-5 and he would park right outside the Forum Club (that's where the Lakers offices were located). So we had regular access to "The Logo".

Sometimes we'd go from the Lakers office and ask his secretary if he was available and if he was at work he would come out and sign whatever we had. Elgin Baylor another Lakers legend was the GM for the Clippers who were down the street at the Sports Arena and he was just as gracious. For one day we got a beautiful basketball inscribed by Jerry West "Mr. Clutch" and Elgin would add HOF and year inducted with his signature. We would also get them to sign Sports Illustrated covers. Then there was Wilt and he was more of a challenge but living in LA we would see him at LA hot spots like Spago's, movie award banquets at the Beverly Hilton, and at Hollywood movie premieres.

Now for the "Showtime" era. Who remembers "Dancing Barry" but did you know Paula Abdul began her career as a Lakers girl. But on to the gentleman that really rocked my world: Magic, The Captain, Kareem, Big Game James "Worthy", Cooper, Jamal Wilkes, Norm Nixon. The thing that made this team so enjoyable was the fact they held their practices regularly at Loyola Marymount University. What made this special is nobody was aware of this outside of a handful of collectors and since it was a private gym there was absolute access in the parking lot as they arrived and when they left and believe it or not the Lakers didn't even have a true security personnel.

So when practice concluded we could even go in the gym and get guys on the court. I can't tell you how many countless team signed basketballs and multi signed balls and jerseys we got. Guys like Magic and Big Game James even gave us their sneakers from time to time. And since access was so great we started to develop relationships with Lakers locker room personnel and ball boys. This blossomed into another excellent avenue to obtain a variety of other NBA superstars' signatures as well. Speaking of other NBA superstars one day we were waiting on the Lakers show to finish up practice and who pulls into the parking lot but Larry Bird and the whole Boston Celtics bus.

At this point we discovered a large percentage of the NBA's other teams who visited Los Angeles also used Loyola Marymount for practice. Next up The Mamba, Shaq, Pau. As I have experienced time and time again sports in many ways in regards to generational change. Yet the Lakers have always remained a class act when it came to signing autographs. Kobe Bryant "The Mamba" I have enough stories regarding my encounters with "The Mamba" to write a book! I was there in Inglewood at Forum when he pulled up to the parking lot early in his Lakers career, when Del Harris was the coach.

Then there were the regular trips that Kobe and the Lakers made to Phoenix for games with the Phoenix Suns. They stayed at the Ritz Carlton Phoenix and in the area right next to the Ritz was a Starbucks where Kobe would go to get a coffee before getting on the team bus to go to morning shoot around and there was also a Morton's Steakhouse where him and other Lakers would frequent when they checked into the hotel the night before their game. The Lakers held pre-season workouts (for a couple of seasons) in Honolulu Hawaii and they headquartered at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Other years they had pre-season camp in San Diego Ca and stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in La Jolla Ca. Another facet of Lakers pre-season was they played pre-season games in Anaheim, Ontario California and they utilized the Hilton Hotel in all three of these cities. I share this information because these are just a handful of the locations where my team and myself came across The Mamba and I can let you know he was always a gentleman and very kind and gracious signer. As was Shaq "The Big Aristotle," Shaquille O'Neal. Once again when most people either never had the pleasure to get these elite superstars signatures we on the other hand had the inside track because I prided myself to always being one step ahead of the competition and on top of that Kobe and Shaq loved to hang out in ritzy good hot spots so we always had items in our car for these guys.

Kobe lived in Newport Beach and on game days he stayed at The Intercontinental around the corner from Staples Center.

Speaking of The Staples Center, The Lakers always played on Christmas Day and would practice at the arena on Christmas Day. Shaq and Kobe both parked in the tunnel there later in their careers. But on Christmas Eve day when they came out of the tunnel they would both hook us up regularly. After retiring Kobe coached his daughter's basketball team in Newport Beach academy and I had a friend who knew a girl who played with Kobe's daughter. This gave me a few additional opportunities to get signatures from "The Mamba" as well. Rest in Peace my man and thanks for all the happiness you provided me with.

After Kobe retired my Lakers certainly experienced a few down years. But then who - LeBron joined the squad. The franchise that had reigned supreme for decades had returned. As for how LeBron joined the Lakers later in his career and accordingly this wasn't his first rodeo; and that was also the case for signatures. So in order to succeed in obtaining the signature in one of the top five greatest players of all time, it was necessary to implement the tools of my trade to their fullest. Let me explain: fans in general rarely are blessed with the opportunity to experience an up close and intimate experience with iconic figures.

So accordingly the information which is available is inaccurate or simply put only that rare individual such as myself and my team knew when and where to get such iconic signatures.

Some of the best and most memorable times when we got his signatures started with the time he spent in Las Vegas in the Summer before he joined the Lakers. See for as long as I can recall the NBA has had an off season developmental league where all the NBA teams participated and it was an opportunity to showcase new talent. The Summer league games took place at Thomas & Mack Center home of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels. These games were always great because NBA executives like Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, Coaches such as Patrick Ewing, etc. etc. as the list goes on and on.

And for us it was beautiful because every body was in vacation mode and you know that means they are relaxed, plus Vegas never has been a city with a lot of collectors, and tickets to these games were like 10% of the price of a regular NBA game ticket. Well if you're a LeBron fan you know he has been playing the role of coach/GM now for many years. So he came to these games with the intent of meeting and evaluating his new talent. He would sit in the stands and sign for us during half time and after the games. Often we would give young boy $50 or $100 to get a basketball or jersey signed.

Most players are far more likely to accommodate children and women comparatively speaking to adult men.

Since this program/technique worked so well we also used it at Staples Center (Crypto.com Arena) when the players warmed up before games. I mean think about it a kid 10 or 12 as an example is standing around and holding their stuff about bringing anything to get signed and you offer them a $100 for one signature they're going to do it. This enables us to regularly get multiple jerseys signed when we attended games and when we didn't attend we had a hand full of emails and phone numbers of kids that did and they knew where to get a pay day. This worked so well we practiced the same technique with Luka Dončić when he joined the Lakers.

In order to add incentive so these young collectors could make even more money we would provide them with mini basketballs and jerseys for NBA stars that were playing the Lakers that evening as well as other Laker players and celebrities that regularly attended Laker games. This gave my extended family a team the opportunity to score anywhere from $300-$500 in a few hours. Needless to say they didn't have to worry or think about working at INOUT or McDonald's.

I'll share a couple of more stories from the LeBron era with Anthony Davis and Luka. By this time in LBJ’s career he had developed an appetite for fine dining and wine. So after home games in Los Angeles he regularly went out to dinner or restaurants.

This was also the case on the road with the Lakers and since the Lakers were so popular we regularly planned road trips to cities that I knew had excellent opportunities to get signatures such as Portland, San Antonio and New Orleans. The best way to win (IMHO) the restaurant angle was by cultivating relationships with restaurant employees and in turn having them do some of our work. Generally speaking a celebrity is very likely to accommodate a restaurant employee since they are providing the person with a service.

Finally, LeBron regularly attended his sons high school basketball games and here was yet another phenomenal place to score his signature.

So now you know the true story I've never met a celebrity, whose signature was unattainable. But ingenuity, perseverance, planning with execution must be implemented and like anything else in your life the experiences good and bad provide you with knowledge and that knowledge gives you the best possible attributes to succeed with your goals and dreams.

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God blessed Michael Jordan to be arguably the greatest "GOAT" player in NBA history, and God gifted me with many qualities which I am grateful for. One of these qualities is the gift to recognize talent and greatness as soon as I see it or hear it (in the case of music). Accordingly, when I see an athlete like MJ, Tiger, Ali, I can immediately sense they are different, special and carry themselves on all levels which transcends them into iconic figures. I have the same instinct with music when I hear a new song for the first time I can immediately sense wow!... "that's a hit!".

When I would watch try outs for little league in half a second I was able to assess who was a ballplayer/gamer and who was not. I always felt I could tell who had the obsession to succeed and who did not.

The reason I address this is because I naturally gravitate and desire more than anything in collecting to obtain the signatures of the greatest athletes, musicians, actors, etc. Needless to say clearly such individuals generally speaking are also the most marketable and desired by the public and often the most difficult signatures to obtain. Accordingly, most people simply write off such superstars as impossible but for me the pursuit of those that are the most difficult (considered nearly impossible) to obtain their signatures is by far the most gratifying.

So MJ being the GOAT would certainly put him on my desired list.

I still remember meeting MJ his rookie season at the Fabulous Forum. I got to the Forum and was courtside the moment they opened the doors and my dream was to get a magazine cover with MJ on it and the title "The Next Dr. J". I set up right next to the tunnel where the Bulls come out for warm ups before the game. Since this wasn't my first rodeo I understood the importance of positioning myself in the front row and being in the most opportune position to get MJ's sig. After he warms up goal accomplished my first MJ sig. Man was I ecstatic and his persona/charisma made me want to relive that moment over and over.

And that's exactly what I did. At first the Bulls when visiting the Clippers or Lakers stayed at the Hyatt Hotel with a TGI Fridays restaurant in the same parking lot and a southern cooking restaurant nearby. Often MJ and his teammates would just walk right out the lobby and dine at one of these establishments. In those days there was no team security and we could get him coming and going. But eventually the word got out about this easy access there to Marina del Rey and the crowds got out of hand and hotel security began to lay down the law which made things far more difficult.

More people, hotel security, MJ started exiting in a limo or town car to go out. At this point my immediate instinct was to follow him, wait and let him enter the establishment and be seated up and ready to get his signature. I must say I think I damn near invented "the chase", follow because I knew it would provide me with an exclusive one on one opportunity which in turn would give me a far greater opportunity to obtain the signature compared to standing around with 20 or more collectors. The downside of this approach was Michael (who had a great memory) began to know me and would be like "my man, how many times do you expect me to sign for you?"

As the years passed and MJ was able to see what he wanted the Bulls moved around the corner in to Marina del Rey to the Ritz Carlton (eventually all the NBA teams) followed suit, but this is a story for a different day.

Before I get to the main event "story" I'll share one more tid bit. Every summer Magic Johnson held a charity basketball game in CA. and when I found out MJ was attending of course I was excited. After the game at the Forum (home of the Lakers) my team followed MJ's limo. It stopped at the Ferrari dealership Beverly Hills right off Rodeo Drive. He didn't exit the limo but I had a couple young kids with me and right then I had them knock on his window he rolled down his window and I yelled spread out two jerseys and two balls after saying "you all know following people ain't cool".....

"tell your folks they could get in trouble for that". The kids apologized and he said "you all don't have to apologize just let your folks know".

Man even by my standards sometimes I can't believe my exploits! So the next day MJ is headed to San Diego to play in another charity basketball game. We arrive at the Marriott Marina at 8:00 Am only to find out he was already gone. He had left to go golfing. I was so angry with myself as I should have known not a day goes by that he isn't at the course.

I had a lot of familiarity with the San Diego Sports Arena and knowing that it was an older venue and that the staff probably were just there to collect a paycheck (i.e. they put up no security barrier at all). Myself and my team had no tickets to attend the event but late in the second period we walked in the double doors full of basketballs. I was wearing Nike sweatsuit and with my ball bags I created the impression that I was a ball boy (bags full of NBA basketballs) and dressed similar to one. After the game when the players walked off the court I blended in actually hid between the likes of Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and of course MJ, now I'm in the locker room with all those superstars, but I'm not the only one.

There are few other kids, men that are hovering around MJ's locker, MJ says "Guys back up give me a minute to get dressed and I'll take care of you all" so he gets dressed lights up his old Cuban cigar and says "yo Charles better you never saw a black man smoke a cigar like this" AND all the other NBA stars break into laughter. Next thing there's like four of us and when he gets to me he goes "Damn you again, how'd you manage to get in here" I told a white lie and said my friend was a clubhouse attendant, lucky for me MJ was in a jovial mood and said "so whatcha got?" and signed my four basketballs and two jerseys as he sat in front of his locker.

After which he said "my man understand I don't want you bothering me no more!".

Well I guess I was hard of hearing because the next season when the Bulls visited the Clippers as always they were staying at the Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey and my team and I were parked just off the hotel property. We would proceed to follow the team bus to morning shoot around because you never knew what you would get with coach Phil Jackson, but we will save those stories for another day. So on this day for some reason when they arrived at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, home of the Los Angeles Clippers (located in Exposition Park also home of the Los Angeles Coliseum) and a number of museums.

However, it was also home to a lot of homeless who used the park to drink and do whatever. The bus was unable to park in the tunnel as a result of some issue so the team was dropped off curbside in front of the arena. MJ gets off and is just shaking his head when he sees me, like no, no, no! If you know MJ, he is great with using facial expressions to get his point across and his message to me was clear. By this point I felt like he even was familiar with the rest of my crew and with about 12 items to get signed the day was beginning to turn into a nightmare for me.

In other words, my chances of success looked to be slim to none, but of course I'm going to wait for him to come out after practice.

As I'm sitting there with my boys one of them comments how bad the homeless situation has gotten and boom the light in my brain clicks on (mind you these homeless were mostly young formidable good black men). So I say to my boys this is what we are going to do: We will approach all of the homeless men and women and explain that if they stand by the bus over there and get a basketball signed by MJ, I will give them $50 every last one of them jumped for joy and were in! Remember $50 went a long way back then. Shortly there after the Bulls exit and when we point out Michael the 12 homeless go crazy and surround MJ, I'm thinking he was like I gotta take care of the people?

Then in the meantime screaming as he is signing "Take it to the ghetto Michael". Damn he took care of every last one of them and then took his place on the back of the bus clearing out at the line of men and women who were in line to return their basketballs and receive their pay. And there I was handing out $50 bills.

I offer these stories so you the public can appreciate how I was able to create an autograph empire and how obstacles which most feel were insurmountable I went day and night endlessly to overcome.

I will tell you when you have a plan and are willing to do whatever it takes to make them a reality supported by faith, everything is possible.

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Ever since I got into the challenging and exciting world of Rock n Roll autographs the Rolling Stones have always been one of my favorite targets and bands to chase down. And I have now been chasing them and getting their signatures for nearly 40 years! One of the key revelations I learned early on with bands on tour was there were several imperative approaches which must be implemented. First, a band like the Rolling Stones when visiting a city is almost like Royalty arriving, take for example when the Stones were arriving in Mexico City from South America there was a multitude of paparazzi outside of the Four Seasons in Mexico City and also many fans who just want to get a glimpse of their idols.

Well, that's fine for fans but for a serious collector such as myself I need to reserve a room or two at the hotel where the band is staying in this case the Rolling Stones in Mexico City at the Four Seasons where I had two rooms reserved for the night of their arrival. You are probably wondering how I could possibly know where such a high profile individual would be staying, and if you are thinking Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood or Charlie Watts stay under their own names of course they do not. But here's the thing. I employed an individual who worked for me who knew how to access hotel and airline information.

Essentially, all bands have staff who travel with them, these individuals include security, and with the Stones one of their security personals name was Rowan Dade, additional staff includes tour manager, back up singers, performers, guitar techs (person who makes sure Keith and Ronnie's guitars are working properly) now if you get a tour program in the back you will see the credits for all of these individuals (of course remember we are talking pre-internet). So with these individuals names my employee would simply contact all five star hotels in the city which the band was performing we would have the tour schedule so in the case of the Rolling Stones they had a concert in Bogotá, Colombia on a Wednesday and then performed in Mexico City on Saturday you would know the band would arrive in Mexico City Thursday once we got confirmation, I would book a reservation.

Now when the Rolling Stones arrived at the Four Seasons in Mexico City the whole staff was in the lobby to welcome them and the only other people in the lobby were myself and band of brothers. The key was we had rooms at the hotel which separated us from everybody else who was unable to enter the hotel without a room key. Accordingly, this gave us incredible access and we received special consideration which enabled us to get a variety of items signed. This process was so successful that we practiced it time and time again at a number of stops on the band's tour.

And in the case of the Stones they almost always stayed at the Four Seasons chain.

What was difficult was once the Rolling Stones checked in you had to basically be in the hotel lobby from 10 a.m. to 2:00 a.m., and truthfully we would need to be there even later 3:00 - 3:30 a.m. Let me explain in more detail on the band's off days you could almost be assured you would see Charlie between 10:00am and 12:00pm, Mick would consistently leave the hotel between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. but with Keith and Ronnie if they left their rooms it would never be earlier than 1 or 2 a.m. I was so curious where they would go at that hour I followed them a few times and we ended up at recording studios.

At the end of the day the cost was expensive but the results were fantastic so the ends justified the means.

The other way which we routinely achieved success with Rock Bands was when they were at a particular location for several weeks preparing for an upcoming tour with the Stones they always did rehearsals in Toronto, San Diego, or Los Angeles and as an added benefit they would perform at intimate venues as a tune up. Otherwise, being in Los Angeles was great because when they weren't on tour they were constantly attending movie premiers, at recording studios, award shows, or doing charity appearances. In these instances we would often get them flying in commercial on Virgin Atlantic from London’s Heathrow airport to LAX - Los Angeles International at the venue or at the hotel.

I learned early on there are particular groups such as the Stones that you could never have enough inventory of, so we have never stopped taking advantage of the opportunities.

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