But almost by accident I ended up with an autograph collection, largely due to my involvement in the video rental industry beginning mid-80's. I didn't make it to the Video Software Dealer's Convention until 1994 but relatives who did attend in earlier years brought back autographs of such famous and not so famous people as Milton Berle, Buddy Ebsen, Bill Hanna & Joe Barberra, Pia Zadora and Sissy Spacek. I finally made the trip to Vegas in 1994.

Little did I know at the time that our company would be sold a few months later and this would be my last trip to the convention, but I'm thankful for that one trip because after meeting Alan Shepard, Wally Schirra, Tommy Bond of Little Rascal fame, Richard Simmons (my wife likes him), documentary maker Ken Burns, and several big name baseball players and professional wrestlers, I finally got it - it's not about the scribble, it's about the connection. A photograph freezes one moment in time and connects the present with the past. So does an autograph.

Almost 14 years later, I can look at my Alan Shepard signed photo and think back to that short conversation with one of the few men who have walked on the moon! I don't doubt that a hundred years from now somebody could very well be looking at that photo and wonder about the circumstances that led to that signed photo.

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