As Spencer noted in another post, he and I headed over to the 20th annual Jimmy V Celebrity Golf event in Raleigh on Sunday. This year’s event was held at a different golf course than last year. So this had some positives and some negatives. The positives included more celebrities golfing this year and the crowds were spread out more throughout the day. The negatives included that there were more celebrities this year and they were spread out over 36 holes versus 18 holes last year. Since my focus for autographs is on baseball and former UNC baseball/basketball/football players, there weren’t many autographs that I was going for to add to my personal collection. The three main ones were Roger Clemens, Jermaine Dye, and David Justice. Otherwise, all of the autographs that I collected I donate to a local non-profit that I volunteer with so that they can use them for silent auction items to raise money for their mission to assist disabled military veterans. Here are the highlights (and a few lowlights) from the day:
The day started at 8:30AM with the celebrities taking warm up swings on the range. In the past this has been a good way to really get a lot of autographs early on. Unfortunately this year, the celebrities weren’t as accommodating with signing. David Justice, Jermaine Dye, Roger Clemens, and Emmitt Smith didn’t acknowledge anyone and didn’t sign during this time. I was able to get Scotty McCreery on an 8x10 photo, as well as Mark Gottfried (NC State Basketball Head Coach) on two basketballs and two 8x10 photos. Coach Gottfried also asked that I send him more information about the non-profit once I told him what I was using the autographs for. I had met him last year and he wasn’t nearly as nice as he was this year. I was also able to get Rod Brind’Amour on two 8x10 photos, Tom Gugliotta on one 8x10 photo, and Jim McMahon on one 8x10 photo (he said that he would only personalize his autograph and I later gave the other 8x10 photo I had to a teenager on the course for him to get signed and keep for himself).
Once the golfing started, we headed out on the course and I was able to get the following:
Rick Barry – an 8x10 photo which he did not personalize after I told him what it was for. Very nice man and seemed to be in a good mood.
Bates Battaglia – an 8x10 photo of his time with the Maple Leafs. Another really nice guy who enjoys interacting with the fans.
Roger Clemens – an 8x10 photo. I probably could have gotten him to sign more but I would have had to follow him around for several holes as he was only signing one per person for about 10 people at each hole. I didn’t want to spend most of my day chasing him.
Jermaine Dye – an 8x10 photo. He didn’t seem as though he wanted to sign many autographs and wasn’t very talkative.
Grant Fuhr – Signed an Oilers’ jersey. I told him that I grew up an Islanders’ fan and that he and the rest of the great Oilers’ teams of the 1980’s drove me crazy because they always seemed to beat the Islanders. He laughed about that and said “They had some great teams too”. Nice guy.
David Garrard – Signed a Jaguars’ jersey and two 8x10 photos. Said that his knees feel well enough to play golf but not football when I asked about how his knees are feeling, which is the reason that he retired from football.
Tim Hardaway – Signed a Warriors’ jersey and two cards. Seems to be a nice enough guy.
David Justice – Signed one card but did comment on the Richmond Braves’ card that I had of him. He was another one that seemed like he wasn’t all that interested signing.
Alonzo Mourning – He receives the **** of the day award. He refused to sign for any adult by saying that he would sign “later”. He would sign for kids but not the adults. He definitely does not enjoy interacting with any of the fans. So, I got nothing signed by him.
Emmitt Smith – Signed a Cowboys’ jersey. He said that he would sign once he was on the course and was true to his word. He was strictly one per person.
Dereck Whittenburg (member of the 1983 NC State National Championship team & current assistant coach at NC State) – Signed one 8x10 photo. While signing the photo, he asked for copies of the photo and when I told him what I was using the photo for, he asked how he could help the non-profit further. Definitely a guy that enjoys interacting with the fans and someone that I will be following up with.
There were a few no-shows this year which was a little disappointing. Among the no-shows were Charles Barkley, Stuart Scott, Cavs’ guard Mo Williams, and Hurricanes’ Chad LaRose. However, overall, it was a great day and as usual I had a lot of fun.
The day started at 8:30AM with the celebrities taking warm up swings on the range. In the past this has been a good way to really get a lot of autographs early on. Unfortunately this year, the celebrities weren’t as accommodating with signing. David Justice, Jermaine Dye, Roger Clemens, and Emmitt Smith didn’t acknowledge anyone and didn’t sign during this time. I was able to get Scotty McCreery on an 8x10 photo, as well as Mark Gottfried (NC State Basketball Head Coach) on two basketballs and two 8x10 photos. Coach Gottfried also asked that I send him more information about the non-profit once I told him what I was using the autographs for. I had met him last year and he wasn’t nearly as nice as he was this year. I was also able to get Rod Brind’Amour on two 8x10 photos, Tom Gugliotta on one 8x10 photo, and Jim McMahon on one 8x10 photo (he said that he would only personalize his autograph and I later gave the other 8x10 photo I had to a teenager on the course for him to get signed and keep for himself).
Once the golfing started, we headed out on the course and I was able to get the following:
Rick Barry – an 8x10 photo which he did not personalize after I told him what it was for. Very nice man and seemed to be in a good mood.
Bates Battaglia – an 8x10 photo of his time with the Maple Leafs. Another really nice guy who enjoys interacting with the fans.
Roger Clemens – an 8x10 photo. I probably could have gotten him to sign more but I would have had to follow him around for several holes as he was only signing one per person for about 10 people at each hole. I didn’t want to spend most of my day chasing him.
Jermaine Dye – an 8x10 photo. He didn’t seem as though he wanted to sign many autographs and wasn’t very talkative.
Grant Fuhr – Signed an Oilers’ jersey. I told him that I grew up an Islanders’ fan and that he and the rest of the great Oilers’ teams of the 1980’s drove me crazy because they always seemed to beat the Islanders. He laughed about that and said “They had some great teams too”. Nice guy.
David Garrard – Signed a Jaguars’ jersey and two 8x10 photos. Said that his knees feel well enough to play golf but not football when I asked about how his knees are feeling, which is the reason that he retired from football.
Tim Hardaway – Signed a Warriors’ jersey and two cards. Seems to be a nice enough guy.
David Justice – Signed one card but did comment on the Richmond Braves’ card that I had of him. He was another one that seemed like he wasn’t all that interested signing.
Alonzo Mourning – He receives the **** of the day award. He refused to sign for any adult by saying that he would sign “later”. He would sign for kids but not the adults. He definitely does not enjoy interacting with any of the fans. So, I got nothing signed by him.
Emmitt Smith – Signed a Cowboys’ jersey. He said that he would sign once he was on the course and was true to his word. He was strictly one per person.
Dereck Whittenburg (member of the 1983 NC State National Championship team & current assistant coach at NC State) – Signed one 8x10 photo. While signing the photo, he asked for copies of the photo and when I told him what I was using the photo for, he asked how he could help the non-profit further. Definitely a guy that enjoys interacting with the fans and someone that I will be following up with.
There were a few no-shows this year which was a little disappointing. Among the no-shows were Charles Barkley, Stuart Scott, Cavs’ guard Mo Williams, and Hurricanes’ Chad LaRose. However, overall, it was a great day and as usual I had a lot of fun.
